Dean's Address

Dear Colleagues,

We are, indeed, facing unprecedented challenges in 2020. The unexpected effects of the global pandemic, the disruption to our daily lives, our education modes at our Faculty, and our research activities have been substantial.  While all of us had to adjust to this new reality in our personal and professional lives, I am happy to observe that we were still able to rise up to these challenges. What is more, amidst all the global turmoil, we have received fantastic news that we as, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, have ranked at the 201-250 band in Times for Higher Education rankings in 2020 in the subject area of Social Sciences.

This is however, not an easy feat. I know how hard we all work to get our research funded, our papers published and to raise the next generation of scholars in our Faculty. I also know that what you read in this FASS newsletter reflects only the tip of the iceberg. Furthermore, what is being reported in this FASS newsletter is a culmination of many sleepless nights, countless revisions, rejections and of course sacrifices we have made. Most of us work as single authors in line with the general tendency in social sciences, and to get these results working alone, without a critical mass, without major research funding is noteworthy.

I am grateful to be working together with so many wonderful colleagues; our faculty members, our graduate students, our administrative staff work in perfect harmony. We strive for excellence together as a team and our newsletter reflects this.

Let me also take this opportunity to welcome our new incoming faculty. It is with great pride that I note two of our incoming faculty members are our own former students from political science and economics programs.