I welcome you to another academic session; the 2023/2024 session. We give all glory to God who has preserved us to witness another academic calendar. It is our earnest prayers that the good Lord will keep and provide all the needful for us all through the academic year, and beyond.

I count it a great privilege and gratitude to God to serve in this capacity, as the Dean of this noble faculty. The Faculty of the Social Sciences is a leading faculty in the University of Ibadan. Our goal is to ensure that the faculty does not diminish in relevance, but to attain increased recognition in students’ successes, faculty and staff excellence, and alumni achievements. Towards achieving these, my agenda and plan for the faculty are explained under four main headings- administration, academics, infrastructure and welfare.

Administration

·The faculty is an embodiment of different departments (Geography, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, and Employment Relations and Human Resources Management), existing as a subset of a larger social system- The University of Ibadan. Consequent upon this fact, the faculty shall be run with strict adherence to the laws, rules, and norms of the university. The staff and students therein would be encouraged in this line, ensuring discipline among the staff (teaching and non-teaching) and students.

·With emphasis on democratization in the contemporary times, the faculty shall operate an inclusive system, by adopting committee system in running the affairs of the faculty, corroborated with consultations, especially with senior colleagues, where the need arises.

·We shall operate an open-door policy by accommodating other people’s views, and open to valuable criticisms where such may arise.

·A friendlier atmosphere among staff shall by encouraged, where harmony, not acrimony, would be encouraged and every staff and student would be treated equally.

Academics

·Our goal is to lead the faculty towards higher academic grounds, where teaching staff will stand out nationally and internationally and graduates of the faculty will see themselves and be seen nationally and globally as well equipped to face the challenges of the work environment.

· We shall cultivate a sense of shared educational values, goals, and ideals, by inspiring town and gown learning opportunities; integrating our alumni members. Positive outcomes in the faculty would be encouraged through ground-breaking research, publications in reputable outlets to boost international recognition. Towards achieving these, we will influence increase attendance rates in academic conferences and workshops, encourage mentorship programs, and celebrate academic achievements. The Faculty will be encouraged to venture in research and mentoring of the younger colleagues through competing for grants and publishing.

·We shall foster students’ love for learning and give a solid learning foundation by providing an enriched and enduring environment for teachingrning.

·To meet the changing interpersonal relations needs for productive academic environment, the human relations skills of the support staff shall be enhanced through in-house training and workshops, intermittently organized for the non-teaching staff.

·We shall intensify all acceptable means to satisfy the staff recruitment needs of departments in the faculty.

Infrastructure

·Towards ameliorating the problem of inadequate office space for staff, we will further pressurize the Vice Chancellor of the University and source for external support, especially from our alumni, to secure additional structure that will accommodate offices, lecture theatres, laboratories, and other rooms, adequate for academic use. Efforts shall be put in place to maintain and resuscitate all dilapidating structures and facilities.

Welfare

·Committees shall be encouraged to fortify meeting the physical, social and psychological    health needs of students and staff.

We sincerely call on all alumni of this faculty and university, as well as all lovers of humanity, to come forth with helping hands to build this faculty, and establish varied welfare programs and packages to boost the academic, social, and economic wellbeing of the students, academic, and non-academic members of staff of this university.

May the good Lord keep our students and staff in the hollow of His hands, now and always.

Osayawe Benjamin Ehigie, PhD., Dip. Th., FNPA, FNIOP, FIMC, CMC

Professor, Industrial & Organisational Psychology