Bio:
I was born and raised in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
I am a Professor of English at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.
I am currently Director of Africana Studies. I served as Department Head of the Department of English & Philosophy at Drexel from May 2002-December 2015 and as the founding editor of the Journal of the African Literature Association (JALA) from 2007-2017. I was also editor of JALA’s predecessor, the ALA Bulletin from 1998-2007.
After earning a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Alberta, Canada, I received a "Society for the Humanities" postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell University and was also a senior postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Prior to coming to Drexel, I taught at the University of Alberta and at Grambling State University, Louisiana. I have published mainly on African authors while my teaching interests span several areas in both the western and non-western literary traditions.
I recently was awarded a 2019-2020 Fulbright research fellowship in France (Université Paul-Valéry III) and also received the 2019 “Harold M. Myers Award for Distinguished Service” at Drexel. These awards follow others, such as the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1991, ”the most dedicated professor" for the year 2002 by the Drexel Undergraduate Student body, and the Faculty Member of the Year for 2002-2003 by The Drexel Minority Achievement Program.
The African Literature Association also honored me not only by naming me the Association’s “Distinguished Member of the Year” in 2017 but also inaugurated the “Abioseh Porter Award for Best Essay Published in The Journal of the African Literature Association (JALA).