MONROVIA – In appreciation of his outstanding leadership and the new set of academic trajectory coupled with faculty development, reactivation of standard thesis, quality education, establishment of ties with sisterly colleges in Africa, America, France, India and creativity, the Department of English and Language Studies at the University of Liberia has bestowed a prestigious honored and gowned the Dean of the Amos C. Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Associate Professor Dr. Josephus M. Gray.
The honor also recognized Dr. Gray’s outstanding contributions in several aspects including capacity building, staff, students and faculty advancement, provisional of scholarships to faculty and staffs as well as the introduction of new academic programs, essays based exams across the college and scholarship opportunities.
During the honoring ceremony, the Chairperson of the Department of English and Language Studies, Assistant Professor Dr. Kula Maria Thompson-Williams described Dr. Gray as “Lion Dean” who has changed the trajectory of the college to a new positive levels with numerous achievements. She lauded Dr. Gray for his open door policy, hard work and invaluable service to the University environment and support towards the development and growth of the ACS College to embark on a new sets of trajectory.
Dr. Thompson-Williams further lauded Dr. Gray for the level of transformation at the College under his leadership. She said the new trajectory the ACS College worth commendation and encouraged the Dean to keep up the good work.
In his remarks, Dr. Gray said: I’m extremely grateful to be honored today at UL by great man and women. He added: “I am beyond grateful to be honored with top-notch performance award bu the profrosessots, instructors, teaching assistants and staffs of the Department of English and Language Studies established since 1891.
He continued: “I am pleased to be part of a team that strives for excellence in academic environment”. Let it be noted that I am touched by the support of our hard working chairpersons and coordinators of the Amos C. Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Liberia, adding that that teamwork makes the dream work; I trust that together, we’re achieving great things at ACS College.”
I’m grateful to everyone for the support to move our great ACS College forward for the greater good of the institution and said he is more committed to delivering high-quality work and continuing to contribute to the success of the institution and will do his best to bring pride to the University of Liberia in his role as Dean of the oldest college in the Republic of Liberia, established since 1862.
The honoring ceremony was attended by authorities of UL including the Vice Presidents for Academic Affairs and Administration, Prof. Dr. Agnes Reeves-Taylor and Mrs. Benetta Joko Tarr. Other in attendance were Human Resources Director, Ms. Garmai Wilson, Chairpersons of the Departments of Political Science, Social Science and Sociology, Assistant Prof. Richard Anderson, Assistant Prof Dr. Kerkula Foeday and Mr. Hassan Telema and Cllr. Mark Bedor-Wla Freeman.
Meanwhile, Dr. Josephus M. Gray, who was appointed in January 2020 as Dean of the Amos C. Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Liberia, has a rich history of leadership within the university, including serving as President of UL Student Press Club, Part-time Faculty, Instructor, Assistant Professor and now Associate Professor. He continues to make immense contributions to UL’s academic community as an Associate Professor of International Relations, IBB Graduate Program of International Studies. He is a native born Liberian, hails from the Southeastern Village of Kayken, Barclayville District in Grand Kru County, Republic of Liberia.
At the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, he taught research methods courses in several departments including the Departments of Political Science, Communication and Media Studies, Social Science and English and Language Studies, as well as teaching, research, publication and capacity building.
His extensive leadership roles have included Dean of the ACS College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Chairman, Council of Deans, University of Liberia, Co-chairman of the Grand Kru Technical College and Member of the Professor Amos C. Sawyer Educational Foundation; Sharda University in India Ambassador to Liberia and Sharda University Coordinator for West Africa and Member of the International Confucian Association. The Board of Trustees of Grand Kru Technical College appointed him as Acting President of the College in January 2024.
At the public sector level, Dr. Gray has held positions such as Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, Assistant Foreign Minister for Public Affairs and Diplomacy; Political Counselor, Embassy of Liberia in Paris, France, and Minister Counsellor and Charge D’ Affairs, Liberia Permanent Mission to the Swiss Federation and the United Nations in Geneva and other International Organizations.
At other levels, he earned diplomas and certificates in foreign policy Studies, international relations, diplomacy, print journalism, development communication, research methodology, and leadership from Paris, France; Genera, Switzerland; Beijing, China; Washington, D.C., USA; Cape Town, South Africa; Rabat, Morocco; Accra, Ghana; Dakar, Senegal and Monrovia, Liberia.
He has achieved the highest level of academic mastery in his chosen academic field including a Ph.D. (distinction) in International Relations and Diplomacy from the HELP-CEDS Graduate School in Paris, Republic of France. The theme of his 580-page doctoral dissertation “The Effect of Diplomacy” was successfully defended for two hours in the presence of four academics jury of an astute French professors: (1)Prof. Dr. Faund NOHRA, Associate Professor at Paris Dscartes University; Prof. Dr. Souha AKIKI, President of Paris Graduate School/ Innovative Knowledge Institute;, Dr. Prof. Michael STRAUSS, Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Unilateral Coercive Measures and Human Rights and Dr. Prof. Michael LEBEDEV, Senior Diploma at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Mr. Yatay Tuoway, former Vice President of Liberian Association in France and resident of Paris was extended invitation by the university to attend the dissertation defense exercise.
Dr. Gray further holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations and Bachelor’s Degree in Communication (Print Journalism) from the University of Liberia. He has wildly written and published over 300 per-reviewed articles in local and international journals and three books. His recent book characterizes the existing relationships among Liberia, China and the United States of America as “triangular, and is on sale in 162 countries across the world.
The book is reproduced in several languages including French, Italian, Chinese, and Spanish. His Master’s Thesis: “The Consequences of the Liberian Civil War was supervised by Sarr Abdulai Vandi, former Director, IBB Graduate School, while his BA Mass Communication Undergraduate’s Thesis: The Impact of Print Media on Democracy in Liberia was supervised by Prof. Joe W. Mulbah, former Chair, Department of Mass Communication.
Dr. Gray holds advanced certificate in Modern Journalism (2006), ICFJ, Washington, D.C. USA; Diploma in Modern Diplomacy, (2008), Chinese Foreign Affairs University, Beijing, China; Certificate in Practical Research (2017), Bibliotheque International Library, Paris, France and Certificate Program: Digital Journalism (2006) World Newspaper Editors Forum. Cape Town, South Africa. In the area of pre-reviewed publications, Dr. Gray has authored: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Impact of ELearning at the University of Liberia; Analysis of the Similarities and Disparities: the tale of Liberian Press and Global Media practices; Analysis of the Impact and Intricacies of Liberian Foreign policy and international Relations over the last 75 years;
Comparison and Contrast of China and Liberia’s Contemporary Global Status: Analysis of CPC’s Scientific Theories Democratic Governance and National Development in Post-war Liberia; The Effect of Diplomacy: Liberia, US, China’s Triangular Relations.
Others include: The Consequences of the Unforgotten Liberian Civil War; The Tale of Violence against Liberian Media: The Curse of bad Governance and Rampant corruption in Africa and China and African Countries independent Exploration of Development Path While his books include: Liberia’s Emerging Democracy: published in Paris, France 2012 and
Effect of Diplomacy, published 2021 by Amazon, Washington State, USA. While his contributions to book chapters include: The New Dimension: Beijing Influence in Liberia and Analysis of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its Impact on Liberia’s infrastructure development.
He holds membership in reputable professional journals such as: International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Sciences (IJROSS), International Research Journal of Public and Environmental Health and Academia.edu located on 580 California St, Suite 400, San Francisco, USA.
He is a member of the Africa-China Think Tanks Forum, Beijing, People’s Republic pf China and Council member of the International Confucian Institute, headquarters in Beijing, China. Dr. Gray also supervised about 44 graduates of IBB Graduate Program of International Studies theses from 2018-2021.
Also, he supervised three graduates from the graduate Program in Education thesis in 2019-2020 academic year as well as two BA thesis from African Methodist University and United Methodist University in 2020-2021 academic year.
