BRIEF HISTORY OF BOTANY DEPARTMENT:
The Botany option had always been part of the curriculum of the Department of Applied Biology since the inception of the latter in 1982 in the former Anambra State University of Technology (ASUTECH), Awka/Enugu, the Awka Campus of which, in 1992, transformed into the present Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
The Department of Applied Biology had, however, gone through a number of name changes viz:
- Department of Applied Biology, 1982 – 1988
- Department of Parasitology and Entomology/Applied Biology, 1989 – 1994.
- Department of Biological Sciences, 1995 – 2001
Even before the emergence of Botany as a separate Department in 2002, the Botany curriculum had been part and parcel of the academic programme of the above Department on each occasion, with its full complement of staff and students. Botany was even accredited as an option of the former Department of Biological Sciences when the NUC accreditation team visited the University in 1999. NUC re-visited for re-accreditation in 2005 and the Department got full accreditation also.
- Finally, in the 2001/2002 session, the sub-department of Botany was created by an act of Senate as a separate department out of the former department of Biological Sciences, along with the departments of Parasitology and Entomology and Zoology.
Since Botany became an option in the former department of Biological Sciences in 1995, students have been graduating in the option. And, now, the department even runs postgraduate programmes at the Postgraduate Diploma (PG.D), Masters (M.Sc.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) levels.