格蕾丝·阿莱尔-威廉姆斯Grace Alele-Williams

格蕾丝·阿莱尔-威廉姆斯原名阿莱尔-威廉姆斯 Awani Alele；在与Babatunde A Williams结婚后，她采用了现在为人所知的阿莱尔-威廉姆斯姓氏。阿莱尔-威廉姆斯曾就读于瓦里政府学校和拉各斯女王学院，1949年毕业。同年，她进入伊巴丹大学学院，即现在的伊巴丹大学，并于1954年获得数学荣誉学位。当时伊巴丹大学学院不授予自己的学位，因此她获得的荣誉学位是伦敦大学的外部学位。在本科学习期间的每个夏天，Alele都会回到家乡瓦里，并从1950年开始，在暑假期间于瓦里的赫西学院教授数学。

1954年获得荣誉学位后，Alele被任命为奥孙州埃德女王学校的数学教师，她在那里从1954年教到1957年[12]：-

由于对她在女王学校的情况不满，Alele设法从尼日利亚服务主管那里获得经济援助，作为研究生助理进入佛蒙特大学，目标是成为一名中学教师。她发现佛蒙特州的天气很冷，并且在乡村环境中经历了各种形式的隔离。然而，很快，斯普特尼克将美国的注意力转向了数学和教育的重要性，Alele有机会去芝加哥大学、哥伦比亚大学或哈佛大学。她选择了芝加哥大学，并于1963年获得了数学教育博士学位，学位论文题为“一个新国家诞生中的教育动力学：尼日利亚案例爱德华·斯图迪”。

她于1959年获得了教育硕士学位，在此期间她在数学系担任研究生助理教授数学，同时学习数学教育。一项研究生奖学金使她得以在1959年晚些时候前往伊利诺伊州芝加哥大学攻读博士学位。如果这听起来像是一条相对标准的博士之路，我们必须明确指出，这是一项非凡的成就，因为当她在1963年3月获得博士学位时，她成为有史以来第一位获得博士学位的尼日利亚女性。获得学位后，她回到尼日利亚，在伊巴丹大学度过了两年，在该系和教育研究所担任博士后研究员。在此期间，她参与了非洲数学项目，该项目源于1961年夏天在马萨诸塞州戴德姆举行的为期六周的会议，该会议设立了非洲教育项目。指导委员会主席是William Ted Martin（1911-2004），他于1947年至1968年担任麻省理工学院数学系主任，并在1961年至1975年间定期访问非洲，协助非洲教育项目。阿莱尔-威廉姆斯写道[2]：-

……非洲数学项目将英语非洲国家的非洲人、美国人和英国教育工作者聚集在一起，考虑非洲数学教育的变革。……非洲数学项目在非洲组织了写作研讨会，产生了恩德培现代数学系列。1962年至1969年间，非洲数学项目在恩德培和蒙巴萨举办了年度为期八周的写作研讨会，并制作了80多卷教材，涵盖小学、教师培训、中学和六年级数学。

阿莱尔-威廉姆斯从1963年到1975年参加了这些研讨会。

1963年12月，从美国回到尼日利亚后不久，她与Babatunde马克斯·亚伯拉罕 Williams（生于1932年）结婚，他是一位政治学家，结婚时是伊费奥孙大学的高级讲师。在伊巴丹大学做了两年博士后工作后，阿莱尔-威廉姆斯被任命为拉各斯大学教育学院数学教学的一级讲师。她于1965年搬到拉各斯就任，她的丈夫同时也在拉各斯大学就职。

1968年，阿莱尔-威廉姆斯被提升为拉各斯大学的高级讲师，并于1974年成为数学副教授。她于1971年发表了论文[4]，The Entebbe Mathematics Project。她的论文对Entebbe Mathematics Series（包含67卷文本，涵盖整个小学、培训、中学和第六学级）给出了以下结论：-

恩德培数学系列有时被称为美国系列，但这忽略了非洲参与者的宝贵贡献，他们深切感受到该系列的非洲起源。此外，整个活动提供了一个前所未有的教学与学习国际论坛。非洲人与欧洲人和美国人合作，编写出了足以在世界任何地方使用的数学教材。所有相关方都获得了互利，该项目显然促进了国际理解。

她于1974年出版了Modern Mathematics Handbook for Teachers一书。

1975年，她被任命为拉各斯大学教育研究所所长，担任该职位直到1985年。在这个角色中，她引入了证书课程，这些课程在培训老年妇女成为小学教师方面尤为重要。她还在大学外担任重要职位，从1973年到1979年担任本德尔州课程审查委员会主席。她从1979年到1985年担任拉各斯州课程审查委员会和拉各斯州考试委员会主席。她在1976年的报告[2]中已经指出了所需的内容：-

学校里的实验让许多家长更多地思考孩子在学校学到了什么，而且说教师年度和期末在职培训课程促使教育部重新思考其数学课程，也并不算夸大其词。就拉各斯州而言，恩德培数学项目的良好示范效应恰逢该州准备引入新教学大纲，导致该项目被全盘接受。在拉各斯州，我们相信在教师方面仍有大量工作要做。教教师数学相对简单，但改变他们的态度和做法则更难。我们还需要数年的艰苦努力，才能真正宣称现代数学已经站稳脚跟。

阿莱尔-威廉姆斯于1985年被任命为贝宁大学副校长。这是一项非凡的成就，因为她成为首位担任非洲大学副校长的女性。她一直担任此职至1991年。在2004年的一次采访中，该采访被[16]和[17]引用，她说：-

我从Jubril Aminu教授[尼日利亚教育部长]那里收到消息时的兴奋，更多是从为女性开辟这一领域的角度来看待它，而非其他任何事。我视其为一次机会，来表明女性也能挺身应对。此外，我知道女性期望的分量。她们急切地想看到事情会如何发展，而我不会让她们失望。请注意，那些任命我的人觉得我胜任此职；所以这不仅仅是想满足女性同胞的渴望。事情并非那么简单。

正如[16]所解释的，此时任何人承担这项任务都是令人生畏的：-

尽管她成就斐然，但正是在尼日利亚高等教育的一段黑暗时期，阿莱尔-威廉姆斯 Awani 阿莱尔-威廉姆斯教授进入了全国性的关注。秘密邪教、兄弟会和社团的祸害已在尼日利亚大学中蔓延。南部的大学尤其受影响，贝宁大学是受灾最严重的之一。正是在这种情形下，阿莱尔-威廉姆斯教授于1985年被任命为副校长。但成为尼日利亚或非洲大学的首位女性副校长，对阿莱尔-威廉姆斯来说几乎不是问题。一项许多其他男性都失败的任务摆在她面前，而她的焦点正在于此。正是凭借勇气、机智和策略的结合，大学中日益增长的邪教主义浪潮最终被遏制，在全国各地的高等学府中引发了变革的涟漪。

她的一名学生，在2012年12月16日庆祝阿莱尔-威廉姆斯80岁生日时撰文，表达了对她的赞赏[14]：-

今天，亲朋好友齐聚拉各斯，庆祝一位伟大的非洲人、一位优秀的尼日利亚人、一位超级爱国者、一位妇女事业的不屈斗士、一位伟大的教育家和教育学家、尼日利亚学术界无与伦比的母亲、一位堪称典范的亚马逊女战士——阿莱尔-威廉姆斯 Awani 阿莱尔-威廉姆斯教授80岁生日。我在这里庆祝这位特殊的女性，不仅因为她是贝宁大学校长，签署了我的学位证书（1985年历史学学士，作为我班最佳毕业生），还因为她是那些为伟大的UNIBEN增添“伟大”光彩的人中的“同侪之首”！当然，接替另一位伟大的尼日利亚人Adamu Baikie教授担任贝宁大学校长并非易事，但阿莱尔-威廉姆斯教授以优雅、勇气和毅力做到了。作为尼日利亚大学首位被任命为校长的女性，她在贝宁接手前的冷嘲热讽震耳欲聋！从冷静坚定地化解有组织的“alutas”、散布谣言、可怕的虚张声势、破坏等等，她在贝宁大学1985年至1991年的时光堪称黄金时代。阿莱尔-威廉姆斯妈妈向所有人敞开大门，尊重学生，倾听他们的意见，鼓励学术自由，不因持有相反观点而迫害任何人，使贝宁大学成为真正的学习场所。而她在军政府统治最严厉的时期做到了这一切。

在担任校长之后，她曾在雪佛龙-德士古尼日利亚公司董事会任职。她还在尼日利亚拉各斯的一家资产管理公司HIP董事会任职。1994年11月11日，她在库鲁的14国家政策与战略研究所发表了杰出年度讲座：-

在一场被视为名副其实的“杰作”的演讲中，阿莱尔-威廉姆斯教授充满激情地谈到了尼日利亚大学系统作为国家凝聚力、变革和发展工具的作用。今天，当我们哀叹教育水平下降以及真正优质教育机会的负面族裔化和收缩时，我们不妨掸去这位伟大尼日利亚人的演讲灰尘，跟进她的一些建议。我这样说，是因为她近二十年前所讲的内容对我们今天的处境仍然切中要害。她不仅是一位伟大的管理者、人力和资源的管理者、目标实现者，还是一位伟大的远见者。

鉴于她的卓越成就，阿莱尔-威廉姆斯获得了许多奖项和荣誉。她于1987年获得尼日尔勋章，当选为尼日利亚数学协会会士和尼日利亚教育科学院会士。她获得了尼日利亚本德尔州功绩奖，担任过第三世界妇女科学组织非洲区域副主席，以及非洲数学联盟数学妇女委员会主席。让我们注意，阿莱尔-威廉姆斯的出生地是瓦里，当时属于本德尔州，现在属于三角洲州。

2014年2月28日，她获得了百年纪念奖。尼日利亚报纸Encomium对此事件报道如下[15]：-

阿莱尔-威廉姆斯，尼日利亚首位女性数学教授和首位女性校长，今晚（2014年2月28日星期五）在阿布贾拄着拐杖走上讲台领取百年纪念奖时，赢得了震耳欲聋的掌声。当她的名字在礼堂中响起时，宾客们兴奋不已——她满面笑容地与总统Goodluck Jonathan握手。

2017年11月25日星期六，阿莱尔-威廉姆斯被贝宁大学授予荣誉博士学位。伊巴丹大学于2018年11月17日星期六庆祝建校纪念日，当时该校已有70年历史。在那一天，六位杰出的尼日利亚人被授予荣誉学位，其中之一就是阿莱尔-威廉姆斯。

Grace Alele-Williams was given the name Grace Awani Alele; she adopted the Alele-Williams name by which she is now known after her marriage to Babatunde A Williams. Grace attended Government School, Warri, and Queen's College, Lagos, graduating in 1949. In that year she entered University College Ibadan, now the University of Ibadan, and graduated with an Honours Degree in Mathematics in 1954. At this time University College Ibadan, was not awarding its own degrees and so the Honours Degree that she received was an external University of London degree. Every summer during her undergraduate studies, Alele returned to her home town of Warri and, starting in 1950, she taught mathematics during the summer vacation at Hussey College, Warri.

After the award of her honours degree in 1954, Alele was appointed as a mathematics teacher at Queen's School, Ede, Osun State, where she taught from 1954 to 1957 [12]:-

Dissatisfied with her situation at Queen's School, Alele managed to obtain financial assistance from the Nigerian Head of Service to attend the University of Vermont as a graduate assistant with the goal of becoming a secondary school teacher. She found the weather in Vermont to be cold and also experienced forms of segregation in the rural setting. Soon, however, Sputnik shifted America's attention to the importance of mathematics and education, and Alele had the opportunity to go to the University of Chicago, Columbia, or Harvard. She chose the University of Chicago, and in 1963 obtained her Ph.D. in mathematics education with a dissertation on "Dynamics of Education in the Birth of a New Nation: Case Study Of Nigeria."

She had been awarded a Master's Degree in Education in 1959 having taught mathematics as a Graduate Assistant in the Mathematics Department while studying Mathematical Education. A Graduate Fellowship Award allowed her to go to the University of Chicago Illinois later in 1959 to study for a Ph.D. If this sounds like a relatively standard route to a Ph.D., we have to make it clear that this was a remarkable achievement, for when she was awarded her doctorate in March 1963 she became the first Nigerian woman ever to be awarded a doctorate. After the award of the degree, she returned to Nigeria and spent two years at the University of Ibadan undertaking postdoctoral work as a post-doctoral research fellow in the department and Institute of Education. During this time she became involved in the African Mathematics Programme which came out of a six week meeting at Dedham, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1961 which set up the African Education Program. The chair of the Steering Committee was William Ted Martin (1911-2004), who was the head of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1947 to 1968, and made regular visits to Africa between 1961 and 1975 to assist with the African Education Program. Alele-Williams writes [2]:-

... the African Mathematics Programme brought together Africans, Americans, and British educators in English-speaking African countries to consider changes in mathematics education in Africa. ... The African Mathematics Programme organized writing workshops in Africa that produced the Entebbe Modern Mathematics Series. Between 1962 and 1969, the African Mathematics Programme conducted annual eight-week writing workshops in Entebbe and Mombassa, and produced over 80 volumes of textual materials covering primary school, teacher training, secondary, and sixth-form mathematics.

Alele-Williams participated in these workshops from 1963 to 1975.

In December 1963, not long after returning to Nigeria from the United States, she married Babatunde Abraham Williams (born 1932), a political scientist who, at the time of their marriage, was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ife Osun. After two years postdoctoral work at the University of Ibadan, Alele-Williams was appointed as Lecturer I in the Teaching of Mathematics in the Faculty of Education at the University of Lagos. She moved to Lagos to take up the appointment in 1965, her husband taking up an appointment at the University of Lagos at the same time.

In 1968 Alele-Williams was promoted to Senior Lecturer at the University of Lagos and, in 1974, Associate Professor of Mathematics. She published the paper [4], The Entebbe Mathematics Project, in 1971. Her paper gives the following conclusion about the Entebbe Mathematics Series comprising 67 volumes of texts which cover the entire primary, training, secondary and sixth form levels:-

The Entebbe Mathematics Series have sometimes been dubbed American but this is to ignore the valuable contribution of the African participants, who feel keenly the African origin of the series. Moreover the whole exercise has provided an international forum for teaching and learning, unprecedented in the annals of education. Africans, working with Europeans and Americans, have produced mathematics texts good enough for use anywhere in the world. Mutual benefits have been derived by all concerned and the project has clearly contributed to international understanding.

She published the book Modern Mathematics Handbook for Teachers in 1974.

In 1975 she was appointed as Director of the Institute of Education of the University of Lagos, a position she held until 1985. In this role she introduced certificate courses which were particularly important in training older women to become primary school teachers. She also had important positions outside the university being chairman of Bendel State Curriculum Review Committee from 1973 to 1979. She served as chairman of the Lagos State Curriculum Review Committee and Lagos State Examinations Boards from 1979 to 1985. She had already identified what was needed in her report of 1976 [2]:-

The experiments in the schools led many parents to think more about what their children learned at school and it is not too great a claim to say that the annual and end-of-term inservice courses for teachers led ministries of education to rethink their mathematics programme. In the case of Lagos State, the favourable demonstration effect of the Entebbe Mathematics program coinciding with the states' readiness to introduce a new syllabus led to the total acceptance of the project. In Lagos State, we believe we still have considerable work to do with the teachers. Teaching the teachers mathematics is a relatively simple task but changing their attitude and practice is harder. Several years of hard work are still necessary before we can truly claim that modern mathematics has come to stay.

Alele-Williams was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin in 1985. This was a remarkable achievement in that she became the first woman to become Vice-Chancellor of an African University. She remained in this position until 1991. In a 2004 interview, quoted in [16] and [17], she said:-

The excitement I felt on receiving the news from Professor Jubril Aminu [the Nigerian Minister of Education] had more to do with seeing it in terms of opening up the field for women than anything else. I saw it as an opportunity to show that women too could rise up to the occasion. Also, I knew what the weight of the expectations of the women was. They were eager to see how things would go and I was not going to let them down. Mind you, those who appointed me felt I was qualified for it; so it was not just a case of wanting to satisfy the yearnings of the womenfolk. It wasn't that simplistic.

The task was a daunting one for anyone to take on at this time as explained in [16]:-

Accomplished as she was, it was during a dark period for Nigeria's higher education that Professor Grace Awani Alele-Williams was to come into national reckoning. The scourge of secret cults, confraternities and societies had spread within Nigerian universities. Universities in the South were particularly affected and the University of Benin one of the worst hit. It was to this scenario that Professor Grace was appointed as vice chancellor in 1985. But being appointed the first female vice chancellor of a Nigerian or an African university was barely the issue for Alele-Williams. A task had been set before her at which many other men had failed, and it was on this that she was focused. It was with a combination of courage, ingenuity and strategy that the growing tide of cultism was eventually stemmed in the university, sending ripples of change across institutions of higher learning all over the country.

One of her students, writing a piece in celebration of Alele-Williams's 80th birthday on 16 December 2012, wrote of her appreciation [14]:-

Today, friends and family are converging in Lagos to celebrate the 80th Birthday of a great African, a quality Nigerian, a super patriot, an indomitable champion of women's causes, a great educator and educationist, the inimitable Mother of Nigerian academia and an exemplary Amazon, Professor Grace Awani Alele-Williams. I am here celebrating this special woman, not only because she was the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Benin who signed my Degree Certificate (BA History, 1985, as the best graduating student in my class), but also because she was 'primus inter pares' amongst those who put the "Great" in Great UNIBEN! Of course, it wasn't easy to have to step into the shoes of another great Nigerian, Professor Adamu Baikie who held the position of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin before her, but Professor Alele-Williams did it with grace, guts and grit. As the first woman to be appointed the Vice-Chancellor of a Nigerian university, the cynicism before her takeover in Benin was ear-splitting! From calmly and firmly defusing sponsored "alutas', rumour-mongering, scary shadow-boxing, sabotage and all, her time at the University of Benin from 1985 to 1991 qualifies as a Golden Age. Mama Grace Alele-Williams opened her doors to everyone, treated students with respect, listened to what they had to say, encouraged academic freedom, victimized no one on account of holding contrary views and made the University of Benin a true place of learning. And she did all this at the height of military rule.

After her time as Vice-Chancellor, she served on the board of directors of Chevron-Texaco Nigeria. She also served on the board of HIP, an Asset Management Company in Lagos, Nigeria. On 11 November 1994 she gave the Distinguished Annual Lecture at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru [14]:-

In what was considered a veritable 'tour de force', Professor Alele-Williams spoke passionately about the role of the Nigerian University system as an instrument for cohesion, change and development in our nation. Today, as we lament the falling standard in education and the negative ethnicization and contraction of real quality educational opportunities, we might do well to go dust up that lecture from this great Nigerian to follow up on some of her proposals. I say this, because what she spoke about almost two decades ago is still germane to our situation today. She is not only a great administrator, manager of men and resources and a goal-getter, she is a great visionary.

Given her remarkable achievements, Alele-Williams received many awards and honours. She received the Order of the Niger in 1987, was elected a Fellow of the Mathematical Association of Nigeria and a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Education. She won a Merit Award of Bendel State in Nigeria, served as Regional Vice President for Africa of the Third World Organization for Women in Science and was chair of the African Mathematical Union Commission for Women in Mathematics. Let us note that Alele-Williams's birth place was Warri which was in Bendel State, but it is now Delta State.

On 28 February 2014 she received the Centenary Award. The Nigerian paper Encomium reported the event as follows [15]:-

Professor Grace Alele-Williams, first female professor of Mathematics and first female Vice Chancellor in Nigeria, received deafening applause as she walked with the aid of crutches to the podium to receive her Centenary Award this evening (Friday, 28 February 2014) in Abuja. Guests were excited as her name rang in the auditorium - and she was all smiles as she shook hands with President Goodluck Jonathan.

On Saturday, 25 November 2017, Alele-Williams was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Benin. The University of Ibadan celebrated Founder's Day on Saturday 17 November 2018, when the university was 70 years old. On that day six eminent Nigerians were awarded honorary degrees, one of the six being Alele-Williams.