The Unconventional Path to Academia: A Toilet Attendant's Inaugural Lecture as a Professor -Part 2

In the second episode of "The Unconventional Path to Academia: A Toilet Attendant's Inaugural Lecture as a Professor", we take a look at the journey of Prof Bernard Kumi-Boateng in UMaT so far and his service to the community.

THE UMaT JOURNEY SO FAR
Prof Kumi-Boateng joined UMaT after obtaining his master's degree in 2007 and it was here that he met his mentor, Prof Emeritus Daniel Mireku-Gyimah (Foundation Vice Chancellor of UMaT) who taught him everything about academic life at the university.

Prof Kumi-Boateng has 16 years of university teaching and research experience. He was appointed to the position of a Lecturer at the Department of Geomatic Engineering, UMaT in May 2007, promoted to Senior Lecturer in October 2011, Associate Professor in October 2016 and Professor in October 2020. He has taught several courses in Geomatic Engineering at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and supervised over 60 undergraduate (BSc) and over 20 postgraduate (MSc, MPhil, and Ph.D.) research projects at UMaT, Ghana, University of The Gambia, Gambia, and Curtin School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.



He has served UMaT in various capacities by which he has gained experience in University Administration: Head of the Department of Geomatic Engineering (Aug. 2012 to Jul. 2014): Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences (Feb. 2015 to Jul. 2016); Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (Aug. 2016 to Jul. 2017); Vice Dean of International Programmes (Aug. 2015 to Jul 2017);  Dean of Students (Aug. 2017 to Jul 2021): and Dean, Planning and Quality Assurance (Aug. 2021 to date).

He has also been a University Chaplain, Senior Hall Tutor, Examinations Officer, and Training Coordinator and has served as a chairman or member on over 100 statutory and ad-hoc committees in the University within a period of 16 years.


SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY
Prof Kumi-Boateng is a distinguished and internationally acclaimed scholar who has carried out several extension activities, mostly in the areas of education and consultancy services.

He is a visiting Professor to the University of The Gambia and served as a member of the Ghana National Committee of West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) from 2013 to 2021. He also served as a member of the International Final Awards and Examiners’ Appointments Committee of the International Examinations Committee of WAEC (2014 to 2021).

He was selected by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Programme of USA to serve as a Reviewer to evaluate project requests from higher education Institutes in African Countries (2014 to date). He has been a reviewer for the prestigious Newton Prize, UK National Commission for UNESCO (2014 to date.)

He has been an external examiner for over 50 MSc/MPhil/PhD candidates in various Departments of KNUST (2015 to date); External Assessor of publications of candidates seeking promotion from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and or Professorial positions at Accra Technical University, Accra (2015), Catholic University College, Fiapre (2019), Kumasi Technical University, Kumasi (2020 to date), University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani (2021), S. D. Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Wa (2022 to date); External Member of Appointment and Promotions Board of Takoradi Technical University (2019 to 2021); a Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Earth Sciences (2014 to date) and a Member of the Editorial Board, International Journal of Remote Sensing Applications (2014 to date).

He has carried out several research in various aspects of Geomatic Engineering and is best known for his use of Geospatial Technology in Mapping, Compensation and Cadastral Surveying, Drone Surveys, Urban Mining (E-Waste), Resettlement Action Plan, Informal E-Waste Stakeholder Engagement, Environmental Management, Socio-economic Baseline and Impact Assessment, Land Access, and Sustainable Community Development.

He has to his credit over 50 journal papers, and over 20 conference proceedings and he is the principal co-author of a book titled: “A Spatio-Temporal Estimation of Land-Use Change and Sequestered Carbon: A Model for the Tarkwa Mining Area of Ghana”.

He was part of a group of people sponsored by the World Bank for the first regional capacity-building workshop on benchmarking African Universities. He is a member of the International Association of Engineers (IAENG), Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG), African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE), American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE), Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS), Ghana Geospatial Society (GGS), Licensed Surveyors Association of Ghana (LiSAG) and a fellow of the West African Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (WAIMM).

Prof Kumi-Boateng has provided quality assurance support to 4 Technical Universities (Kumasi Technical University, Takoradi Technical University, Tamale Technical University, and Bolgatanga Technical University) in Ghana as we