Mengistu Dinato Didena was born on April 26, 1969, in Iyesus “Kebele”, near Waka Town, in the Marek’a District of Dawro Zone (former Kullo-Konta Awraja), Southwest Ethiopia. He attended primary and secondary education at Waka Elementary and Junior Secondary and Waka Senior Secondary Schools in Dawro. He received BA and MA degrees in Teaching English and a PhD in Applied Linguistics and Communication from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Before that he received a diploma in English language from Kotebe College of Teacher Education and worked as an English teacher for two years in junior secondary schools.
Mengistu joined a higher learning institution as a graduate assistant at Haromaya University, Ethiopia, in 1995. Later, in 2002, he joined Hawassa University, where he is now a full-time staff member for teaching and research. Apart from teaching and research, he served the university in different capacities: 1) Associate Dean of the College of Social Sciences, 2) Research Coordinator of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, and 3) Head of the School of Languages and Communication Studies. Currently he is serving as a member of the Staff Promotion Committee of the Department and editor of the journal of the college, Ethioinquiry.