The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang recently received the Prestigious President’s Global Leadership Award from the University of South Florida. We reproduce below the citation for the award:

An expert on educational leadership and an advocate of higher education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has spent her career advancing higher education throughout the world. Today, she receives the President’s Global Leadership Award from the University of South Florida. This award is the highest international recognition the university bestows to individuals who have achieved exemplary accomplishments in international leadership and global relations.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang is the Vice-Chancellor of University of Cape Coast in Ghana and the first and only woman to hold a top academic position in Ghana. Until her appointment as the Vice-Chancellor, she served as the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Head of the Department of English.

Under Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s leadership, the University of Cape Coast and USF have established a faculty exchange program, which has produced unparalled scholarly opportunities for Faculty and Students at both Universities.

The author of many publications, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang has written extensively on education leadership, slavery and the slave trade. She served as a visiting and exchange scholar in the United States, Europe and Africa, most recently as the Presidential International Visiting Scholar at Wheelock College in Boston.

In addition to her role at the University, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang has chaired and been a member of over 30 international boards and committees including UNESCO and School for International Training. A keynote speaker at many international institutions, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang was invited to address the United Nations General Assembly for the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery. Furthermore, she was also invited to hold discussions with the Obama family regarding the history of enslavement.

In recognition of her outstanding contributions to education and being the first female Vice-Chancellor of a public University in Ghana, the Republic of Ghana conferred on her the prestigious recognition, the State Honor of Officer of the Order of the Volta. She has received numerous honours including Doctor of Laws HonorisCausa the West Indies and Doctor of Humane letters also HonorisCausa at the Winston, Salem State University.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang received her B. A. and Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana and M. A. and Ph.D, from the York University in Toronto, Canada. She resides in Ghana, Africa and has three adult children.