Adesoji Adelaja

Adesoji O. Adelaja (born February 20, 1956) is an economist and John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in Land Policy at Michigan State University.

Born in Lagos n in 1956, Adelaja attended Pennsylvania State University in the United States, where he received his B.S. and pursued graduate study at West Virginia University, receiving two M.S. degrees and his Ph.D. Upon completing his doctorate, Adelaja taught at Idaho State University for a year, then joined the faculty of Rutgers University in 1986, later becoming department chair of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Director of the Ecopolicy Center, Director of the Food Policy Institute, Founder of the Food Innovation Center, Cook College Dean of Research, Dean of Cook College, and Executive Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Adelaja received his B.S. in Agricultural Mechanization in the class of 1978 at Pennsylvania State University.

In 1980, Adelaja received his M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the Davis College of WVU.

In 1981, he received his M.A. in Economics from the College of Business of WVU.

In 1985, he received his PH.D. in Economics from the College of Business of WVU.

In 1985, Adelaja joined the faculty at Idaho State University as an Assistant Professor in Economics.

He served as an economic adviser to the Shoshone Bannock Native American tribe at the Fort Hall reservation.

As an economic adviser he played a large part in increasing grazing revenues, defining their water rights and developing tribal enterprises and tax ordinances.

In 1986, Adelaja joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics (AFRE) at Rutgers University.

In 1993, he founded and served as the Director for the Rutgers Ecopolicy Center (ECOPOL).

By 1996, he had been appointed Chair of AFRE.

In 1997, he served as the Director for and founded the Rutgers Food Policy Institute.

In 1999, he founded the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, a center that still serves the Southern New Jersey economy.

He was appointed to many state boards and commissions as well as serving as an adviser to the offices of Governors McGreevey and Whitman.

In 1999, Soji was appointed as the Dean of Research of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES).

"After, he quickly rose to Dean of Cook College, Executive Director of the New Jersey Experiment Station (NJAES), and Executive Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources."

As the Executive Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Soji oversaw Rutgers University's largest research unit and a massive college that included 21 extension offices, 18 centers and institutes, 14 departments and 10 research stations.

In 2002, he was inducted into the Roll of Outstanding Alumnus at the College of Agriculture at the Pennsylvania State University.

He became John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in Land Policy at Michigan State University in 2004.

He retired from Rutgers in 2004.

In 2004, Adelaja joined the faculty at Michigan State University.

In Michigan, he founded and served as Director of the Land Policy Institute and the Michigan Higher Education Land Policy Consortium.

Adelaja lives in West Palm Beach, Florida with his wife Frances Adelaja.

He has three children.

"In recognition of his service at Rutgers, Soji received several Excellence in Research awards, an Excellence in Outreach awards, two Team Awards for Excellence, the Presidential Award for Distinguished Public Service, an Award from the New Jersey Legislature for outstanding contributions to the Garden State and a special recognition from Governor James McGreevey for his contribution to the development of the State of New Jersey. In 2004, Soji was honored as the George Hammell Cook Emeritus Executive Dean and Professor in recognition of his service to the university and the state."

. At Michigan State University, he has received several awards, including the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2010.

Adelaja is listed in Who's Who in America and among America's top educators by Marquis Who's Who.

Soji has been on several corporate and philanthropic boards.

He chairs the boards of Chapel Hill Denham (a leading investment bank in Africa), Student Accomod8 (a real estate development company in Nigeria), and the Beneva Foundation (a Florida-based family foundation).

He also chairs the Advisory Board of the Alliance for Modernizing African Agri-food Systems and the Africa Advisory Council of United Way Worldwide.

He is on the board of directors of Trustfund Pension Ltd, on the Advisory Board of the Alliance for African Partnerships, and on the Global Advisory Council of Pennsylvania State University.

He is a Global Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC.

1. R.

Mukhopadhyay and A. Adelaja.

“Predicting Acquirers of US Food and Agribusiness Firms” Agribusiness: An International Journal, November 29, 2023.

https://doi.org/10.1002/agr.21876

2. A.

Adelaja, J. George, T. Jayne, M. Muyanga, T. Awokuse, S. Liverpool-Tasie and A. Aromolaran.

In 2018, the West Virginia University School of Business inducted Adelaja into its Roll of Distinguished Alumni.