User talk:Uwakwem, Emmanuel Chibueze

PROFESSOR AFAM ICHA- ITUMA: A GLOBAL DEAN By Onyinyechi Patricia Iroha and Emmanuel Uwakwem

The premise of AE-FUNAI can testify to the emergence of an outstanding individual, the global Dean of FMSS. A man who is not just a profound scholar but also kindhearted and devoted to bettering mankind. Afam Icha-Ituma is a Professor of Human Resource Management and the Dean, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences (FMSS), Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike (AE-FUNAI). He has a BSc (Hons) in Mass Communication from Enugu State University of Technology-ESUT (Nigeria), MBA (Organizational Development) from University of Leicester (UK), and a PhD in Human Resource Management from Brunel University (UK). He has also published widely cited research on a broad range of people management and entrepreneurship issues in developing economies, in a number of top-tier journals.

As Dean, Professor Icha-Ituma oversees academic and administrative matters in FMSS which houses five departments. This responsibility is executed in conjunction with the Heads of these Departments. He seeks to promote internationalization, effective governance, transformative teaching and multidisciplinary research in collaboration with his academic and professional colleagues in the Faculty. Under his tutelage, the Faculty has a global focus in all its activities and aims to foster a culture of academic and professional excellence. This global outlook supports the goal of promoting internationalization and diversity in programmes and research. The Faculty is in an exciting and ambitious phase of its development. He encourages the staff to enhance their global network by teaching abroad and by forging research collaborations with colleagues in prestigious universities in Africa and other parts of the world. This has led to multi-research collaboration and high quality scholarly publications with scholars at the University of Melbourne (Australia),  Kings College London (UK),  University of Jaume (Spain), University of Bradford (UK), Bournemouth University (UK), Brunel University (UK), University of Liverpool (UK), University of Kent (UK), Pan-Atlantic University Lagos Business School (Nigeria), University of Nigeria Nsukka (Nigeria), among others.

He is also keen to ensure high levels of external engagement with various publics related to the Faculty’s teaching and research strengths. He is passionate about creating the right systems, processes and approaches to ensure that academic performance and students’ experience is the best it can possibly be.

Prof Icha-Ituma has been part of the University Management Team from the inception of the University and has served AE-FUNAI in various capacities as the pioneer Director of Academic Planning and ICT Services, founding Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Employability (CEE), pioneer Dean Faculty of Education and pioneer Director, Internationalization, Linkages, Advancement and Global Ranking. He has headed many University committees as it relates to Strategic Plan, Academic Programmes Review and Performance Culture. He has successfully championed efforts to internationalise academic practices, processes and curriculum of the University and improve student satisfaction in relation to both teaching and the wider student experience.

Prior to joining AE-FUNAI, he held a number of academic positions in the UK, including serving as a Lecturer at Brunel University, Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University and an Academic Consultant at Mountbatten Institute. He has been a Visiting Research Fellow at Kingston Business School (UK), the University of Leiden (Netherlands), the University of London (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship), University of Lisbon (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship) and the University of Kent (Erasmus+ Visiting Professor). He has successfully supervised several doctoral students and has served as external examiner at the University of Manchester, University of Northumbria, University of Wales and Pan-Atlantic University (Lagos Business School). He has also functioned as a consultant for a number of organizations in the United Kingdom including Kent Police on Race and Diversity Training Programme. He consults to higher education institutions in Africa to develop their human capital needs through an effective recruitment process, improve student-learning outcomes through robust assessment, and to build institutional capacity for teaching effectiveness, research, service and extension.

To the University he may be just a Dean, but to the students of Fmss he is a pace setter and a role model worthy of emulation.