By Samuel Akumatey
Ho, June 20, GNA – A panel of female academic leaders have emphasised the essence of religious faith in successful academic progress.
The panel was made up of established female academics who graced the third edition of the University of Health and Allied Sciences Prof. Margaret Gyapong Annual Lecture and Mentorship Programme in Ho.
The lecture was instituted by the University to honour Prof. Margaret Gyapong, Director of the UHAS Institute of Health Research, and the panel included the Vice Chancellor who chaired the programme and the Registrar.
Dr. Mrs. Abena A. Obiri Yeboah, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Kumasi Technical University, who delivered the lecture, shared her personal academic journey and attributed her successes to the help of the supreme being.
She encouraged students to find refuge in God when challenges come up in the academic journey.
She reaffirmed her faith in God during the panel discussion and touted also the support of family.
The Vice Chancellor of UHAS also supported the divine reality and professed the Grace of God in her life journey hailing from a large family.
“The most important thing for me also is the God factor. If not God, then what else,” she stated.
Professor Margaret Gyapong, the convenor of the lecture, also spoke of how she started as a Sunday school teacher and continued to maintain membership in a number of Christian religious organisations.
She further noted the support from a religious family as her husband, Prof. John Owusu Gyapong who is the immediate past Vice Chancellor of the University, is a Christian religious leader.
The celebrated researcher is among the top women scientists in the world, and in 2020 donated 20,000 Euro prize money to support female education through the establishment of the Dora Gertrude Quaye Memorial Scholarship Fund for brilliant but needy female students.
As a highlight of the annual lecture, five students were awarded one year of full funding for tuition and accommodation.
Prof Gyapong while presenting a cheque of 34,000 GHC to cover the five students said the scholarship fund, which was initiated to honour her mother, would be sustained as an avenue of support for hard-working female students.
Her husband further donated some money to cushion the beneficiaries on their daily commute to campus.
The Vice Chancellor of UHAS said the University considered the lectures conduit to empowering students to excel, and that the institution would continue to support and recognise the effort of Prof. Margaret Gyapong.
The lecture, which is in its third year, was on the theme: “Preparing the Girl Child for Leadership.”
The lecture was attended by the management and members of the faculty as well as students from both the university and schools in the Ho municipality.
GNA