In the Faculty of Humanities, our departments deliver courses and conduct research in a wide variety of humanistic sciences – from African performance studies to African historiography, to Niger Delta development, to African philosophical studies, to linguistics, to journalism and media studies, Anglophone literature and languages. We’re home to more than 56 staff and over 1,000 students.
Our teaching is supported by the ICT centre, with learning resources created in partnership between academics and experienced ICT staff. All of our degrees aim to offer a global perspective on their subjects, so our students graduate with limitless horizons.
Our research explores themes across a host of subjects within the faculty, which informs the teaching and supervision of our students. Many of our researchers are called on to work with governments, aid organizations and public services around the world, to help bring about social change. We also support academic staff to develop partnerships and consultancy activities with public and private enterprise. We engage with the world beyond our University, ensuring that our students are fully prepared for the careers they wish to pursue. The faculty is located in the West Campus of the University.
At the start of the University in 2011, Humanities began as a Department housing ‘History and International Studies’ and ‘English and Communication Studies’ as Programmes. As the University grew, the Units now metamorphosed into Departments in the then Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and later in the year 2020 the ‘Faculty of Humanities was unbundled from the existing Faculty as an independent Faculty in the University.
The two (2) initial Departments in the Faculty of Humanities had existed alongside those in the Social Sciences under the same Faculty – the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences – which was one of the foundational Faculties at the commencement of academic activities in the University. The Faculty has been led by very seasoned academics, including Professors Philomena E. Ejele, Diri I. Teilanyo, Saviour N. Agoro and Benjamin O. Okaba.
Following the ‘unbundling of the Faculty, two (2) Faculties – the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor Okechukwu Edward Okeke was appointed the first Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. He handed over to Professor Akachi Cornelius Odoemene, who was appointed in April 2021. Prof. Akachi C. Odoemene handed over to Prof. Osakue S. Omoera in August 2024.
Prior to this time, only two Departments – the Department of English and Communication Studies, and the Department of History and International Studies, the Faculty of Humanities has graduated seven (7) sets of students. The pioneer stream graduated in the 2015/2016 academic session. The Faculty currently has a student-population of over one thousand. The two Departments under the Faculty have faced two (2) Accreditation Exercises (back-to-back) in 2015 and 2020 – for their Undergraduate Programmes by the National Universities Commission (NUC). In both exercises, the Departments had Full Accreditation, essentially due to the strength and resilience of their personnel and programmes. Similarly, the proposals by the Departments for the commencement of Postgraduate Programmes at both Masters and Doctoral levels received a positive nod by the NUC after a rigorous Resource Verification Exercise in 2021. Consequently, PG Programmes would commence in both Departments in the 2021/2022 Academic Session.
The Faculty of Humanities has since expanded into six (6) NUC-approved programmes (inclusive of the initial two). These include the Departments of Philosophy, Theatre and Film Studies, Linguistics, and, Journalism and Media Studies. With these, the Faculty is now better positioned to continue to deliver on its mandate in academic quality and excellence in the spheres of the humanities.
In respect of academic staff members, the Faculty boasts of ten (10) Professors, seven (7) Senior Lecturers and thirty nine (39) staff of the other ranks. Fifteen (15) of these non-professorial staff members hold Ph.D. degrees. The Faculty’s non-teaching staff strength stands at thirty-three (27) – twenty (20) Senior Staff and seven (7) Junior Staff members spread across the Dean’s Office and the six Departments.