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Prof. Wubah being sworn into office

UCC Alumnus Inaugurated as President of Millersville University

21 Apr, 2019 By louis Mensah

An alumnus of the University of Cape Coast, Dr. Daniel A. Wubah, has been inaugurated as the 15th President of the Millersville University of Pennsylvania, United States of America.

Dr. Wubah began his tenure as President on July 1, 2018, but was officially welcomed by the University and formally sworn into office on Thursday, April 18, 2019, at 11 a.m.

The Vice-Chancellor of UCC, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah was among the dignitaries who graced the inauguration ceremony of Dr. Wubah.

ABOUT PRESIDENT DANIEL A. WUBAH

LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

Prior to becoming the President of the University, Dr. Wubah served as Provost and later the Senior Advisor to the President at Washington and Lee University. 

He has also held positions including Deputy Provost and Vice President for undergraduate education at Virginia Tech University; Associate Provost and Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida; Assistant Dean, Professor of Biology and Special Assistant to the President at James Madison University, and Associate Professor and Department Chair at Towson University.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS                          

Dr. Wubah is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and testified before the U.S. Congress on how to prepare the science workforce for the 21st century.

He was an Associate Editor for Mycologia, and a member of the editorial board of Frontiers: the interdisciplinary journal on study abroad. He has an extensive service-related activity including membership on the Advisory Committees for the NSF Directorate of Biology, Office of International Science and Engineering as well as Environmental Research and Education. He chaired the National Institute of Minority Health Disparities Study Session (2005-2014). He was a trustee of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC) for two three-year terms. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the National Aquarium in Baltimore for ten years.

He was a member of a National Academy of Sciences panel that studied the scientific basis for estimating air emission from animal feeding operations.

SPECIALISATION

Dr. Wubah is a microbiologist who studied the characterization of obligately anaerobic zoosporic fungi, bench scale bioremediation of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, and characterization of microflora in the digestive tract of neotropical wood-eating catfish, Panaque. His work has resulted in more than 60 peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters and technical reports. The National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Howard Hughes Medical Institutes (HHMI) have funded his research and training projects.

TEACHING AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Dr. Wubah has taught several courses including general microbiology, medical microbiology, microbial ecology and geomicrobiology. He has also been involved in efforts to integrate international experiences in undergraduate education and research. He has served as the principal investigator in five successful international NSF-Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) sites program, including the longest continuously funded REU site in Africa from 2002 to 2016.

He has supervised or co-supervised research projects and served on theses/dissertation committees for ninety-six undergraduate and graduate students.

While at James Madison University, he designed and established the Centennial Scholars Program to provide access to students from under-represented groups in Virginia. He has a passion for excellence in liberal arts education and has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings and technical reports.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Dr. Wubah earned his B.Sc. with Honors in Botany and Dip. Ed. in Education from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He earned MS in Biology from the University of Akron, and PhD in Botany from the University of Georgia. In addition, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the EPA research lab in Athens, GA.

PRIVATE LIFE

In private life, Dr. Wubah is a tribal king (Safohene) at Breman Asikuma in the Central Region of Ghana. His royal name is Nana Ofosu Peko III. He and his wife, Judith, have two daughters and two grandchildren.

MILLERSVILLE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Founded in 1855, Millersville University of Pennsylvania was established with the ideals that teacher preparation and classical learning are essential elements of public education and enlightened citizenship. One hundred and sixty years later these ideals still hold true.

Although the University and its academic programmes have grown significantly, the University is considered a destination of choice not only for Pennsylvanians but for out of state and international students seeking a top-rated liberal arts education.

Situated on over 250 scenic acres, Millersville offers an intimate and welcoming setting just outside of historic Lancaster City and within easy reach of New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

The Management, staff and students of the University of Cape Coast are proud to be associated with Dr. Daniel A. Wubah congratulate him on this enviable achievement. It is our hope that this new position will help establish and develop mutually beneficial collaborations between the two universities.

Source: Millersville University

Discussants at the Round table discussion

Disband Vigilantism in the Country

18 Apr, 2019 By louis Mensah

Discussants at a roundtable discussion organized by the Faculty of Arts have unanimously called for the disbandment vigilantism in the country.

They were speaking on the theme: “Towards Attaining Credible and Transparent Elections: the Role of Vigilantes in Ghana”.

Make the Report of the Emile Short Commission Public

Setting the ball rolling, a former Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr. Sylvester Mensah stated that his party, the National Democratic Congress fully supports the call to ban activities of vigilante groups in the country. In the light of this, Mr. Mensah described the call by the president for the two major political parties, that is the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to find solutions to the menace “as a right one” and also lauded the setting up of the Emile Short Commission to go into the Ayawaso West Wuogon violence, but regretted that the report of the commission submitted to the president has not been made public.

Again, the former MP for Dadekotopon was unhappy that the president could not wait for the two parties to conclude the assignment he gave them before sending the bill on vigilantism to parliament. “It is not right at all, the president should have allowed the two parties to finish, before thinking of sending the bill to parliament. This completely undermines the effort to disband these groups”.

Politicians Should Allow the Police and Judiciary to Enforce the Law

Mr. Mensah who was speaking on the topic: “Vigilantism as a means of political checks and balances in Ghana- Prospects and challenges”, believed that the rise of the canker was as a result of helplessness of the Ghana Police Service to tackle those who engage in these unlawful acts. Another reason according to Mr. Mensah that vigilantism has festered was due to the inability of the judiciary to handle cases brought before it expeditiously.

The former legislator was of the view that the Civil Society and the International Community had a huge role to play in finding lasting solutions to the problem of vigilantism.

Most Conflicts in Africa Started with Vigilantes

When he took his turn, Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said: “there was no doubt that political vigilantism has to be tackled once and for all”.  His topic was: “Vigilantism in Ghana’s Political Culture- Political Awareness or Hooliganism”. Mr. Nkrumah noted that the antecedents of most conflicts in Africa started with such small groups and later grew into full-blown militia wings to visit mayhem on people.

Hooliganism Has Taken Vigilantism to a Different Level

“Vigilantism in itself is not bad, every citizen is encouraged to defend the constitution from being overthrown, so ordinarily, the law expects us to be vigilant”, the minister said. The MP for Ofoase Ayirebi constituency said, unfortunately, hooliganism has taken this to a different level adding “in societies where there are law and order you can’t see this happening”. According to him in those jurisdictions, the long arm of the law dealt with all who flouted the law, but in Ghana even where the law purports to work, because of mistrusts people do otherwise. “Even when the law is applied, there is political interference to stifle the enforcement of the law”, he noted.

Government Boldly Confronting the Vigilantism

In solving the menace, the minister indicated that this time around the matter was not being swept under the carpet, rather “we are boldly confronting the beast” by asking the two parties to meet and find a solution to it. But, this Mr. Nkrumah said was not enough hence the president’s decision to send the bill on the vigilantism to parliament and explained that even though there were some existing laws; where there is a lacuna you create laws to close them.

“That is why the US, for example, passed the Anti-terrorism act to deal with the spate of terror in their country”, he said.

“We as a government are not sweeping it under the carpet, we are coming out with laws and also resourcing the law enforcement agencies to give them the confidence to work”, he concluded. Making his contribution, Dr. Joseph Kingsley Adjei of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology said the problem confronting the nation now was a result of failed political leadership.

‘Vigilantes’ are Local Terrorists

Speaking on the topic “The Future of Political Vigilantism in Ghana’s Political Culture-The Way forward”, Dr. Adjei noted that it was a misnomer to describe those engaged in the unlawful acts as “vigilantes” because their activities do not depict vigilantism, he preferred to call them ‘local terrorists’. These groups Dr. Adjei averred that they thrived on political culture for survival since they were nourished by political parties to enable them to carry out their activities whenever the need arose.

In Ghana presently, the political party that wins the general election has the power to distribute political positions to its party members. This is done many at times regardless of expertise and competence. It is this practice that, according to Dr. Adjei has created the problem facing the country. “Ghana has developed a system of winner takes all, this is the crux of vigilantism. The problem is the monopolisation of power, where the president sees all competent people only in his party”, he noted.

Dr. Adjei intimated that the entire country has failed to recognise that it was sitting on a time bomb ready to detonate anytime soon since political parties misconstrue a change in government and give room to a coup-like situation in the change of government through the ballot box. Citing another case, he said, events in the 4th republic have shown that the security agencies switch allegiances to parties in power. “A change in government means a change in leadership of security agencies. Security agencies sing songs of political parties even if the songs are discordant”, he noted. This, he said made it difficult to keep law and order when political crimes were committed.

Dr. Adjei concluded that political militias would have a bright future if political promises were not fulfilled.  He added that what the president has done about vigilantism was good but if these laws were not enforced it would be rendered useless and, therefore, called for the police to be empowered to enforce them to serve as a deterrent to others.

 

 

Prof. Atta G. Britwum delivering the keynote address

Department of English Honours Ayi Kwei Armah

18 Apr, 2019 By louis Mensah

The Department of English has marked the Golden Jubilee celebration of Ayi Kwei Armah’s “The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born” with a one-day conference.                            

The conference which is the first of its kind to be organised by the Department of English aimed at recognising the master craftworks of Ghanaian writers and also showcase and demonstrate the significance of such writings and how they speak to modern day issues of the Ghanaian and African.

In his welcome address, the Head, Department of English, Dr. Kwabena Sarfo Sarfo-Kantanka, explained that one of the notable writer’s the conference would be celebrating was Ayi Kwei Armah whose writings according to him epitomises the socio-politico-economic crisis of the present time.

Dr. Sarfo indicated that the novel touched on several aspects of the life of the people of Ghana in particular and Africa in general during the pre-colonial, colonial and post-independence periods. “But in all these wonderful works of Armah, ‘The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born (1968)’, Armah’s first novel, embodies the present state of the socio-political and moral decay, such as corruption of the Ghanaian (and the African) society, which has brought the progress and development of the African independence into question,” he noted.

Dr. Sarfo-Kantanka said it was, therefore, prudent the Department chose to celebrate the 50 years of the existence of the “Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born”.

“The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born” is a Reflection of the Realities of Today

The keynote speaker, Prof. Atta G. Britwum, in his presentation said the novel described the failure of a socialist government, which repeated the mistakes of the colonial regime it replaced. He made mention of the inherent corrupt practices which the novel revealed about the society and the increasing levels of intimidation, bribery and fraud that characterised economic relationship.

According to Prof. Britwum, Ayi Kwei Armah, in his book portrayed the ills of the African society with realities that were still prevalent in society today. He urged the current generation to consider themselves as the “Beautyful Ones” to solve the challenges in society. He indicated that Armah did not have the copyright to his book until recently.

Draw Lessons from Ayi Kwei Armah’s Novel

The former Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, asked the audience to draw lessons from what the keynote speaker had said about the novel and the author.  Reiterating the point that Ayi Kwei Armah did not have the copyright to the book, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said it raised a lot of issues about collaborative research and ownership of the research or material.  

The former Vice-Chancellor indicated that it would take only Ghanaians to solve the current problems confronting the nation. “The beautiful ones would not be brought from outside, only us can redeem ourselves, the beautiful ones are each one of us,” she emphasised.                                                                                                                       

Profile of Ayi Kwei Armah

Ayi Kwei Armah was born to Fante Speaking parents in 1939 in Takoradi. He was educated in a number of local mission schools and at Achimota College before going to Groton School in the United States for his secondary education and subsequently to Harvard University for his bachelor’s degree. After working as a scriptwriter, translator and English teacher in a number of countries including Ghana, France and Senegal, Armah wrote his first novel, “The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968)”. Ayi Kwei Armah is among the most prominent and admired writers of African Anglophone fiction. As a Ghanaian author, he has been committed to telling the history, transitions and prophetic future of his motherland and continent. In doing this, he invites his readers to ponder over the discourses of colonial, neocolonial and postcolonial civilisations in order to appreciate their interrelationships and effects in creating a unique African identity.

Overview of “The Beautyful Ones Are Yet to Be Born” 

The novel, “The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born” which details “the story of an upright man resisting the temptations of easy bribes and easy satisfaction and winning for his honesty nothing but scorn” is a canonical text in African literature.

Since its emergence on the African literary scene in 1968, “The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born has remained an influential text in critical discussions on the aesthetic and thematic distinctiveness of the African and postcolonial novel. Fifty years after its publication, Armah’s first novel continues to frame critical issues-the realities of his vision of the new nation, the seductiveness of totalitarian mentality, the gleam for material power and its variant manifestations, and the defilement of the African “WE” spirit.

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