As we wind down on the last hours of 2014, we highlight some of our most popular stories this year, celebrating the progress we have made and our ambitions for the coming year. To the entire Ashesi community, and our friends and supporters worldwide, thank you for a great 2014, and here's to an even better 2015! [Click here to see more highlights from 2014] 
1. Ashesi commits to gender balance in its new Engineering Programme at Clinton Global Initiative 2014 meeting
At the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York, Dr. Patrick Awuah, Founder and President of Ashesi University, announced the University’s new Commitment to Action: to add a new engineering major at Ashesi, with a goal of recruiting equal numbers of outstanding African women and men to this innovative program.
“Our goal is about inclusion, but perhaps more importantly, it is about ensuring that the perspectives of African women guide the engineering solutions to some of Africa’s greatest challenges. Achieving gender balance in engineering education would be exceptional and would represent leadership not only in Africa, but also globally.”
Read more...
2. Ashesi President named Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship named Ashesi President Dr. Patrick Awuah as Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 in March of this year. Dr. Awuah was one of thirty-seven Social Entrepreneurs selected in recognition of their innovative approach to social entrepreneurship and potential for global impact.
“The 37 outstanding social entrepreneurs we have selected into the Schwab Foundation community this year are designing transformative models in collaboration with government and business partners to generate truly inclusive growth,” said Hilde Schwab, Co-Founder and Chairperson, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
Read more...
3. Ashesi alumni selected to join the 2014 Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders
Ashesi alumni, Regina Agyare ’05 and Araba Hammond ’07, were selected to join the 2014 Washington Fellowship, as part of U.S President Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI).
The programme sent over 500 young leaders from across Africa to the United States for leadership training, academic coursework and mentoring. As Washington Fellows, Regina and Araba got to interact with President Obama at a Presidential Summit in Washington, met with U.S government, civic and business leaders and are now part of a global alumni network of Fellows.
Read more...
4. Ashesi's Engineering Project receives $250,000 in funding from USAID
The Ashesi University Foundation announced it had received a $250,000 Cooperative Agreement from USAID, under the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) program, to support the construction of Ashesi University College's new engineering program in Ghana.
Ashesi broke ground for the engineering project in November 2013, and is on schedule for a fall 2015 program launch. Ashesi’s engineering program will educate young Africans who will drive the important innovations that Africa needs. The curriculum, developed in partnership with top universities in the United States and Canada, will be a model for engineering education across the continent.
Read more...
5. How one MasterCard Scholar at Ashesi is helping Liberia fight Ebola
Student Kpetermeni Siakor '15 joined his colleagues in Liberia in deploying effective data tools for the country's health ministry. The team is helping provide computers, reliable internet connectivity and iLab volunteers to digitise paper case forms and track Ebola contact cases. The team is also assisting Medical Teams International to map out all the health centres in Liberia in order to track in new cases.
From Ashesi’s computer labs, Kpetermeni works remotely with the iLab team to provide the real time information support systems that health teams in Liberia desperately need to combat the spread of Ebola.
Read more...
6. Students elect an all-female team to head student government for the first time in our history
For the first time in Ashesi’s history, an all-female team was elected to head the university's student government. Students elected Esther Yaa Pokua Addei ’16 and Ewurabena Hagan ’16 to serve as President and Vice-President (respectively) of the Executive arm of the Ashesi Student Council, while Sedem Banini ’16 and Onyinye Stephanie Oguego ’17 were elected as Chairperson and Vice Chairperson (respectively) of the Judicial and Electoral Committee.
Read more...
7. Ashesi named Organisation with Best Social Media Presence at BloggingGhana Social Media Awards
Ashesi was awarded the Organisation with Best Social Media Presence for the year 2014 at Ghana’s biggest blogging and social media gathering, BlogCamp 2014. Ashesi also received the award for “Best Facebook Page”, becoming the first university to have received recognition of this kind for social media engagement in Ghana.
Read more...
8. Celebrating our 10th Graduating Class
Ashesi celebrated its 10th graduating class at a ceremony held in the Cornfield & Archer Courtyard on campus. Over 1,000 family, friends, students and alumni joined the Class of 2014 to celebrate their four years at Ashesi, and welcome them to the Ashesi alumni community. Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, was guest speaker at this year’s commencement ceremony.
Read more...
9. A partnership with Ashesi allows the Melton Foundation to bring its Global Citizenship Programme to Africa
The Melton Foundation in the United States partnered with Ashesi to bring its global citizenship and ethical leadership programme to Africa for the first time. Under the programme, up to five Ashesi students could be selected each year to join the Foundation’s world-class Fellows programme and engage in projects to develop their skills as global citizens. Ashesi is the sixth institution to join the Melton Foundation’s programme, and will be the Foundation’s only partner in sub-Saharan Africa.
Read more...
10. Class of 2017 signs on to the Ashesi Honour Code, and continues work to build a community of trust at Ashesi
In a short induction ceremony held at the Linda Archer and David Cornfield Courtyard at Ashesi, members of the Class of 2017 pledged to abide by and support the Ashesi Honour Code. Speaking at the ceremony, Ashesi President Dr. Patrick Awuah, congratulated the Class of 2017, and reminded the Ashesi community that it had a responsibility to help build strong legacies of African leadership and innovation.
“We must challenge ourselves to be the ones who will change this continent. We will be the beautiful ones that this continent needs and we must have the conviction that we can do it.”
Read more...