Timothy T. Ajani
Fayetteville State University
A faculty member at FSU since August 2001, Ajani has taught courses ranging from English Comp, Modern novel and African Literature, to Elementary and Intermediate French and Yoruba. His experiences teaching students from a multiple range of backgrounds across three continents has helped shape his approach to teaching and learning. Ajani strongly believes that every student can succeed at learning, given a combination of the right tools, the right approach and the right guidance from teachers who model what they teach before their students. Ajani's multilingual and multicultural backgrounds have helped mold him into a caring and compassionate teacher who always puts his students first, constantly, but patiently prodding, nudging and encouraging them to become the best that they can he, whether it be in the traditional classroom or in the hi-tech language laboratory where he painstakingly teaches his students to appreciate the diverse cultures and languages of the world.
One of Ajani's former students (now a holder of a Masters Degree in Applied linguistics) puts his experience in Ajani's classes this way: "Dr. Ajani provides an environment that is conducive to the learning of foreign languages. He accomplishes this by engaging students with the cultural components of a language and its speakers. One challenge that students often face when learning a foreign language is that they feel a sense of unease; a fear of making mistakes. A quintessential polyglot himself, Dr. Ajani often shares stories of his own struggles with learning other languages as he has moved from one nation to another, and from one culture to another and encourages them to not hesitate to speak - mistakes and all! This attitude helps put students at ease in his classes, thus creating an atmosphere in which learning is both fun and enjoyable."
Although Ajani's first love is teaching, he also spends a considerable amount of time researching and publishing his findings in peer-reviewed journals. Most of his publications are in the area of language and linguistics, but he also enjoys writing poetry. Over the past couple of years he has released two inspirational poetry volumes. Ajani also serves on the editorial boards of peer-reviewed journals and is active in the community, reaching out to foreign language teachers in our public school system, sharing his expertise, knowledge and experience with them as needed. His students adore him and look up to him as a teacher, mentor and friend.
Ajani earned his doctorate in Linguistics and an ESL Certificate from the University of Florida; M.A and M.Phil degrees in Applied Linguistics from the Universitd de Ia Sorbonne Nouvelle, France and an undergraduate degree (with honors) in French from the University of lfe (now Obaferni Awolowo University), Nigeria. He taught languages to put himself through school over the years. This experience has helped him to be a seasoned, understanding and compassionate teacher, as he helps his students to become global citizens.