Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, nominated as Minister of Education, was born on November 22, 1951 at Cape Coast in the Central Region but hails from Komenda.
She attended Anglican Girls’ Secondary School at Koforidua and Aburi Presbyterian Girls’ School.
She had her secondary education at the Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast from 1964 to 1971 where she was the School Prefect in her final year.
Prof. Opoku-Agyeman has a Diplome Superiere D’Etudes Francaises from the University of Dakar, Senegal in 1976 and B. A.(Hons) with a Diploma in Education at theUniversity of Cape Coast in 1977 and obtained her Masters and Doctorate degrees from York University in Toronto,Canada in 1980 and 1986 respectively.
She taught and worked at the University of Cape Coastfrom 1986 and 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 the Founding Dean of School of Graduate Studies and Research.
Prof. Opoku-Agyeman in 1997 held the position of Academic Director of the School for International Training in the History and Cultures of the African Diaspora.
She chaired over 20 Boards and Committees including the Council of the University College of Education, Winneba 1998-2002; Joint Co-coordinator of the Specialist Programme in English Language and Ghanaian Culture for Japan Overseas Co-operation Volunteers 1991-1993.
Prof. Opoku-Agyeman also chaired the Adjudication Committee, VALCO Literary Awards, Ghana 1993-1998; Board of Governors, Ghana Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-Ghana) since it’s founding in 1998; and Board of Governors, Wesley Girls High School 1994-1998.
In recognition of her outstanding contribution to the development and promotion of quality education in Ghana, the Ghana Women of Excellence Award was conferred her.
She is a member of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences; University Teachers Association of Ghana; English Studies Association; African Studies Association, USA; African Literature Association, USA; and the International Fulbright Scholars Association.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, is the former Vice-Chancellor of University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and became the first female Vice-Chancellor of a state University in Ghana.
She has been a member of the Governing Board of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Selection Committee of the African Humanities Project of Carnegie Corporation, USA.
She has also been an Exchange Professor, Eastern Washington University, USA and Director of Ohio University’s Teach in Ghana Program.
She was selected as a Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study and Research into the African Humanities, North Western University, USA (1994).
She was a Fellow of the American Summer Institute, Northern Illinois University, USA (2003).
She was twice honoured for outstanding performance in advancing international education by the School for International Training/World Learning, USA in 2003 and 2007.
Prof. Opoku-Agyeman was honoured with honorary degrees from the University of West Indies and Winston Salem University.
She also received an award for Global leadership from the University of South Florida in Tampa.
She researched and published extensively in areas including Literature by women from Africa, Oral Literature in Ghana and on issues relating to Higher Education in Ghana and Africa as well as on the Trade in Enslaved Africans.
Prof. Opoku-Agyeman attended numerous international conferences in Africa, North America, the Caribbean and Europe, on many occasions as Keynote Speaker.
She was one of the five eminent scholars invited to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York during the commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery in March 2006. Academic Works
“Where there is No Silence: Articulations of Resistance to Enslavement,” Revised Inaugural Lecture to the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Opoku-Agyeman, N. J., Lovejoy, P.E., Trotman, D.V., (2008), (eds), Africa and its Diasporas: History, Memory and Literary Manifestations Trenton, New Jersey, USA: Africa World Press.
Opoku-Agyemang, N.J., (2008), Where There is No Silence: Articulations of Resistance to Enslavement, Accra.
Anquandah, J., Opoku-Agyemang, N.J., and Doormont, M., (2007), (eds), “The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: Landmarks, Legacies, Expectations, Accra. “The Living Experience of the Slave Trade in Sankana and Gwollu: Literary Manifestations and Implications for Tourism”
In The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: Landmarks, Legacies, Expectations, (eds) James Anquandah, Naana Opoku-Agyemang and Michel Doormont, Accra.
“A Fork in the Road: Ayi Kwei Armah’s Osiris Rising and Florence Ladd’s Sarah’s Psalm on the subject of homecoming” in (eds) Naana J. Opoku-Agyemang, with Paul E. Lovejoy and David V. Trotman (eds) Africa and its Diasporas: History, Memory and Literary Manifestations, Trenton, New Jersey, USA: Africa World Press, 2008, pp. 303–318.