Faculty of Arts evolve following splitting of the joint Faculty of Arts and Education in the 1978/79 Academic Session. The faculty started on a

solid foundation evolving from the ideals of internationally renowned scholars drawn from different parts of the world. At inception, the Faculty of Arts started with four Academic Departments namely; Arabic and Islamic Studies, English Language, History and Languages and Linguistics. However, in the 1983/84 Academic Session, the Faculty of Arts witnessed a remarkable growth in its academic programmes occasioned by the establishment of two new Academic Departments. These were Departments of Fine Arts and Mass Communications.

Occasioned by series of developments leading to restructuring by the university, some of the pioneer Academic Departments in the faculty were moved to other faculties, while others have modified their nomenclatures and introduced new courses to meet-up with aspirations of the society and current realities. Presently, the Faculty of Arts consists of six Academic Departments offering varied programmes aimed at equipping students with requisite skills in the areas of their chosen specialties. Diversity is one of the key elements of the faculty, her students are drawn from different parts of Nigeria, Africa and other continents.

Office accommodations for members of the faculty are located in the New Faculty of Arts Complex which serves as the nucleus of the Faculty as well as the Departmental Administration. Similarly, other staff of the faculty are accommodated within the various Academic Departments either at the Academic Area or at the Complex. To facilitate teaching, research and documentation, most of the Departments in the Faculty of Arts is in liaison with some established Centres within and outside the university. These include Centre for Research and Documentation in Trans-Saharan Studies, University of Maiduguri; Nigeria Arabic Language Village, Ngala; French Village, Badagry among others. As a thing of pride, the faculty, apart from the main university library, Prof C.M.B. Brann’s International Library of Language in Education and Society and the various departmental libraries, the faculty has a library within the faculty complex, which services all the departments.

As part of academic discourse, it is interesting to note that the faculty, at a regular interval organise Seminar Series. Faculty of Arts Seminar Series attracts participants from different fields of academic endeavours and institutions. Peer-reviewed papers that prove to be of high-quality are published by the Faculty of Arts Seminar Series Committee.

List of Departments in the Faculty

• Department of Arabic Studies
• Department of English and Literary Studies
• Department of History and Strategic Studies
• Department of Islamic Studies
• Department of Languages and Linguistics
• Department of Theatre Arts

Present Dean

Past Deans, Sub-Deans and Faculty Officers

Current Faculty Staff

Faculty Journal: The name of the Faculty of Arts bi-annual journal is Liwuram

Faculty-based Researches:

Grants/linkages/partnership/affiliations: Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, University of Bayreuth, University of Hamburg and McArthur Foundation

Other things about the Faculty: