Professor Ofori-Birikorang elected UEW Pro-Vice Chancellor
The Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages Education and Communication, Professor Andy Ofori-Birikorang, has been elected as the new Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW).
In a three horse race election held at the four campuses of the university, namely Winneba, Ajumako, Kumasi and Asante Mampong, Prof Ofori-Birikorang garnered 284 votes to be elected as the new Pro Vice Chancellor.
His other contenders, Prof Yaw Ameyaw, Director of Quality Assurance Directorate had 110 votes whiles Prof Dominic Mensah, Director of the Institute for Teacher Education and Continuing Professional Development (ITECPD) managed 63 votes.
Since the induction of the current Vice Chancellor of the UEW, Rev Fr. Prof Anthony Afful-Broni in 2018, the UEW had been without a substantive Pro VC to assist the VC in the performance of his duties.
In the absence of the Pro VC, two individuals have acted as Pro VC, in the persons of Prof James K. Kagya-Agyeman, the Principal of the College of Agriculture Education, Asante Mampong and Prof Ruby Hanson, Dean of the Faculty of Science Education.
Education
Prof. Andy Ofori-Birikorang attended Amankwatia Experimental School, Kumasi for his basic school education and proceeded to Opoku Ware School, Kumasi where he gained his GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels Certificates.
He then proceeded to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science Technology (KNUST) and graduated in 1989 with a BA (Social Sciences) in English and Law. In May 2003, he pursued a Certificate in Public Administration Programme at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
In the year 2003, he gained admission to Ohio University (OU) in Athens, Ohio and completed a Master in International Affairs programme in 2005. That same year, he was admitted into a doctoral programme in the School of Media Arts and Studies at the Scripps College of Communication in the same institution to read a PhD in Mass Communication and graduated in 2009.
Work experience
Prof. Ofori-Birikorang worked as a teacher in the Ghana Education Service and taught English and English Literature at Aduman Secondary School from 1991-1996. He was later employed at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) as a Prosecutor from 1996 to 2003 before leaving for the United States for further studies.
He was employed as a Lecturer in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) in May 2010. He was appointed the Departmental Graduate programmes coordinator in August, 2011. In August 2012, he was appointed Head of Department and held that position till August 2016.
Prof. Ofori-Birikorang was in August 2017 appointed as the Director of the Externally Funded Project Office (EFPO) of UEW. In September 2017, he was appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages Education and Communication, a position he has held until this election to the office of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor.
Membership of associations
At the national level, he is a member of the National Media Commission (NMC) as the representative of the Journalism and Communication Training Institutions in Ghana as well as a member of the Executive Committee of the Communicators Educators Association of Ghana (CEAG).
Additionally, at the international level, he is a member of several professional associations including International Communication Association (ICA), the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), and the Africa Studies Association-Africa (ASAA).