Januarius Jingwa (JJ) Asongu, PhD is an American philosopher, theologian, cybersecurity executive, human rights activist, and public intellectual whose interdisciplinary work spans metaphysics, epistemology, theology, psychology, ethics, journalism, information technology, business, and African studies. He is the founder and Chancellor of Saint Monica University (SMU), established in Cameroon in 2012, and the founder of the American Institute of Technology (AIT) in Freetown, Sierra Leone, established in 2025. These institutions serve as intellectual bridges between the United States and Africa and function as living laboratories for implementing his philosophical system, Critical Synthetic Realism (CSR), and its related theological framework, Critical Liberative Theology, in education, ethics, and institutional leadership.
Dr. Asongu holds graduate degrees in psychology, journalism, information technology, and business administration, along with specialized certificates in journalism, Biblical Greek, and Latin, enabling him to engage philosophical and theological traditions in their original linguistic and historical contexts. He has taught at more than a dozen universities across Africa, Europe, and North America and has supervised graduate research at advanced levels, including doctoral work completed at the Sorbonne in Paris.
In addition to his academic work, Dr. Asongu has built a distinguished career in cybersecurity, risk governance, and information assurance. He holds numerous globally recognized professional certifications, including CISSP, CGEIT, CISM, CISA, CDPSE, AWS, and ITIL, making him among the most highly certified professionals in the cybersecurity field. He has worked in the financial sector for some of the world’s largest banks and has consulted for private industry as well as local, state, and federal government agencies in the United States. He has also presented at professional conferences on cybersecurity and emerging technologies, contributing to discussions on governance, risk management, and the ethical implications of technological transformation.
A committed human rights advocate, Dr. Asongu’s scholarly and public work emphasizes human dignity, ethical accountability, and institutional reform. He is the author of over two dozen books and more than 100 peer-reviewed academic articles across philosophy, theology, cybersecurity, ethics, and African studies. As a former Catholic seminarian, psychologist, technologist, and institutional founder, he brings rare intellectual depth and lived experience to questions of truth, justice, and global transformation.
Januarius Jingwa (JJ) Asongu, PhD is an American philosopher, theologian, cybersecurity executive, human rights activist, and public intellectual whose interdisciplinary work spans metaphysics, epistemology, theology, psychology, ethics, journalism, information technology, business, and African studies. He is the founder and Chancellor of Saint Monica University (SMU), established in Cameroon in 2012, and the founder of the American Institute...
