Faculty Profile for Dr. Sheriff Folami Folarin

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Dr. Sheriff Folarin has put in over 24 years in the African and global university space. An alumnus of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria's premier academic institution, where he started his teaching career, Dr. Folarin reached the rank of full Professor of International Relations and Politics at Covenant University, where he worked for over 18 years. He arrived at Texas State University as a Visiting Scholar on March 1, 2022, and returned to his home university in Nigeria on September 30, 2022. He was sponsored by the Political Science Department’s William P. Hobby Center for Public Service. He returned to Texas State University on January 15, 2024, as a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, where he teaches courses in Political Science and Public Administration and serves as the Associate Editor-in-Chief of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) Journal, Good Governance Worldwide (GGW) https://goodgovernanceworldwide.org/https://goodgovernanceworldwide.org/

Dr. Folarin’s teaching, research, and community development service experience in university systems across Africa and the United States have earned him peer recognition and academic honors/awards, including invitations to speak at high-level international and national strategic conferences and meetings, including the national war college in Rwanda, where he is a regular guest of the government. Among his awards are fellowships of the Carnegie African Development Fellowship Program in 2015, and Study of the United States Institutes on US Foreign Policy in 2007. He is a Member of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Citizen Diplomacy International (CDI), and International Society for Development and Sustainability (ISDS). His areas of research interest include but are not limited to international/global politics, foreign policy, African governance and politics, and international and comparative public administration. He has supervised and produced 13 PhDs, and sat on the doctoral dissertation panels of over 50 candidates, 44 of whom have bagged their degrees across Nigeria, South Africa and Rwanda. He is Visiting Professor at the Center for Conflict Management, University of Rwanda; Institute of Peace, Security and Development Studies of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria; and Ife Institute of Advanced Studies, Nigeria: where he teaches and mentors doctoral and master’s degree students.

In addition to his academic responsibilities at Covenant University, Dr Folarin served as the Director of International Office and Linkages, where he handled international linkages, programs and student services, and developed University’s internationalization vision and mission, establishing its strong collaboration with over 38 universities around the world.

Dr. Folarin is a specialist in African, Asian, European and Middle East politics. He has over ninety (90) publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, and six (6) books. Most recently, he authored the book, Declining Hegemonical Foreign Polices of Nigeria: A Historico-Political Analysis set for publication by Springer Nature in March 2024, and Rwanda’s Radical Transformation since the End of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, published in 2023 by Palgrave Macmillan. He is the Co-Editor of the 2022 book, Religion and Global Politics: Soft Power in Nigeria and Beyond published by Lexington Books. He is also the lead editor of a recent book, The United Nations and Sustainable Development Goals, published by Palgrave Macmillan. The UN book was edited from papers from the United Nations at the 75 International Conference, which he chaired. Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres wrote the Foreword.

Teaching Interests

International Politics, Foreign Policy, African Politics, Comparative Public Administration. Strategic Studies.

Research Interests

International Relations- Foreign policy of the powers, soft power and foreign policies of African states, global politics, global health diplomacy. African Politics and Governance. Middle East Politics. European Diplomacy. Strategic Studies.