[ad_1]
The Board of the University of Ghana has appointed Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo as Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University.
She succeeds the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu.
The appointment of Professor Appiah Amfo as Acting Vice-Chancellor is effective August 1, 2021.
She will act as vice-chancellor of the University until the appointment of the titular vice-chancellor.
Until her appointment, Professor Appiah Amfo was the University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, a position she assumed on November 1, 2019.
According to a press release signed by the university’s registrar, Mercy Haizel-Ashia, the decision was made after the inauguration of the new council.
The Council has acted in accordance with “Section 10 (2) (b) of the University of Ghana Act 2010 (Act 806) and Section 6 (3) of the University of Ghana Statutes”, indicates the press release.
His appointment to an acting post was necessitated by the University’s inability to complete the selection processes for a substantial replacement for the outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu.
If confirmed, the 49-year-old linguistics professor will not only become the first woman to take on the role at the country’s first university. She will also be the youngest to achieve the feat.
With the Chancellor, Registrar and President of the University Council all being women, Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo completes an all-female leadership quartet of the university.
In 2020, Professor Rita Dickson was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, making her the second woman to be appointed to the post at a public university after Professor Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang of the University of Cape Coast.
On the issues surrounding the appointment of a titular vice-chancellor
The University of Ghana is currently before a High Court in Accra for alleged irregularities in the constitution of the research group, charged with recommending the next vice-chancellor.
In January 2021, the search committee announced that it had received seven applications for the position. The nominations included those of Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, herself, and Professor Felix Asante, both pro-vice-chancellors responsible for academic and student affairs and for research, innovation and development.
The other candidates were Director of ISSER, Prof. Peter Quartey, Dean of Students, Prof. Godfred Bokpin, Prof. Daniel Ofori and Prof. Samuel Cudjoe. The seventh candidate was a faculty member at Pakistan IQRA University.
Senior sources at the University of Ghana claim that the search committee continued and completed its work with transparent cooperation from all applicants and other stakeholders. But after submitting his report to the university council, the legality of the research committee is called into question.
The complainant alleges that “the inclusion of Vesta A. Nunoo and Professor Baffuor Agyeman-Duah as two of the three representatives of the University Council on the research committee was contrary to the law in force; because their term as board members had expired prior to their appointment.
He argues that “as of July 31, 2020, the terms of many members of the University Council had expired, and the continued membership and inclusion in the work of the University Council of these members renders them Council activities, after zero end dates. and null and without any legal effect ”.
Although the University Statutes do not say that the three persons to be appointed by the Council for the research committee must necessarily be members of the University Council, Mr. Ennin believes that the intended interpretation of the provision is found in the statutes and therefore seeks a declaration from the High Court to this effect.
The committee consists of three members appointed by the Board; three members appointed by the Academic Council; a president appointed by the Council who is neither a member of the Council nor of the University; and the registrar acting as secretary of the committee.
About Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo
A former student of the University of Ghana, Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo received her secondary education at Holy Child School and Archbishop Porter Girls’ Secondary School. She continued her studies at the University of Ghana from 1991 to 1996 for a bachelor’s degree in French and linguistics. His Masters (2001) and PhD (2007) degrees in Linguistics are both from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway.
Professor Amfo is currently an advisory board member of the Coalition of People Against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Harmful Practices (CoPASH) – a program supported by UNFPA.
She is a member of several professional associations including the Society of Communication, Medicine and Ethics, International Pragmatics Association (where she sits on its advisory board; the first African to hold this position since the Association was created in 1986); West African Linguistic Society and Ghana Linguistics Association (where she was president from 2010 to 2014); a pioneering researcher, principal investigator and chair of the African Humanities Program Steering Committee of the American Council of Learned Societies.
She is also a member of the German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD), Commonwealth Professional.
Source link
