Author / Speaker

Dr. Chris Apoder O’Riordan-Adjah has dedicated a large part of his adult life to inspiring, motivating, and encouraging people of all ages and walks of life, especially college students. Chris has spent countless hours counseling and advising students on academics, honesty, integrity, and any number of other issues, be they school-related or personal. His efforts in teaching, writing, and public speaking have provided people with the tools with which to build a better destiny for themselves.

Born in Berlin, Germany, and raised in Ghana (West Africa), Chris has lived in the United States since 1995. He has earned several degrees: Bachelor of Mathematics, Bachelor of Civil Engineering, Master of Structural Engineering, Master of Quality Engineering (Industrial Engineering), and Doctor of Civil Engineering. After brief stints with structural engineering firms designing bridges, Chris went into consulting engineering which gave him the opportunity and flexibility to follow his passion - - teaching. Although teaching is his primary career now, he is still an independent consultant, holding professional licenses in Florida, and Michigan, as well as North Carolina.

Chris’s teaching expertise covers the full range of higher education, from community college level to small college and major four-year university/graduate school level, in both the public and private sectors. He began his teaching career as a lecturer at a four-year university, reaching both undergraduate and graduate students. This eventually turned into a full-time teaching position at the university for several years, followed by several more years at a small private liberal arts college where he spearheaded an engineering program, serving as both director of the engineering program and as an associate professor. This was followed by a Department Head of Engineering position at a large technical community college and currently the Dean at a community college.

Through his ongoing student counseling efforts and his passion to help college students, Chris was led to found “Let’s Talk Ed” podcast and speaking business, built on the premise of providing inspiration and motivation to those who may be swimming upstream in their life’s journey -- especially students. “Let’s Talk Ed” podcast a bi-weekly podcast to discuss student issues and concerns, based on the premise that students, like surfers, sometimes lose their balance when grappling with the many issues and problems of college life and need help occasionally so they can get back on their board and surf smoothly and successfully to graduation.

Chris’s own struggles in life -- coming to live in a different country and environment, struggling to make ends meet while attending college, and overcoming both personal and physical obstacles growing up in Ghana -- have given him the resolve to face issues head-on, as well as an understanding of others facing similar situations. Carrying him through all of this has been his rock-solid religious faith and a deep-seated grit and determination to see things through to their final resolution.

His low-key, modest approach to living belies the fact that he has been the recipient of several awards, including Outstanding Faculty of the year, Academic Advisor of the year, and Mentor of the Year, as well as the Winfred Membery Hanzlik Award for Global Citizenry presented to an international student who has made an outstanding contribution to the college community through sharing the cultural advantages of his or her native country, and through the expression of universal brotherhood.

In summary, Chris has tried his utmost to live up to the words of his most admired personage, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou: “...everything I do is about survival, not just bare, awful, plodding survival, but survival with grace and faith. While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.”