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On Aug. 3, 2021, Prof. Joseph O. Wogu was inaugurated as the new head of the mass commhunication department, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). Prof Wogu has been lecturing in the department since 2008. He was a senior lecturer in the department of mass communication, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, before joining UNN. In this interview with The Record UNN , the receptive senior academic expresses his vision of transforming the department into a faculty as well as his expectations from staff and students as he performs his duties as the HOD.
Can you tell us your academic qualifications, Prof.?
I have a diploma, a BA(Bachelor of Arts), Master's and PhD degrees in mass communication. I also have a postgraduate diploma (PGD) in political science. I am an associate member of the Advertising Practitioners' Council of Nigeria (APCON) and the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
Being the new head of department (HOD) of mass communication, what is your vision or your plans for the department?
My vision is the actualisation of our dream for a faculty of communication which will provide a conducive environment that both staff and students need to be productive. Presently, our staff strength has increased and we don't have enough offices to accommodate all of them. It is not only peculiar to our department. It is a general problem in the school. Sometimes, we have more than four or five staff in a room and I am sure that this is not the best. We also have to expand the horizon of not only the department but the students as well by exposing them to field experience and inviting professionals to interface with them.
My mission is to complete the process of making the department a full-fledged faculty. I will work in harmony with the alumni to complete our building project for a faculty of communication.
I will be open to all ideas that will make the department better than I met it.
What are your expectations from the staff and students of the department as you perform your duties as the HOD?
You know this is a call to duty and I do not intend to work alone. Some of us are more knowledgeable on how to do this work. In this regard, their experiences and co-operation are needed for us to actualise our dream. Efforts should be made to sustain the spirit of teamwork.
For the students, I hope to see them as the most refined and disciplined in character and learning, here and after school. Remember, they are our future hope and we will do our best to build them. In return, I believe that they will not forget their department and lecturers. Working hard to actualise their dreams of coming to this place should be their watchword.
What is your promise to the department?
I promise that I am going to do my best as the head of department.
Sir, on a personal note, can you tell us a little about your family?
I am the second child in a family of eight and I had a twin brother. I am married to my beautiful wife, Chinenye Wogu, and I have three children.
Thank you, Sir, for granting us this interview. We hope you will oblige us when next we call.
Certainly. You are welcome
In January 2020, the National Universities Commission (NUC) responding to request by some mass communication experts and stakeholders to unbundle mass communication, announced the unbundling of Mass Communication into seven programmes namely; journalism & media studies, public relations studies, advertising, broadcasting, film & multi-media studies, development communication studies and information & media studies.
