Reverend Doctor (Mrs) Grace Sintim Adasi was on Friday inducted into office as the Principal of the Agogo Presbyterian Women’s College of Education at Agogo, Asante Akyem, in the Ashanti Region.
She becomes the 17th Principal of the College since its establishment in 1931.
In a sermon, Rt. Rev Prof. J.O.Y. Mante, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, urged her to raise higher the name of the College.
He told her to be more focused and have a target, saying “life is a race, you need to run and run faster.”
The Moderator told her ”do not fail us, you have been given the baton, you have to run, keep running and run faster, so that at the end of your tenure you can say you fought the race and won.”
Prof. Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Council Chairman of the College, commended her for her academic efforts saying she emerged the best among the candidates interviewed for the top post.
He asked her to think deeply about the fortunes of the College “to bring the best for today and future.”
Prof. Adarkwa said to her: “Remain strong, courageous and endeavor to build bridges for the common goal of the College.
“When you are confronted with challenges, look for opportunities in every situation to learn and grow in wisdom.”
Having gone through Ofori Panin Secondary School for both the Ordinary and Advanced levels of the General Certificate of Education, the new Principal attended the University of Cape Coast, where she had her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Religious Studies in 1994 concurrently with Diploma in Education.
Rev. Dr. Adasi, in 2000, obtained her Master of Philosophy Degree in African Studies from the University of Ghana and Master of Arts in World Heritage Studies at Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany.
Determined to achieve higher academic laurels, she pursued a doctorate degree in the study of Religions from the University of Ghana.
Interestingly, currently, she is pursuing a sandwich programme in Master in Educational Leadership and Management at the School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana.
Rev. Dr. Adasi was a tutor at Achimota School, teaching English and Social Studies and was the House Mistress for House 17, Anne Baeta Jiagge.
She also worked as a lecturer at the then Accra Polytechnic and rose to become a senior lecturer and Department Head in the languages and liberal studies deparment and also Vice Dean, School of Business and Management Studies.
In 2016, she joined the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, as a research fellow/lecturer and served as the seminar coordinator of the Institute and was the Head of Religion and Philosophy section of the Institute.
She, in 2020, was appointed as an adjunct senior lecturer at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Education, Winneba.
In addition to her research interests in gender, Christianity, indigenous religions, women empowerment and education, she has over 30 published works to her name.
She has made a substantial contribution to advancing the research on women’s leadership roles with her latest works including ‘Perceived stress levels and coping strategies by programme among teacher education students at the University of Ghana.’
She is a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, African and African Diaspora Women in Theology and Religion, American Academy of Religion, Association of Africa Traditional Religion and Philosophy Scholars and African Studies Association of Africa, among others.
Rev. Dr Adasi was commissioned Reverend Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in August 2010 and ordained in June 2012.
In her speech, she announced the establishment of the ‘Principal’s Excellence Awards’ which would recognise and reward excelling students to pursue various Master programmes and come back to serve the College.
Among her intentions, she would put in place an effective supervisory and monitoring system to check quality which would include checking class attendance among others.
