Grace Alele-Williams

Grace Alele-Williams (born December 16, 1932) is an educator who made history as the First Female Vice-Chancellor of a Nigerian university; the University of Benin.She was also the first Nigerian woman to receive a doctorate degree. She is a professor of mathematics education.

Born in Warri, Delta state, Alele-Williams attended Government School, Warri, and Queen's College, Lagos. She attended the University College of Ibadan (now the University of Ibadan). She obtained master's degree in Mathematics at Queen's School, Ede Osun State in 1957 and her Ph.D in Mathematics Education at the University of Chicago (U.S.) in 1963. She made history as the first Nigerian woman to be awarded a doctorate. She returned to Nigeria for a couple of years' postdoctoral work at the University of Ibadan before joining the faculty of the University of Lagos in 1965.

Her teaching career started at Queen's School, Ede Osun State, where she was mathematics teacher from 1954 until 1957. She left for the University of Vermont to become a graduate assistant and later assistant professor. Between 1963 and '65, Alele-Williams was a postdoctoral research fellow, department (and institute) of Education, University of Ibadan from where she was appointed a professor of mathematics at the University of Lagos in 1976. She was the first female Vice Chancellor in Nigeria.

She has held and served in various capacities. By serving in various committees and boards, Alele-Williams had made useful contributions in the development of education in Nigeria. She was chairman of the curriculum review committee, former Bendel State 1973-1979. From 1979 to 1985, she served as chairman of the Lagos State Curriculum Review Committee and Lagos State Examinations Boards.

Alele-Williams was a member of governing council, UNESCO Institute of Education.She is also a consultant to UNESCO and Institute of International Education Planning. For a decade (1963–73) she was a member of the African Mathematics Programme, located in Newton, Massachusetts, United States. She was also vice-president of the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education and later president of the Nigerian chapter. Alele-Williams has published a book titled Modern Mathematics Handbook for Teachers.After serving as the vice-chancellor of the University of Benin, she joined the board of directors of Chevron-Texaco Nigeria. She is also on the board of HIP Asset Management Company Ltd, an Asset Management Company in Lagos, Nigeria. Professor Grace Awani Alele-Williams was a force to reckon with in the dark period for Nigeria's higher education.Then, the activities of secret cults, confraternities and societies had spread within the Nigerian Universities especially in University of Benin.She made valuable impacts, with combination of courage, ingenuity and strategy that the growing tide of cultism was stemmed in the university.A task which many men had failed, she was able to make notable contributions.

She has a special interest in women education. While spending a decade directing the Institute of Education, she introduced innovative non degree programmes, allowing older women working as elementary school teachers to receive certificates. Alele-Williams has always demonstrated concern for the access of female African students to scientific and technological subjects.

1. Dynamics of Curriculum Change in Mathematics - Lagos State Modern Mathematics Project.
2. Education of Women for National Development.
3. Report: The Entebbe Mathematics Project.
4. The Development of Modern Mathematics Curriculum in Africa.
5. Education and Government in Northern Nigeria.
6. Education and Status of Nigerian Women.
7. Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) Education for all, Including Women and Girls in African.
8. Major Constraints to Women's Access to Higher Education in Africa.
9. The Politics of Administering a Nigerian University.
10. Numerical Methods for Initial Value Problems in Ordinary Differential Equations.
11. The Political Dilemma of Popular Education: An African Case.

She has 5 children and 10 grandchildren.