UNN, Howard University to collaborate in Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing, Law

Historic black higher institution, Howard University of America, is to collaborate with the University of Nigeria Nsukka through faculty and student exchanges in key disciplines of pharmacy, medicine, nursing, dentistry and law.
The collaboration follows extensive discussions and meetings involving a UNN team, led by its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bartholomew Okolo, and officials of Howard University, led by Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Prof. Wayne A.I. Fredrick.
The University of Nigeria team met with their Howard counterparts on August 16 at the Howard campus in Maryland, Washington DC, USA.
The collaborations, as solicited by the UNN Vice-Chancellor, would include staff and student exchanges, joint workshops and conferences, shared curricula and joint grant applications.
Both parties are working on the memorandum of understanding covering the agreement.
The Howard University team comprised of Provost Fredrick; Dr. Alvin Thornton, the senior academic adviser to the President; the Dean of the College of Pharmacy, Dr. Anthony Wutoh; the Dean of the College of Medicine, Dr. Mark Johnson; and the Dean of the College of Nursing and Applied Sciences, Dr. Mary Hill.
On the mission with Okolo were Prof. Anene Moneke, the Senior Special Assistant to the VC on Projects and Head, Department of Microbiology; Prof. Ben Ogwo, the Director, Centre for Technical Vocational Education, Training and Research; and Dr. Bennet Nwanguma, the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor on Special Duties.
Howard University is a federally chartered, private, coeducational, non-sectarian, historically black university.
Founded in 1867, Howard University is one of only 48 US private, Doctoral/Research-Extensive universities, comprising 12 schools and colleges with 10,500 students enjoying academic pursuits in more than 120 areas of study leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees.
The University continues to attract the nation’s top students and produces more on-campus African-American Ph.D.s than any other university in the world.
Since 1998, the University has produced a Rhodes Scholar, a Truman Scholar, six Fulbright Scholars and nine Pickering Fellows.
Founder of UNN, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe is a notable alumnus of Howard University.
So is current President of the institution, H. Patrick Swygert; the late US Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall; the first African-American Governor, L. Douglas Wilder; Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Toni Morrison; and Savage Holdings LLC CEO and Howard Board of Trustees Chairman, Frank Savage.
Others include Emmy Award-winning actress; Phylicia Rashad; opera singer, Jessye Norman; actress, producer and director, Debbie Allen; the first African-American President of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. LaSalle Leffall, Jr.; attorney, civil rights leader and Wall Street executive, Vernon Jordan; former mayor and United Nations Ambassador, Andrew Young; and the first female mayor of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin.
The University of Nigeria is the first full-fledged university in Nigeria, founded in Nigeria’s independence year, 1960.
The 53-year old institution runs diverse programmes in arts and sciences, featuring 15 faculties, 105 departments and seven directorates charged with special projects.
It has a student body of 40,000 in four campuses of Nsukka, Enugu, Ituku Ozalla and Aba.
The main campus in Nsukka houses programmes in agriculture, basic and biological sciences, engineering, arts and social sciences while the Enugu campus houses professional courses in management, architecture, law and environmental sciences.
The College of Medicine, with a teaching and referral hospital, is located at Ituku-Ozalla, on the outskirts of the Enugu state capital, while the School of Languages is located at Aba in Abia State.
The collaboration with Howard University is in line with a programme by the university’s management under Okolo’s leadership to pursue institutional advancement and revive the original vision of building a global centre of learning in Nsukka.
UNN has entered collaborations with no fewer than 40 institutions across four continents since 2009.