Ophelia Inez Weeks

Last updated
Ophelia Inez Weeks
Nationality Liberian
Employer University of Liberia
Known forPresident of the University of Liberia

Ophelia Inez Weeks is a Liberian academic. She led the University of Liberia from 2017 to 2018. She was then the Liberian Executive Director and Board Secretary for the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development.

Life

Weeks father was Rocheforte L. Weeks and he had been the first and third Liberian President of the university from 1959 to 1971. [1]

In 2017, Weeks became the 14th President of the University of Liberia. She was the second woman to be president and the first to be a child of a former head of the university. She inherited a body that less than a decade before had a terrible reputation for admitting students with little qualification and then allowing them and other to gain qualifications they had had not achieved. The retiring head of the university was creditted with turning it around and the university's budget had increased by a magnitude. [1]

One of her first tasks was given to her by the President of the country and that was to name the university's Fendall Campus after Mary Antoinette Brown Sherman who had been the first woman to lead the university. [1]

At the start of 2018 there was a protest by the students of her decision to not extend a registration deadline. The protest lasted for seven hours and included about 200 students. [2]

She led the university for a short time, [3] being replaced as president in 2019 at the instruction of Liberian president George Weah [4] who had come to power the year before. The new university president was Dean Nelson. [4]

The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development was created in 2018. [5] Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had led Liberia from 2006 to 2018 as the first woman to lead an African country. Weeks led this centre from March 2020 with its flagship programme to create a generation of African women leaders. [6]

Weeks was thanked for her work at the EJSPC by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf when Gambian Oley Dibba-Wadda took over as an interim replacement. [7]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Reporter, FPA Staff (2017-09-15). "Pres. Sirleaf Inducts Dr. Ophelia Weeks As 14th President of University of Liberia". FrontPageAfrica. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  2. ↑ "seven hours of protest".
  3. ↑ Davies, Carole Boyce (November 2022). Black Women's Rights: Leadership and the Circularities of Power. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1-7936-1239-7.
  4. 1 2 Koinyeneh, Gerald C. (2019-10-21). "University of Liberia Students React to Dr. Weeks' Dismissal; Demand More From New President". FrontPageAfrica. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  5. ↑ Lomax, Selma (2021-11-01). "Liberia: Women Leaders Across Africa Share Their Thoughts On Leadership At Amujae Initiative Forum". FrontPageAfrica. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  6. ↑ Dawn, New (2020-03-11). "EJS Center to raise waves of women leaders". Liberia news The New Dawn Liberia, premier resource for latest news. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  7. ↑ "The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development Welcomes its New Interim Executive Director". 2022-12-20. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
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