Professor Akan Williams earned a B.Sc degree in Chemistry from the University of Calabar in 1991; an M.Sc degree in Petroleum Chemistry from University of Port Harcourt and a Ph.D degree in Environmental Chemistry from Covenant University. He has obtained 21 different certifications from COURSERA. He is a Covenant University Professor of Chemistry with specialisation in Analytical and Environmental Chemistry. He is currently the Director, Covenant University Central Instrumentation Research Facility (CUCIRF); immediate past Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies and Chairman, Committee of Deans. He is a former Acting Vice- Chancellor of Covenant University and was prior to his appointment as the 6 th Vice-Chancellor in 2020, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University for two years. He earlier served as Head, Department of Chemistry; Director, Vice-Chancellor’s Office; Director, Academic Planning and Dean of Students. He served as chairman, Senate Business Committee for three years and chairman of twenty-five standing and ad-hoc committees of the University at different times.
He has been an External Examiner and Professorial Assessor to universities within and outside Nigeria, including the University of Johannesburg, University of Fort Hare, South Africa; University of Sierra Leone; Bharathiar University and University of Madras, India. He is a Fellow, the Chemical Society of Nigeria; Fellow, Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria; Member, Royal Society of Chemistry and Member, American Chemical Society. He is a former Chairman, of Chemical Society of Nigeria, Ogun State Chapter. His research focus is on the monitoring of persistent organic pollutants in the environment and the use of bio-resources for environmental clean-up. He has supervised many Master’s dissertations and PhD theses to completion. A public speaker and Covenant University Chief Orator, he has served on the Editorial Board of many journals and is a reviewer for many high-impact Journals. He has to his credit about a hundred and ten (110) published articles in international refereed journals, Encyclopaedia and conference proceedings.
He is a member of many research clusters and a regular attendee at local/international
Conferences and Workshops, including Training Workshop on the use of Atomic Absorption
Spectrometer, Gas Chromatograph, High Performance Liquid Chromatograph and Infrared
Spectrometer by FINLAB Nigeria Ltd in conjunction with Buck Scientific, USA; UNIDO-NQIP EU sponsored Training on Total Quality Management, Workshop on Quality Assurance in the Laboratory Management organized by Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria (IPAN); ISO 9001:2015 Management Awareness and Management System Documentation Course by Bureau Veritas, Chemical Safety and Security Curriculum Development Programme sponsored by United States Department of State in conjunction with International Biological Chemical Threat Reduction and Sandia National Laboratories, and Success Factors in University and Industry Collaborations by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He has been Chairman and member of NUC accreditation teams to Nigerian Universities and has coached and chaperoned many students for competitions and exchange programmes within Nigeria and outside the country. He is a recipient of many awards, including award as the best former Vice-Chancellor at Virtual Institute for Capacity Building in Higher Education
(VICBHE) training, Modules 8 and 9, on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Teaching, Research and Community Service in Higher Education; and Writing Grant-Winning Proposals. Prof. Williams initiated the establishment of CUCIRF during his tenure as Head, Department of Chemistry, and served as the Board Chairman of CUCIRF between 2016-2021.