As an academic tradition, the Professorial Inaugural Lecture series is gaining traction in our university system in a remarkable manner. In most universities, it's now a symbolic and ritualistic phenomenon.
Nowadays, delivering an Inaugural address no matter how sublime or otherwise, has become a bragging right amongst colleagues in our universities. Consequently, everyone is inching to deliver one sooner than one could have ever imagined. In my opinion, the rush to deliver one, maybe, maybe not have cast a pall over the event in our clime. It is no longer what it used to be and it is also not what it should be. Regrettably, the Inaugural Lecture culture now looks like a walk in the park. However, that should not be the case for a lecture that represents a significant milestone in one’s academic career.
Undoubtedly, there is no generally accepted format for presenting an excellent Inaugural lecture, but there are basic essential elements one would find in a well-crafted Inaugural lecture, irrespective of the presenter's area of specialization. There are also thousands of already delivered Inaugural lectures on the internet for would-be Inaugural lecturers to peruse and distill the essential components of what it constitutes. But it would seem like many of our professors who have delivered Inaugural addresses recently didn't take advantage of it. I don’t want to put a time frame on it, but believe me when I say recently, I’m being economical with the truth.
A diasporan-based colleague drew my attention to the quality of most of the Inaugural lectures from our universities he found online and wondered how those who presented such shoddy addresses became professors in the first place. Our discussion inspired my interest in Inaugural lectures and I started researching them. My findings did not only confirm my friend’s observation but also opened my eyes to the kernel of the Inaugural Lecture. It's on that note, that I find it disconcerting when colleagues in most of our universities present shambolic Inaugural addresses. It would seem like they are more interested in the glitz and glamour of the event than its essence and substance.
My research indicates that the Inaugural lecture should illuminate the academic trajectory one traversed to reach the professorial rank. Our life is a road of twists and turns, which means that there are ups and downs in everyone’s life. That is exactly the pattern our career lives follow. It leads us to different career paths. So, what motivated you to choose a particular course of study and later specialize in a specific field should be the starting block of an Inaugural lecture. What do the experts in your field of specialization do? What are the epistemological and pedagogical traditions of your discipline? How have they contributed to knowledge and solving existential societal problems? The answers to these questions should be an integral part of Inaugural presentations.
Thereafter, the presenter serves the audience the main course, which is, every essential step in your career progression leading to your acceptance into the concave of the profession. They should be no holds barred. How your story motivates Faculty members, students, and visitors to reach the pinnacle of their careers should be the hallmark of the lecture. This explains why your presentation should be witty, sassy, and enthralling.
The highlight of your address should be your contributions to the theory and praxis of the discipline via personal and collaborative research works in world-class peer-review journals, books, and other records. The empirical relevance of your research in terms of its contribution to policy, legislation, and invention/innovation your research birthed. Other essentialities include the impact factor of your research works and the new research they have provoked. Your ongoing research interest should be the icing on the cake. Lastly, the acknowledgments of all those who contributed covertly and overtly, (especially those who may have opposed your research ideas and point you towards a new direction ), to get you to your career destination is usually a good way to draw the curtain of an Inaugural address.
My exposition may not have exhausted all that is required in an Inaugural lecture but I do not doubt in my mind that it provides recommendations that would improve the quality of future Inaugural addresses for those who are interested in raising the bar.
Felix Akpan PhD
lixzito@yahoo. co.uk
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