As a doctoral student, Oyerinde studied under Nobel Prize recipient Elinor Ostrom.

News junkies who followed the Nobel Prize selections last month noted that the award in economics recognized, for the first time, a female political economist, and an individual working outside the troubled financial mainstream.

But Dr. Kunle Oyerinde, assistant professor of political science in IWU’s College of Arts and Sciences, noted with satisfaction that the prestigious prize went to a mentor and a friend, Indiana University professor Dr. Elinor Ostrom.

Chaired his dissertation committee

According to Oyerinde, Ostrom arranged to bring him to the U.S. from Nigeria to pursue doctoral work at I.U. and served as his primary benefactor. "Lin," as he calls her, taught eight of his classes and chaired his dissertation committee from 2003-06.

"I wasn’t surprised because she was long overdue for the award," says Oyerinde of Ostrom’s selection.

Ostrom is the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science in I.U.’s College of Arts and Sciences and a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Recognized for analysis of economic governance

"Elinor Ostrom has challenged the conventional wisdom that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatized," announced the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, noting that her studies of user-managed fish stocks, pastures, woods, lakes and groundwater basins proved otherwise.

With husband Vincent, I.U. professor emeritus of political science, Ostrom is co-founder and senior research director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, a research institute affiliated with a number of Ph.D. degrees in areas such as political science, economics, and public and environmental affairs.

Ostroms made scholarship possible

"Both Vincent and Lin gave me a generous scholarship for my 2000-06 graduate studies in their Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis," says Oyerinde.

Oyerinde earned a joint Ph.D. in political science and public policy at I.U. after earning an undergraduate degree in politics, philosophy and economics and a master’s degree in public administration, both from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

While a student in I.U.’s Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Oyerinde received a Ph.D. program fellowship and the Ostrom-Skytte Prize Fellowship.

Just one office away

As one of Ostrom’s students, Oyerinde labored just one office away from the renowned scholar, who he describes as "very down to earth."

"Elinor mentored me through the period in the research field of governance and property relationships," says Oyerinde.

Oyerinde remembers how the Ostroms treated him as a member of their family. "They addressed my children as their grandchildren," says Oyerinde.

Re-connected at WOW4

Last June, just a few months before his colleague made international headlines, Oyerinde renewed his friendship with Ostrom at I.U.’s Workshop of the Workshop (WOW4), which is held every five years in collaboration with the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis.

At WOW4, Oyerinde presented a paper entitled, "Why differing patterns of land rights transformation and land conflict among the Yoruba of Nigeria?" The paper analyzed how indigenous ordering principles in three similar Yoruba communities of Nigeria have influenced land rights transformation to lead to different patterns of violence.

Oyerinde’s paper can be accessed at http://www.indiana.edu/~wow4/papers/papers.html