The Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium has announced its plan to award Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Adichie, with a honorary doctorate degree.
A statement signed by Editor-in-Chief, GLAZIA Communication, Omawumi Ogbe, stated that the award slated for April 28, would be Chimamanda’s 16th honorary doctorate degree.
She said that the ceremony would take place at the main campus in Louvain-la-Neuve, located 20 kilometers from Brussels.
According to her, the awarding institution was founded by Pope Martin V in 1425 and is one of the oldest Catholic universities in Europe and the biggest French speaking university in Belgium.
She said that the school’s most famous alumni included mathematician Vitold Belevich and Queen Mathilde of Belgium.
Ogbe disclosed that the Rector of the University, Vincent Blondel, said that the Academic Council considered Chimamanda’s work to be “remarkable in many ways and particularly inspiring for the university community.”
Blondel added that Chimamanda embodied the “values the University wishes to impart on their students, professors, researchers, and the entire university community.”
“For the new academic year, the university is highlighting the theme, ‘the fragility of truth.’ Adichie’s career, divided between fiction and the reality of struggles against all kinds of oppression, adequately illustrates this theme.”
“This honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Louvain will be Adichie’s 16th honorary doctorate degree.
“She has received honorary degrees from some of the world’s best universities including Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania.
“Others are the University of Edinburgh, Duke University, Georgetown University, and Johns Hopkins University,” she said.