Chinyere Stella Okunna is the first female professor in Mass communication in Nigeria. She has served in various capacities as an administrator and educationist in the academia and in the public/political arena. Chinyere Stella Okunna research interest is in the area of communication for development, particularly women’s development from the perspective of women and the media. She has done considerable work on the role of the media in the effort to empower Nigerian women and improve their condition and status in the patriarchal male-dominated Nigerian society.
Early life and education
Born to Joshua and Christiana Adimora family, Uga in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria, her father (Joshua Obinani Adimora) was a career civil servant who served as the first indigenous/black District Officer (D.O.) in the Aguata Administrative Region in the 1950s and the Deputy Town Clerk of Port-Harcourt Municipal Council in the 1960s. Stella Chinyere Okunna began her early education at St John's Primary School in Ekwulobia where her father served as a government official and ended at Township School Port-Harcourt from where she proceeded to secondary school from Primary 5. Her Secondary School education was at Anglican Girls Grammar School (which later became Girls High School) Awkunanaw, Enugu, from where she obtained her WASC with Grade 1 Distinction as the Best Student in the exam in her school .
Career
Academia
In 2022, Prof. Okunna was appointed the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Paul University Awka, located in Anambra State, Nigeria. Chinyere Stella Okunna started her career as a lecturer in Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu (1981–1994) before she joined the Department of Mass Communication, Nnamdi Azikiwe University in 1994. She became the first female professor of Mass communication in Nigeria in 2001 and remained the only Nigerian female mass communicator to attain such heights for twelve (12) years before the second lecturer, from the same department also became a professor. She was the first female Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences in Nnamdi Azikiwe University (2016–2019). Before then she had been the Faculty Sub-Dean 1996-1998 and Head, Department of Mass Communication 1998–2006. She was able during this period to commence postgraduate programme (PGD, MSc and PhD) and a professional Diploma in Journalism in that department. Chinyere Stella Okunna has received international recognition as her scholarly works appear in Media Culture and Society, Media Development, Journal of Commonwealth Association for Education in Journalism and Communication, Journal of Development Communication, and Africa Media Review.
Also, Stella Chinyere Okunna has served as;
Member National Universities Commission (NUC) Accreditation panels for Mass Communication External Assessor for Professorship hopefuls External Examiner
Her focus in academics is Development Communication/Behaviour Change Gender and Communication.
Public service
In 2006–2014, Chinyere Stella Okunna took a leave of absence from Nnamdi Azikiwe University and joined public service first as Commissioner, Ministry of Information and Culture (2006–2009). She was then appointed to serve as the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget as well as the Coordinating Commissioner for Development Partnership/Donor Agencies (2009–2014). While still working as a Commissioner, she was also saddled with being the Chief of Staff (2012–2014)
She was also the Chair,
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Implementation Committee (2009–2014) Anambra State Committee on Good Governance (2007–2014) Anambra State Vision 2020 (2009–2014)
Stella Chinyere Okunna has also served as a resource person and consultant to many organizations including;
UNICEF
UNFPA
UNESCO
DFID
FHI 360
SFH (Society for Family Health) NUJ NAWOJ Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism at the Technical University of Dortmund in Germany NGE (Nigerian Guild of Editors) CIRDDOC (Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre),
Community service
Her education and later the foray into public service exposed her to needs in communities and how individuals, NGOs and private organizations can assist and encourage young people to achieve academically. Through an NGO she had established (Adimora-Okunna Scholarship Foundation, 2003), she has been able to source for funds and provide;