Professor (Mrs) Rita Akosua Dickson has been given a second term appointment of two years as Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Her four-year tenure was expiring at the end of July 2024 but it has been announced that the University Council at its 282nd Regular Meeting on Thursday, June 20, has given her a second term of two years.

Her tenure is now expected to end on July 31, 2026.

It follows the University Council's approval of the recommendations of the committee set up to evaluate the application for renewal of the appointment for the Vice Chancellor for a second term of two years.

This was made known in an official notice dated June 20, 2024, signed by the Registrar and Secretary to the Council, A.K. Boateng.

Rita Akosua Dickson is a professor of Pharmacy who was a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of KNUST when in 2020 she was appointed as the first female Vice Chancellor.

She started her first tenure on August 1, 2020.

Prof. Rita Dickson is KNUST's first female Vice Chancellor

Born on August 1, 1970, Rita Akosua Dickson is a Ghanaian phytochemist and she became the first female Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST on October 1, 2018, when she took over from Rev. Prof. Charles Ansah.

She is an alumna of KNUST and graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy in 1994.

She undertook her national service at the Department of Pharmacognosy and also had her internship at the  Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.

Prof. Dickson obtained her M.Pharm (Pharmacognosy) in 1999 and was appointed a lecturer in 2000.

In 2003, she was awarded a Commonwealth scholarship to pursue her PhD at King's College, University of London, United Kingdom (UK).

After obtaining her PhD, she also acquired a certificate in Academic Practice from the same university.

Prof. Dickson returned to Ghana in 2007 and was promoted to the position of senior lecturer in 2009 and subsequently became an associate professor in 2014.

Early life and education

Prof Dickson attended St. Monica's Secondary School in Mampong in the Ashanti Region where she studied for her GCE Ordinary Level examinations and later Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast, for her GCE Advanced Level examinations.

Career

Prof Dickson started her career in academia as a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in the year 2000.

After leaving to pursue further studies in the UK, she returned to Ghana in 2007 and continued lecturing at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

In 2009 she was promoted to senior lecturer and further to associate professor in 2014.

In September 2018, she was appointed the pro-vice chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, making her the first female to occupy that position.

Prior to her appointment as pro-vice-chancellor, she was the dean of the faculty of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.

Prof Dickson currently serves as a board member of the Pharmacy Council and Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana.

She started her four-year term as Vice-Chancellor of KNUST from August 1, 2020

Her work as a phytochemist covers the areas of bioactive natural products in the management of communicable and non-communicable diseases.