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Office of the Dean, Faculty of Social Science

Professor Joseph Iroka Onyema

The Current Dean Faculty of Social Science

Dean, Faculty of Social Science

The Faculty of Social Sciences traces its genealogy to the defunct Institute of Foundation Studies (IFS). It would be recalled that the IFS was the home of foundational courses in Humanities and Social Sciences. 

With the upgrading of the university to a conventional one in 2017, it became expedient for courses that fall within the purview of phatic and ethnographic configurations to be integrated into the general programme bouquet of the university.

In line with the emerging dynamics, the then Director of IFS, Rev. (Mother) Prof. M. P. Eboh, at the 243rd Regular Senate Meeting held on the 27th July 2017, requested that the institute be converted to the Faculty of Humanities. 

The Curriculum and Instruction Committee (C&I), as headed then by Prof. (Mrs.) O. A. Davies, considered extensively the directive of Senate and recommended the evolution of two faculties – Humanities and Social Sciences – from the Institute of Foundation Studies. The initial consideration was to have all the programme strands, highlighted above, come under a condensation.  This perhaps may have informed the Senate directive at its 244th Regular meeting held on 28th September 2017.

The directive states inter-alia that:

Senate after due deliberation directed C&I to consider social sciences as well and decide whether the proposed Faculty should be named Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Consequently, the Curriculum and Instruction Committee recommended, after due deliberations, the establishment of the two faculties as earlier proposed, with a mandate to review the curricula of the programme to be domiciled therein.

The exercise above was completed within a considerable time frame with recommendations bordering on the establishment of the under listed programmes/departments to be domiciled in the Faculty of Social Sciences:

  • Department of Economics
  • Department of Geography and Environment Management
  • Department of Mass Communication (to be migrated from the Faculty of Management Sciences, which has become the Faculty of Mass Communication and Media Studies)
  • Department of Political Science
  • Department of Psychology
  • Department of Sociology

Staff list in the Department

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Dean

The University Academic Dean of Faculty occupies a unique position in the continuum of academic administrators, as the facilitating link among heads of Department/School Directors, academic and non-academic staff, students from various department, and University leadership. The programs, activities and roles of the deans are undertaken in light of furthering the best interests of the members of the faculty and students of Rivers State University. 

Heads of Department

The various Heads of Department are saddled with the responsibilities of organizing and supervising the affairs of the Department to the best interest of the students, and also to achieve the University’s goals and objectives.

Faculty Officer

Administrative support officer to the Dean of Faculty works closely with the Dean and with the various Heads of Department in the Faculty, as directed by the establishment unit of the University.

The Faculty officer is also in charge of organizing faculty board meetings with the dean and supervising the registration of newly admitted students in the Faculty.

PG Coordinator

Faculty PG coordinator is in charge of organizing and supervising the admission of new postgraduate students into the Faculty,

The officer also works closely with the Dean and the various heads of department to organize the presentation of postgraduate seminars and results.

Students’ Adviser Year Head

The students’ adviser is responsible for supporting and encouraging the students’ personal growth and development, by offering guidance to students in the course of their study to help them achieve their educational goals. They also offer advice on the conduct of the students throughout their stay in the university.

Faculty Examination Officer

The Faculty examination officer prepares results for A & GRC and senate

Faculty CCE Coordinator

The Faculty CCE Coordinator handles matters related to students admitted into the Center for Continuing Education programme. They are in charge of preparing timetables for lectures and examination including the management of results from various faculties in the programme.

Faculty Time Table Officer

The timetable officer organizes the lecture and examination timetables for the faculty based on the university’s academic calendar for the session.

Faculty SEO and Others Administrative Officers

Faculty administrative officers act as the point of contact for all students and staff of the faculty.

The administrative officers also assist in the registration of newly admitted students into their various departments. 

STRUCTURE OF THE UNIT

DEAN

Faculty Officer

Heads of Dept

PG Coordinator

SEO

And Other Administrative officers

Time

 

 

Table Officer

C.C.E.

Coordinator

Exams Officer

Student Adviser

Year Head

PHILOSOPHY OF THE PROGRAMMES

To create a platform for the teaching and learning of courses that are geared towards ensuring harmonious relationships among the cognate units of an organic society. This is dovetailed within the conspectus of instilling laudable social values, norms and dispositions that enhance capacities for the actualization of human potentials while creating a pathway for the progress and advancement of society.

OBJECTIVE

The objectives of the Faculty are anchored on the need to:

  • Create a platform for scholarship in the fields that border on social interaction with a view to developing norms and practices that improve society and humanity.
  • Inculcate in students social values, personal values, constitutional values and the recognition of social-familial-personal responsibilities.
  • Develop through teaching deep insights on the dynamics that accompany the distribution of physical and economic endowments over the surface of the earth.
  • Produce a workforce that will galvanize wholesome societal transformation through scholarly applications of conventional theories and paradigms.
  • Ventilate environmental problem/concerns, causes and effects of pollution with a view to ensuring sustainably safe environment.
  • Train students on the mechanics of investigating problems and phenomena, data collection, data processing, synthesis, drawing conclusions and extrapolating general outcomes of scientific enquiry in the social sciences.