At the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy’s (CEGENSA) maiden mentor appreciation event, organised with support from the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF), in commemoration of the 2024 International Women’s Day (IWD) celebration, twenty-eight (28) academic mentors, nominated by early and mid-career female faculty of the University were honoured.
Explaining the rationale for celebrating the mentors, the Director of CEGENSA, Dr. Deborah Atobrah, noted the Centre’s role in promoting mentorship within the University, as a strategic pursuit for fostering gender equity. She highlighted the mentorship strides achieved by CEGENSA and the setbacks including the enormous demands that mentoring places on mentors.
Director of CEGENSA, Dr. Deborah Atobrah
“Mentors make sacrifices to support and nurture mentees, a pursuit which does not count in the formal appraisal of one’s work, albeit extremely critical for the very sustenance of the academy”, she said. Dr. Atobrah also emphasized the decision in not calling the event an awards event because no award can match the selfless labour of mentoring. “We therefore call it a celebration and appreciation of your distinguished mentoring work”, stated Dr. Deborah Atobrah.
Representing the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Gordon Awandare, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs, pointed to the progress being made in women’s leadership within the University, with reference to the historical all female Principal Officers and the attainment of the female to male student gender ratio.
Prof. Gordon Awandare, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs presenting a citation to Emeritus Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, former Vice-Chancellor.
“Despite the progress, there is still a lot of work to be done”, lamented Prof. Awandare. He elaborated on the need to stir up the interest of women and girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) related courses. Prof. Awandare emphasised giving more women equal opportunities as men to propel them to greater heights.
Participants at the event
Dr. Doreen Owusu-Fianko, Global Vice-Chairperson for North and West Africa for Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT), who was the Chairperson for the event, congratulated all the mentors and praised CEGENSA and AWDF for spearheading and acknowledging the tremendous efforts of the mentors.
Dr. Doreen Owusu-Fianko, Global Vice-Chairperson for North and West Africa for Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT)
In brief remarks, Prof. Dan Frimpong Ofori, Provost, College of Humanities, encouraged the honourees to continue to look out for and mentor more female faculty.
Prof. Dan Frimpong Ofori, Provost, College of Humanities presenting a citation to one of the honoured mentors
On her part, Mrs. Beatrice Boakye Yiadom, representative of AWDF, indicated that in accordance with the 2024 IWD theme –Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress, her outfit decided to award grants to 10 women led organisations in Ghana including CEGENSA to keep the issue of investing in women and girls on the radar in Ghana.
The heartwarming ceremony evoked the feeling of gratitude, love, accomplishment and fulfillment among the mentors and mentees, with the latter acknowledging the role of the former in guiding them to win grants, publish papers in internationally acclaimed journals, which has led to their promotion in record time. The mentors were presented with citations and hampers.
One of the beautiful highlights of the event was when mentees who had nominated mentors, were also nominated by others as mentors. The ceremony was interspersed with choral and beautiful cultural performances by Lordina the Sopriano and the Ghana Dance Ensemble.
A group photograph of the honoured mentors
At the end of the ceremony, the mentors, represented by Prof. Akosua A. Ampofo, Prof. Akosua K. Darkwah and Prof. Charlotte Wrigley-Asante extended appreciation to the organisers and their mentees. They drew attention to the intentionality of mentoring and encouraged others to reach out to more female faculty in particular.
LIST OF MENTORS HONOURED AT THE CELEBRATION AND APPRECIATION CEREMONY.
