Appointment of Professor Wisdom Tettey as Vice-President, University of Toronto and Principal, University of Toronto Scarborough (PDAD&C #95)

We are pleased to announce that the Governing Council has approved the appointment of Professor Wisdom Tettey as Vice-President, University of Toronto and Principal, University of Toronto Scarborough, for a five-year term effective July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023.

Professor Wisdom Tettey is Dean of the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences at The University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus, a position he has held since 2015. At the Barber School, Professor Tettey has led the development of a five-year Strategic Plan, components of which include: enhancing the Faculty’s research strength; reviewing and revising undergraduate programs to incorporate additional competencies; broadening Indigenous perspectives in the curriculum; enhancing flexible and experiential learning opportunities for students; developing new graduate programs in areas of existing or emerging strength; fostering transparency, shared, and collegial governance within the Faculty; and, sustaining a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Prior to being appointed to the Barber School, Professor Tettey served four years as Dean of the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan. He joined UBC from the University of Calgary, where he spent thirteen years, including two years in the role of Interim Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Culture. Professor Tettey began his academic career at Queen’s University.

Professor Tettey holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and in Russian, as well as a graduate diploma in communication studies, from the University of Ghana. He holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from UBC, and a PhD in Political Studies from Queen’s University. Professor Tettey has been a Killam Resident Fellow at the University of Calgary and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development. In 2013, Professor Tettey was elected as a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Tettey’s research interests include political economy of globalization and information technology in Africa; media, politics, and civic engagement in Africa; African higher education and the knowledge society; and transnational citizenship and the African diaspora. Professor Tettey’s impressive list of publications includes Media and Information Literacy, Informed Citizenship and Democratic Development in Africa; A Handbook for Media/Information Producers and Users; Challenges of Developing and Retaining the Next Generation of Academics: Deficits in Academic Staff Capacity at African Universities; and African Media and Digital Public Sphere. Professor Tettey has a strong and consistent history of grant funding. In 2005, he was the Principal Investigator on a World Bank Study on Academic Staff Retention Measures in African Universities. Most recently in 2017, he was awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant as a Co-Investigator for the project, The Welfare and Security of Persons with Albinism: Developing a Research Policy Network to Address the Interplay of Spiritual/Cultural Practices and Human Rights.

We very much look forward to working with Professor Tettey as a member of the vice-presidential team.

Finally, we would like to thank the members of the Advisory Committee for their involvement in this critical process and for their thoughtful advice and guidance.