Acting Dean of Faculty: Dr. (Mrs.) Veronica Bassey-Duke
Sub-Dean: Dr. Eton Simon
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History of the Faculty
The Faculty of Communication Technology was created in 2006, when the Department of Mass Communication was relocated from the Faculty of Environmental Science on the advice of the National Universities Commission (NUC) Accreditation team that visited the University in 2005.
The Faculty has been a one-department Faculty for the past six years of its existence. We are happy to announce that the Department of Language and Linguistic Science took off in 2013/20114, with its first intake of students expected in the 2014/2015 academic session.

Vision of the Faculty
Within the ambit of the CRUTECH Vision, the Faculty aims to be a Faculty of academic excellence with a national as well as global perspective, and with the mission of promoting the acquisition of skills and the application of knowledge with a view to solving practical problems; to develop the intellect to question things that are with a view to charting new paths in a changing world.

Rev Dr. (Mrs.) Veronica Bassey-Duke is the current Acting Dean of the Faculty of Communication Technology.
She holds a B.A (Hons) Theatre Arts Degree from the University of Jos, an MCA degree in Communication Arts from the University of Ibadan and a Ph.D in Theatre and Media Studies (Development Communication) from the University of Calabar. She also holds a Certificate of Competency in Monitoring and Evaluation for Social and Behaviour Change Communication from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. A former Head of the Department of Mass Communication andhas also held other administrative positions in the University.
She is a member of Senate of the University and a member of Cross River University of Technology Governing Council.

The Faculty of Communication Technology has the following Departments, each mandated by law to award specific certificates:

¨ Department of Mass Communication
Acting Head of Department: Dr. Ndoma Brown
The Department of Mass Communication has assumed a strong position among the many departments offering communication
courses in Nigerian universities. The Programme was accorded full accreditation in 2010 by the National Universities Commission (NUC) from which it received a resounding rating of 92.8%. So far, this is the record to beat in the University. Indeed, the NUC representative on that accreditation team was so impressed by the Department’s showing that he declared during the Exit Interview that if the NUC allowed him to hold two jobs, his second job would be that of a lecturer in the Department. The Department is due for another NUC accreditation visit in 2014.

¨ Department of Language and Linguistic Science
Acting Head of Department: Dr. (Mrs.) Mercy Ugot (Reader)
In 2013, the Senate of the University approved the establishment of a new department to be based in the Faculty. The new department, to be known as the Department of Language and Linguistic Science, has already put things in motion to admit its first set of students in the 2014/2015 academic year. The programme will be run as Language and Linguistic Science (English Option, LLE) and Language and Linguistic Science (French Option, LLF). Students have a choice of offering any of the options.
The new programme has a nucleus of good academics to start off: three Readers, three Senior Lecturers, one Lecturer I and four Lecturers II, and they are well spread out in specialisations. Dr. (Mrs.) Mercy Ugot, hitherto a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for General Studies, was named the Acting Head of Department. Her successful assessment and promotion to the rank of Reader came as the new HOD was putting her new house in order.

The Department of Mass Communication commenced two postgraduate programmes in 2012, namely, the Postgraduate Diploma and the Master of Science in Mass Communication.

The Postgraduate Diploma
The Postgraduate Diploma in Mass Communication is a 12-month programme in which students are exposed to a blend of communication theory and media/communication practice capabilities. Candidates are, however, allowed a maximum of 24 months to complete the programme after which their candidacy will lapse.

Those admitted to the programme are expected to hold:

¨ A Bachelor’s degree in any non-communication discipline from an approved University.

¨ HND in any field of communication

¨ Holders of Third Class degree in communication who plan to do the Master’s degree in Mass Communication. The courses are planned in such a way as to make up for deficiencies in the field of communication for non-communication graduates and communication graduates who earned lower classifications of their degrees. They are also designed to strengthen the communication competences of professionals already in the field. Thus, there is no specialisation in the PGDMC programme.

Students in the M.Sc. in Mass Communication programme can choose from the following areas of specialisation:

Social and Behaviour Change Communication Option The SBCC Option is a novel course in the Nigerian university system. It is offered in collaboration with Family Health International (FHI360), a USAID-funded organisation, which has a Nigeria Office in Abuja, and Ohio University in the United States. The opportunity to offer SBCC was made by FHI to four universities in the country; two could not take up the offer. Thus, CRUTECH and the University of Calabar became the only two universities in the country offering SBCC curriculums.

CRUTECH got into the project without contention because of encouragement from the top. Before the matter came to the Senate,

the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ene-Obong, sent (late) Prof. Giddings Arikpo, then the Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), and Dr. Etim Anim, the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Communication Technology, to participate in two exploratory workshops in Abuja.

Based on reports from those workshops, the Vice Chancellor authorised the presentation of the matter to Senate as part of curriculum proposals for postgraduate programmes that were working their way through the Senate. The rest is history.

Between 2012 and 2013, Dr. Karen Greiner, a post-doctoral Research Fellow at Ohio University, facilitated two SBCC workshops in Calabar for staff members of the departments teaching SBCC courses (UNICAL and CRUTECH). Between 2011 and 2013, three members of staff in the Department attended several workshops in Abuja and two attended an intensive Monitoring and Evaluation course for SBCC in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in preparation for the commencement of the SBCC programme in the University. Dr. Etim Anim was rated top achiever at the end of the workshop that attracted participants from South Africa, East Africa, West Africa, the United States and Europe. It is worthy of note that CRUTECH is one of only 12 universities in the world offering degrees in SBCC. The second set of students for the Master’s programme has already been offered admission by the Postgraduate School.

The Department’s Resource Room is well-stocked with archival and current journals, including the world-rated Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and books in the various sequences of Communication Studies. In March 2013, the Department received more book support from Prof. Christian Ogbondah; he presented 41 book titles and 84 journals to the Vice Chancellor to start another Resource Room for the Postgraduate Section of the Faculty. It is worthy to note that Prof. Ogbondah has given us more books/journals than any individual since the establishment of the Department. He teaches at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States, and is the Coordinator of the Journalism and Mass Communication Programme in his university.
He was invited by the Dean, Dr. Etim Anim, to spend his 2010 Sabbatical Leave in the Department of Mass Communication. The Vice Chancellor approved that recommendation and after Prof. Ogbondah’s Sabbatical Leave, Professor Ene-Obong asked him to
stay on as a Visiting Professor.

Studios: The Department is equipped with Radio, TV, Graphics, PR/Advertising, Print, and Photographic Studios.

Improved Curriculum
Our university recognises that Communication is a very dynamic discipline and has accordingly kept a close eye on the Department’s curriculum (as with others in the University). In consonance with the NUC’s policy that universities should regularly evaluate and update the curriculums, the Department’s curriculum has undergone two major reviews between 2005 and 2010. The major concern in these reviews had been to reflect dynamic changes in the 21st Century information and communication technologies (ICTs). Thus, our Department offers courses such as Online Journalism, Desktop Publishing, Visual Communication, Book Publishing in the Digital Age, New Media and Society, Internet and its Applications, Website Management and Maintenance, and Computer Graphics Application.

In addition, in the face of rapid globalisation and the pivotal role of Nigeria in West African politics, diplomacy and socioeconomic development, the curriculum has introduced a strong element of French. From the 2010/2011 academic year, the Department began to offer six semesters of French – Year 1 to Year 3. We have also introduced more writing courses to help deal with problems of poor writing skills among university students. Students from Departments outside the Faculty are welcome to take some of these courses. Among the courses are Basic English for Media Writers (100 Level); Advanced Media Writing (300 Level); Magazine Article Writing (300 Level), and Advanced Magazine Article Writing (300 Level).

The Faculty has not developed as rapidly as the need dictates in this area. There is no full-time full professor on the staff roll. But for the NUC approved national policy of allowing senior academics to serve as visiting lecturers in one university outside their own, the higher level of academic staff would have been deplorable. The Ene-Obong administration adopted this policy with great passion across the board in the University. Consequently, the Department has on its roll two Visiting Professors, five Readers/Associate Professors (four adjunct and one resident), three Senior Lecturers, (one Visiting), four Lecturers I, five Lecturers II and two Assistant Lecturers. Non-academic staff members number as follows: Administrative

-Faculty Office staff – 4; Department Office staff – 4; Technologists in charge of the six studios – 8.