Connect with us

Profile

Prof. (Mrs.) Akosua Dickson takes over as KNUST first female Vice Chancellor

It is a truism that “while most people are dreaming of success, winners wake-up and work hard to achieve it.”

The above quotation perfectly fits the first female Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) formerly University of Science and Technology (UST) in the Ashanti Regional Capital, Kumasi.

Through commitment, humility, dedication and hard work among other attributes, Prof. (Mrs) Rita Akosua Dickson, a Ghanaian Phytochemist now occupies this enviable position for a four-year term, effective August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2024.

Appointment

Advertisement

The Governing Council of the great institution made the appointment at its 258th (Special) Meeting held on June 25, 2020, upon the acceptance of the Report of the Search Committee for the appointment of Vice-Chancellor of the university.

Prior to her new appointment, the affable Prof. (Mrs) Akosua Dickson served as the 21st Pro-Vice-Chancellor and later as the Acting Vice-Chancellor in October 2018, when the then Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Obiri Danso was asked temporarily to step aside when student agitations and violence rocked the university campus.

Consequently, she was elected the Vice-Dean and ultimately the Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FPPS) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), on two occasions (2016-2018), thus becoming the first female to be appointed to that position in the history of the Faculty. 

For three terms (2010-2013) she became the Head of the Department of Pharmacognosy, KNUST.

Advertisement

Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson, Professor of Pharmacognosy, has pledged to continue to live up to her responsibilities notwithstanding any odds that might come her way being
the first female to occupy such an enviable academic position in the 68 years history of KNUST, where she is an alumna.

Education

She began her basic education at the Akantome Primary School at Bolgatanga, the Upper East Regional Capital, through Royal International School, Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

Professor Dickson then went to St. Monica’s Secondary School at Mampong-Ashanti on Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board scholarship. 

She studied for the General Certificate Examination, Advanced Level, at the Wesley Girls’ High School, Cape-Coast, the Central Regional Capital and qualified for the university to study Pharmacy at KNUST.  

Advertisement

After graduating in 1994, she was invited by the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, KNUST, to undertake her National Service and subsequently a Teaching Assistantship position at the Department, alongside her Pharmacy Council which required hospital internship at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi.
 
Professor Dickson further pursued Research Graduate Studies leading to the award of Master of Pharmacy Degree in Pharmacognosy in 1999 at KNUST. 

Her hard work and commitment to duty got her the opportunity to be appointed a Lecturer in 2000 at the Department of Pharmacognosy. 

She received a Commonwealth Scholarship award in 2003 to study for Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree at Kings’ College, London, and also at the University of London, UK, where she studied a parallel programme in education and acquired a Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice(GCAP). 

On her return to Ghana, she was promoted to the rank of Senior Lecturer in 2009 and between 2011 and 2012, Professor Dickson won a Commonwealth Academic Fellowship at the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK, as a visiting Scientist Researching into Bioactive Natural Products as well as Novartis Fellow in collaboration with Seeding Labs in the United States of America.

Advertisement

She was promoted to Associate Professor of Pharmacognosy in 2014.

Experience

As an accomplished Phytochemist, her scientific knowledge and research expertise have impacted the international scientific community in terms of training, mentorship and scientific appraisals. 

Her research work spans the identification and development of bioactive natural products as standard medicines for the treatment and management of communicable and non-communicable diseases, among others.

Advertisement

She is keen on phytopharmaceutical analysis and quality control of herbal medicines to ensure their safety and efficacy, with the conviction that Africans can reduce the continent’s disease burden by exploring the use of its flora and fauna.

Professor Dickson’s research mentorship has led to the training of a number of Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and PhD students, some of whom are currently employed in renowned public universities in the country including KNUST, and research centres in Ghana. 

Membership

She has actively engaged the global scientific community with her research contributions. Currently, she has over 80 published scientific articles and conference proceedings to her credit. In addition, she has authored and co-authored five books and book chapters within the domain of her expertise. 

Advertisement

She is very visible on renowned academic platforms such as Research Gate, Google Scholar and Scopus with research impact of over 24,000 article reads and more than 700 citations in various scientific disciplines. 

Among other engagements, she serves as a reviewer for several journals in pharmacognosy, natural products chemistry and phytochemistry.

She is presently the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Ethnomedicine and Pharmacognosy (IJEP) and editorial member of International Journal of Science and Research Methodology (IJSRM). 

She is a member of the Society of Medicinal Plant Research (GA), among other international associations.

Advertisement

The Vice-Chancellor is married to Nana Sarkodie Dickson, a Chartered Accountant, and the couple is blessed with four daughters; Akosua Dickson, Abena Dickson, Akua Dickson and Afua Dickson.

At her leisure time, Prof. Dickson loves to cook traditional foods and share with friends. To maintain healthy lifestyle, she avoids junk foods and goes to the gym to keep fit.

From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Profile

Mrs Fuseini shares story of her journey to the top as 2024 Best Teacher

Oustanding teacher in Ghana

Oustanding teacher in Ghana

Growing up, Mrs Fuseina Fusei­ni’s greatest ambition was to become a lawyer.

Her reason for that determination was simple – to ‘fight’ for the vulner­able in society and be an advocate against early marriage in her commu­nity.

• Mrs Fuseini doing
what she loves best
• Mrs Fuseini doing what she loves best

Though, she did not realise that childhood dream to become a lawyer due to financial difficulties, her pas­sion and desire for teaching over the years was given a very good though – and it paid off.

For her close followers, her biggest career honour chalked recently in the teaching industry came as little surprise.

Advertisement
• Celebrating AU day with children
• Celebrating AU day with children

Mrs Fuseini was recently adjudged the first female kindergarten teacher to win the highest national honour for teachers.

She received that recognition at a forum at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi last weekend for her consistency, dedi­cation, hard work and innovation in teaching and learning.

For her prize, Mrs Fuseini received a three-bedroom house and a scholar­ship to study abroad if she so desires, with funding from the Ghana Educa­tion Trust Fund (GETFund).

The 47 year-old Kindergarten (KG) teacher at the Madina SDA Basic School in the Greater Accra Region with over a decade experience in the teaching profession shares her jour­ney with The Spectator.

Mrs Fuseini grew up in a community where teachers were respected and valued.

Advertisement

This influenced her decision to ven­ture into teaching.

But that passion for teaching aside, Mrs Fuseini also realised that teaching can offer a similar platform to work as an advocate for the underprivi­leged and the marginalised in the society.

“Gone were the days, teachers commanded some sort of respect; they were seen to be disciplined. They were seen as mentors in the community. They were very influen­tial.”

“I realised teaching was also a form of advocacy to share ideas. Most of my family members were teachers and that even made it easy for me to go into the profession,” she ex­plained.

Advertisement

Education

After completing Senior High School (SHS) at the Saint Monica’s School of Education at Asante Mampong in the Ashanti region, she furthered her education at the University of Educa­tion (Winneba) where she studied for diploma in Basic Education.

“Teaching Kindergaten for the past 15 years gives me so much joy. I have a feeling it’s my calling be­cause I teach children with ease and vibe with the children so easily,” she stated.

With her experience at the kin­dergarten level, Mrs Fuseini is in a better position to clear a few miscon­ceptions at that early stage of child education.

Advertisement

She is aware of a few of these misconceptions, one of which is the school of thought that Kin­dergarten class or school is all about uniformed kids eat­ing and sleeping.

In her view, that stage of a child’s education or upbringing is very cru­cial and urged both teach­ers and parents to pay atten­tion to the little ones at that stage.

Explain­ing the educational curriculum used in teaching, Mrs Fuseini noted that three methods were employed in teaching the kids.

They are the differentiated, play-based and hands-on-learn methods.

Advertisement

The differentiated method demands from the teach­er to allow the child to go about activities differently according to their strength.

In the play-based curriculum, the children are allowed to play and by so doing, it builds their creativity and supports their future aspiration.

Furthermore, she said children were sometimes grouped according to their abilities in the hands-on-learn method to explore with their hands.

Feeling

Advertisement

Sharing how she felt when she was announced as winner of the presti­gious award – The Most Outstanding Teacher of the Year, she exclaimed: “I was full of joy and also proud of my achievement and immense contribu­tion to the country.

“This is history because this is the first time a kindergarten teacher has ever won such an award and I count myself blessed and lucky.”

She commended the initiative to reward dedicated teachers, saying the recognition was key to bring out the best in every teacher.

Mrs Fuseini believes that dedication to her profession has played a signif­icant role in her achieve­ments, adding that, “This is going to motivate and inspire so many teachers to do their best despite the stress associated with the teaching job.”

Advertisement

“If I get the needed sup­port, I would want to do my PHD in teaching. I still want to focus on kinder­garten in order to rebrand the early child education sector”

Challenges

Infrastructure is one major challenge facing ed­ucation at this level. Some are the inadequate space that compel authorities to put too many children in a class.

This, she explained, makes too overwhelming and children some­times finds it difficult to pay atten­tion in class.

Advertisement

She said despite the few gains chalked at the sector, they were limited sometimes in the area of resources due to the lack of logistics like puzzles, building blocks and com­puters to support the curriculum.

Teachers are described as a bridge upon which people use to get to their destination and therefore must not be neglected.

There is, therefore, the need to make provisions for them not only through finances but ensuring that they teach in a good environment.

Family

Advertisement

She was born to Fuseina Salifu and Amina Fuseini in Ketekrachi in the Oti Region of Ghana.

She is the third child among eight siblings and married to Mr Zibrim Biosama and are blessed with three children.

When Mrs Fuseini is not in the class­room, she can watch movies all day.

She appealed to all teachers to show dedication to the profession and called on the government to support the teaching department with incen­tives.

Advertisement

By Linda Abrefi Wadie

Continue Reading

News

Ransford Antwi, set to upset the apple-cart in Sunyani East

Mr Ransford Antwi

Mr Antwi

The race for the Sunyani East Constituency parliamentary seat has become keener and hotter following the decision by Mr Ransford Antwi, an Independent Candidate to join the race for the December gener­al election.

Mr Antwi, a Sunyani based business­man and philanthropist, has pledged to challenge the longstanding dom­inance of the ruling New Patriotic Par­ty (NPP) candidate in the forthcoming general election.

Antwi and wife

It has traditionally been a strong­hold of the NPP since 1996, however, Mr Antwi seem undeterred by NPP’s strength, vowing to upset the ap­ple-cart.

His reason for that belief is simple – the NPP and their candidate have failed to meet the developmental needs of the people.

Advertisement

This, he believes is buttressed by the large army of the youth and some influential figures within the con­stituency and abroad throwing their weight behind his candidacy.

Mr Antwi in handshake with former president kuffour

Mr Antwi in handshake with former president kuffour

Mr Antwi says his candidacy pro­vides hope and progress for the community.

And it appears his campaign is going on smoothly with a section of the youth, especially the first time voters in the constituency have bought into his ideas.

In separate conversations with a number of them at a campaign activ­ity, they made it clear to The Spec­tator in an interview that they were relishing a change because it appears they have been taken for granted for a long time.

Advertisement

Reputation

Mr Antwi with former president JJ Rawlings

Mr Antwi with former president JJ Rawlings

Mr Antwi is a royal from Sunyani with a strong reputation for honesty and integrity. His connection with the youth and readiness to help in various community activities have earned him significant support from the elector­ate.

He remains very confident in win­ning the seat in December following a recent survey from Infoanalytic which identified him as the favoured candi­date among the others.

“My decision to contest for the Sunyani East parliamentary seat is to reverse the downwards spiral of developmental needs in the constit­uency.

Advertisement

My primary focus would be on de­velopment and job creation and equip a significant number of the youth with skills to enhance their employ­ability if am elected” he stated.

“When I declared my intention to contest, some people thought that I was just joking and that I would collect money from other contestants and abandon my dream, but I want to assure you that I am in it for the long haul.

Mr Antwi said he boast of a ‘solid’ team on the ground working hard to maintain the momentum and leave nothing to chance.

Advertisement

He expressed concern that the Sunyani East constituency and the broader Sunyani area have diminished in stature due to the absence of sub­stantial developmental initiatives.

The deteriorating condition of Sunyani’s roads characterised by pot­holes, the neglected regional library and absence of a sports stadium for the constituency would be my prior­ity.

“The youth needs someone to provide them with leadership, offer them employable skills, hence the plan to establish a youth develop­ment centre where majority of them would be trained.

There would also be a dedi­cated office to receive the people and hold regular Town Hall meet­ings to share ideas from the people to help push forward to con­stituency’s devel­opment agenda.

Advertisement

In all of these, financial support remain a biggest challenge faced by his campaign team because ev­erybody wants to wear his T-shirts and other para­phernalia.

“This comes as a huge cost,” he added.

Challenges

Coming into a contest like this also has a few chal­lenges which Mr Antwi is trying very hard to deal with.

Advertisement

“Some of the people think that I am a rich person because I am a business­man. Others also think that once I am contesting for the election, I have a lot of money to spend and they must come for their share.

But that, according to him, was cer­tainly not the case.

“I’m working within my means. I have some little donations I received from some people who believe in this course to pull through.

Business

Advertisement

Mr Antwi is the owner of Sun-city radio, one of the most popular radio stations in the region. He also owns a fleet of businesses.

Business aside, Mr Antwi is passion­ate about doing philanthropic work. Through his Sun-city outreach team, he has been able to liaise with some medical doctors to organised health screening for the aged to deal with health complications such as hernia, glaucoma and general health issues in the constituency and beyond.

As a football enthusiast and highly connected figure in football circles, the Sunyani East constituency par­liamentary aspirant said he used his influence to secure kit sponsorship for the senior national team in the past.

He was part of a team that hired the services of Ratomir Djokovic from Serbia who supervised Ghana’s qualification to its first World Cup in Germany in 2006.

He is a staunch supporter of BA United, Asante Kotoko and Manches­ter United of England.

Advertisement

Education

Mr Antwi completed the St Patrick’s Middle School in 1987 and continued to Twene Amanfo Senior Technical High/Sunyani Senior High for his A Level Certificate and completed in 1993.

He had his National Service with the Bono Regional Hospital before proceeding to the Institute of Man­agement Studies in Kumasi where he obtained a Diploma in Business Management.

He later worked with MTN Ghana before venturing into private busi­ness.

Family

Advertisement

He is the first born of children to the late Stephen Kwame Antwi and Madam Helena Dankwa.

Mr Antwi and his family at Manchester United stadium UK

Mr Antwi and his family at Manchester United stadium UK

Mr Antwi is married to Sufura Mo­hammed Suraj with whom they are blessed with four beautiful children – Emily Dankwa Antwi, Denise Antwi, Ransford Kofi Antwi and Zara Afia Kuruwaa Antwi.

His favourite meal is fufu with groundnut soup.

Mr&Mrs Antwi

Mr & Mrs Antwi

Advice

He advised the youth to stay fo­cused as they work towards realising their dreams.

Advertisement

According to him, the future of this country rests in the arm of the youth so it was important for any govern­ment to formulate policies that would ensure their development.

Mr Antwi also encouraged the youth to shun acts that would plunge their various communities into chaos, espe­cially with elections approaching.

By Daniel Dzirasah, Sunyani

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending