The department mourns the loss, several months ago, of retired faculty member Dr. Emmanuel Okechukwu “Chuks” Odita. Dr. Odita taught in Ohio State’s Department of History of Art from 1969 to 2012, training generations of students in the historical and modern arts of Africa.

Dr. Odita was born in 1936 in Onitsha, Nigeria. After moving to the United States, he earned his PhD in African Art from Indiana University, as well as a Master of Arts in Printmaking and Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Iowa State. Throughout his career, he was both a scholar and an artist, exhibiting his creative work internationally. His scholarship focused largely on 20^th century African art and its relationship to traditional media and culture. He was a huge part of the department’s culture and mission for many decades.

Dr. Odita is survived by his four children, and will be greatly missed by friends and colleagues in Columbus and around the world. A full obituary can be found here.