Nigerian-born Dr. Peter O. Nwosu, on his landmark achievement of emerging as the 11th and first black President of the State University of New York at Oswego, United States.
In a historic watershed event, Dr Nwosu was officially inaugurated into this very distinguished position on the 27th of September, marking the first time an African-born president and an immigrant will lead the 163-year-old institution.
As a man who has remained passionate and committed to the growth of education in society, Dr. Nwosu has continued to inspire the youths to prioritize education as a pathway to success in life.
His visible achievements are a stark reminder, not just to individuals in society, but to the leaders of the Nigerian society, of the need to prioritize investment in education if the country must salvage its present level of decadence and place it on the path of development. There is a consensus that education remains the best investment any nation can make for its citizens.
Dr. Peter O. Nwosu, an American Council on Education fellow and Fulbright scholar, joins SUNY Oswego from CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College, where he was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs and student success. He previously served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Clark Atlanta University, a historically Black college or university (HBCU) and Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution, and served as associate vice president for academic programs and accreditation liaison officer at California State University, Fullerton, a Hispanic-serving institution and one of the 23 campuses of the California State University System.
A passionate advocate for access to high-quality education for our nation’s increasingly diverse student body and a systems thinker and strategic planner with a strong belief in the power of collaboration and shared governance, Dr. Nwosu has led strategic initiatives to advance equity-minded student success outcomes, foster institutional effectiveness, and enhance these institutions’ national reputations and visibility as engines of upward mobility and community engagement.
Dr. Nwosu is a graduate of the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education and received his PhD in communication studies from Howard University, his MA in liberal studies from Towson University, and his BA in mass communication and journalism from the Institute of Management and Technology in Enugu, Nigeria.