Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang was born on 22nd November 1951 in Cape Coast, in the Central Region of Ghana, she became the first female Vice-Chancellor of a state University in Ghana when she was appointed Vice-Chancellor of University of Cape Coast on 1st October 2008.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang attended Anglican Girls’ Secondary School in Koforidua and Aburi Presby Girls’ School. She then had her secondary education at the prestigious Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast from 1964 to 1971. She was appointed in 2013 by President John Mahama as Minister of Education served until January 2017 when the Nana Akuffo-Addo administration was elected to power. She is a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang attended Anglican Girls’ Secondary School at Koforidua and Aburi Presby Girls’ School. She then had her secondary education at the Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast from 1964 to 1971. She completed B.Ed. (Hons) in English and French at the University of Cape Coast in 1977 and obtained her master’s and Doctorate degrees from York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1980 and 1986, respectively.
She has held various academic positions including Head of the Department of English, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Warden of Adehye Hall, Valco Trust Fund Post-Graduate Hostel, and Dean of School of Graduate Studies and Research. From 1997, she has held the position of Academic Director of the School for International Training in the History and Cultures of the African Diaspora.
In March 2007, she was one of five scholars selected to deliver presentations during the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
In October 2009, she was elected Ghana’s representative to the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Ahead of the 2012 general elections, Jane Opoku Agyemang served as the moderator of the IEA Presidential debate with Kojo Oppong Nkrumah the current Minister of Information.
On 26 October 2018, she was appointed as Chancellor of the Women’s University of Africa in Zimbabwe.
She has served on many local and international boards and committees such as the Centre for Democratic Governance, (CDD-Ghana), the Editorial Board of The Harriet Tubman Series on the African Diaspora (Africa World Press Inc. USA), the Africa Initiative in Canada, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons as Eminent Citizen.
Opoku-Agyemang is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, University Teachers Association of Ghana, English Studies Association, African Studies Association, United States, African Literature Association, United States, and International Fulbright Scholars Association, Commonwealth of Learning, among others.
Opoku-Agyemang has received honorary degrees from the University of West Indies and Winston-Salem University. She has also received an award for Global leadership from the University of South Florida in Tampa. She was also awarded the Officer of the Order of the Volta for Academic Distinction and Ghana Women of Excellence Award in the Education category. She has been acknowledged for Outstanding Performance in Advancing International Education, School for International Training, Vermont, USA on two occasions.
