The President of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CoHSS), Mr. Francis Xavier Ziekye has won the maiden Edition of the KNUST Vice Chancellor Students Excellence Awards (VCSEA) during the 2022-2023 Academic year as the Outstanding College Leader of the Year among all the Six Colleges. This initiative by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson was dubbed ‘’ We see You, we appreciate You’’ and it took place at the Great Hall on Wednesday, 2nd August, 2023.
The objective of this initiative was to acknowledge the efforts and contributions of students in various spheres of the university such as Leadership, Academic Excellence, Sports, Entrepreneurship, Innovations, Debate, Creative Arts, Volunteerism, Humanitarian and many others.
It was an exciting moment for the students and management of the College to witness the association president winning this award. Indeed, Mr. Francis Xavier Ziekye has performed tremendously well during his tenure of Office as the President for the Largest College on campus. It was not much of a surprise because many believed he really deserved it.
According to many students, he is a legacy President that the College has ever gotten. CoHSS–KNUST has been bedeviled with many challenges when it comes to the student front and one of the major challenges was the lack of a sitting/study area within the College where students can go to relax, learn, study, and have group discussions. Discovering the need, Mr. Francis Xavier Ziekye led his Executive Committee to an engagement with the management of the College in order to nip this canker in its bud.
His engagement with the Provost, Prof.Charles Ofosu Marfo, and the Management of the College yielded great results. They rendered their support behind him and he was able to establish the sitting/study area project in the College. Many students were so happy about this initiative and they kept on praising his administration for this great feat attained.
CoHSS is made up of three (3) faculties, the Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law, and the KNUST School of Business, and as such Mr. Francis Xavier Ziekye had 3 Faculty Presidents and Fourteen (14) department Presidents under him. Due to his passion to promote an all-inclusive leadership where common goals could be pursued for the betterment of the College, he has been able to get all of them on board through the maiden program he launched as the first program during his administration as ‘’CoHSS Unity Summit’’. Discussions were held and the sitting area project was one of the core issues discussed ahead of this program. Eventually, the faculty of Social Sciences was able to equally establish a sitting area, the KNUST School Business was almost done and Law was still undergoing the process.
His administration through the Office of the Women Commissioner has established a Sanitary Bank Project to aid the females in the College who in one way or another were being challenged with getting necessities such as sanitary pads during their menstrual period. In addition to that, his administration collaborated with the College IT department to develop an app called ‘’CoHSS Bot App’’ on Telegram which aids students to be able to access important places on campus even if they do not know their location and for easy dissemination of information.
Aside from the above, he has organized programs on career path development, entrepreneurship, innovation, and many others for the enhancement of the professional and personal growth and development of the students.
It was therefore not shocking news when he was adjudged as the ‘’Outstanding College Leader’’ of the year by the Vice Chancellor.