Prof. Wisdom Tettey, Dean of the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences
An extensive international search led UBC to one of its own to serve as the next Dean of UBC Okanagan’s largest faculty.
Prof. Wisdom Tettey, an internationally acclaimed scholar with extensive academic leadership experience, has been appointed Dean of the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences. His appointment for a five year term beginning July 1, 2015, was approved by UBC’s Board of Governors this week.
Tettey has served as Dean of the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies on the Okanagan campus since joining UBC in July 2011.
“Professor Tettey is a remarkable professor and academic leader who has earned the respect of our faculty, students and staff, and is known internationally for his excellence in scholarship,” says Cynthia Mathieson, Provost and Vice-Principal Academic at UBC’s Okanagan campus. “Our search was extensive, and we found the right candidate here at home. This appointment speaks to the quality of Wisdom’s scholarship and leadership, and is a credit to the academic community we have created at UBC Okanagan.”
Before coming to UBC Okanagan, Tettey was Interim Dean of the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Communication and Culture for two years and later appointed Associate Dean-designate for Interdisciplinarity in the Faculty of Arts.
Tettey holds a bachelor's degree in political science and in Russian, and a graduate diploma in communication studies from the University of Ghana. He also has a master's degree in political science from UBC, and a PhD in political science from Queen's University. Tettey was a Killam Resident Fellow at the University of Calgary and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development.
Tettey's research covers a wide range of disciplines. His areas of expertise include:
- mass media, political communication, and civic engagement in Africa
- the African diaspora and transnational citizenship
- information/communication technologies and the political economy of globalization
- international and intercultural communication
In recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to intellectual life in Ghana and the global academic community, Tettey was named a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013.
The Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences has more than 4,000 students enrolled in discipline-based and interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate degrees in the sciences, social sciences and humanities. The faculty was established in 2005 through an endowment from the late Irving Barber, who provided the resources necessary to enrich the learning experiences of arts and science students through innovative teaching methods, experiential learning opportunities, and outstanding learning resources.
Programs offered by the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences ikbsas.ok.ubc.ca/programs
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