Edward Lama Wonkeryor is currently the Executive Director of the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE), Republic of Liberia. He was reappointed as Executive Director of the NCHE by His Excellency Ambassador Joseph Nyuma Boakai, President of the Republic of Liberia, on March 25, 2024.
Dr. Wonkeryor served as Director General of the National Commission on Higher Education, Republic of Liberia from August 30, 2021 to January 22, 2024. Prior to his appointment as Director General, Professor Dr. Wonkeryor served as President of Nimba University (formerly the Nimba County Community College) from July 9, 2018 to August 30, 2021. Professor Wonkeryor is currently Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PYJ Polytechnic University.
Dr. Wonkeryor served as President of William V. S. Tubman University from July 1, 2016 to March 5, 2018. He also served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Mass Communication, Liberian and Africana Studies (2013-2016) at Cuttington University, Liberia. In this position, he served as the Chief Academic Officer of the university, responsible for academic related affairs and leadership in the university. As the Chief Operating Officer of the university, he was responsible for the operations of the university and served on the President’s Executive Council with the senior leadership. He also promoted academic excellence throughout the university. He pursued global education opportunities on behalf of faculty and students.
Prior to joining Cuttington University, Dr. Wonkeryor worked as Assistant Professor in the African American Studies Department of Temple University where he focused on African Studies, African American Studies, and Mass Communication from 2003 to 2013. Specifically, he taught courses in African studies, African American studies, and mass communication, and mentored Master’s and Ph.D. students.
Dr. Wonkeryor has authored more than 10 books, book chapters, occasional papers, encyclopedia entries, and many peer-reviewed articles on the African military, ethnicity, political communication, broadcasting, development and evolving democracy in Africa, resistance activities of Africans on the continent and in the United States. His research interests are African political history, peace and conflict resolution, military studies, democratic governance, security and globalization, 19th and 20th century African and African American history, mass communication, and race and ethnic relations. His recent publications are Globalization and Its Implications for Africa (2016), Dimensions of Racism in Advertising: From Slavery to the Twenty-First Century (2015), and African Immigrants in a Diverse United States (2013). Professor Wonkeryor is currently co-writing (with Dr. Glenford Howe et al.) a volume, Tides of Exchange: West Indian Interactions, Contributions, and Impacts on Africa’s Development (17th Century to the Present).
Dr. Wonkeryor worked with the Liberian Broadcasting System (LBS) as Radio Manager and with the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company as Public Relations Officer in the 1980s.
Professor Wonkeryor has a Ph.D. in African American Studies from Temple University (1995), an M.M.C. (Master of Mass Communication) from the University of South Carolina (1980), and a B.A. in Communications from Rowan University (1978). He has presented papers at national and international conferences, including the Oxford Round Table Forum, Oxford University.
Dr. Wonkeryor is married to Mrs. Cynthia Zigbuo-Wonkeryor and they have three children and four grandchildren.