Former Black Star executive director named Chair of Ph.D. program in the Social Work Faculty
Contact Staff
Former Montrealer Dr. Michael Baffoe continues to scale the ladder of academia at the University of Manitoba, where last month he was named chairman of the Ph.D. candidates in the Faculty of Social Work.
His appointment for a three-year term came less than a year after he became full professor last March.
And according to the dean of the department, Dr. Michael Yellowbird, Dr. Baffoe is part of the university’s forward-looking positioning for the changing global reality.
“With the need for a new vision of global indigenization, internationalization and de-colonization focus of our Ph.D. Program, I believe Michael Baffoe is well-suited for the challenges and opportunities that come with redirecting the Ph.D. Program at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba.”
Dr. Baffoe, who is currently the lead supervisor of two post-doctoral students at the university, has been involved with the Ph.D. program from 2011 when in collaboration with the Carnegie Corporation Foundation of New York, he developed a split program between UofM and the University of Ghana.
Dr. Yellowbird says Dr. Baffoe, through his international engagements with universities in Africa and Australia, has enriched the faculty in multiple ways.
Between 2008 and 2012, the Ghanaian-born academic was able to secure funding from the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) under which he sponsored 21 Master’s students from the University of Ghana to undertake half-year research/study tours at the University of Manitoba.
Also, under his co-supervision, four international Ph.D. students completed their studies at UofM and have since graduated and are now full Faculty members at the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, in Legon.
Dr. Baffoe joined the university in July 2006 as assistant professor, then was promoted to associate professor in 2013, and to the rank of full professor in March 2019.
Over the past 12 years, he has been organizing a wide-ranging conference on migrant rights and refugee rights called Strangers in New Homeland that brings many of the world’s leading authorities to Winnipeg.
In Montreal, Michael Baffoe completed his Master’s and Ph.D. studies at McGill University while maintaining a solid profile in the community.
He served as executive director of Black Star Big Brother Project, worked extensively with the Ghanaian community and wrote columns for the CONTACT and Ghanaian News.
