The Public Affairs Directorate of the University of Ghana (UG-PAD) has announced the reappointment of Mrs. Mary Chinery-Hesse as the Chancellor of the University of Ghana for a second term in office.
Her reappointment was approved at a board meeting held by the University of Ghana Council on 6th July, 2023.
Mrs. Chinery-Hesse, who is about to end her first term as chancellor for the University, was reappointed to serve for a second five-year term from 1st August, 2023 to 31st July, 2028.
All members within the University community are to be duly informed of this development.
Profile of Mrs. Mary Chinery-Hesse
Mrs. Mary Chinery-Hesse, née Blay, has had distinguished careers in Ghana’s Civil Service and at the United Nations. In the UN and in numerous other Organizations, she continues to be an important voice on economic development issues, an ardent defender of human rights, particularly women’s rights, as well as an active advocate for African imperatives, conflict resolution and mediation.
She holds an Honours Degree from the University of Ghana in Sociology and Economics and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) by her Alma Mater, the University of Ghana, in 1991, the first female product of the University of Ghana to be so honoured. She undertook her Post-Graduate Programmes in Development Economics at the University of Dublin and at the World Bank Institute in Washington D.C. where she was inscribed as a Fellow of the Institute. She is an Old Girl of Wesley Girls’ High School and Mfantsipim School.
Mary Chinery-Hesse’s first post at the United Nations was that of Resident Coordinator of the UN Systems and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme, serving in New York, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, the Seychelles and Uganda.
She was the first ever African woman to be appointed to that position. She was then appointed as the first ever woman Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), after seventy years of the founding of that UN Agency, a position with the rank of Under Secretary-General of the UN. Again, this gave her the distinction of being the first African woman to attain a position of Under Secretary-General in the history of the United Nations.
She also served as Chairperson of the UN’s Consultative Committee on Programme and Operational Questions for several years, and was as well the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Expert Group of Eminent Persons on Structural Adjustment and Women, which produced the landmark Report, “Engendering Adjustment”.
She also was Vice-Chairperson of the National Development Planning Commission, and a Member of the Board of the Centre for Policy Analysis.
She was a Member of the Council of the University of Ghana from 2006-2009. Currently, she is serving her first term as Chancellor of the University of Ghana, a position she has been holding since 1st August, 2018.
