Kwadzo Senanu

Senanu was born in 1933 at Agbozume in the Volta Region of Ghana.

He studied for his elementary education at the Agbozume Some National School which he completed in the year 1947 and attended Accra Academy for his secondary education which he completed in the year 1951 and continued in 1952 to the University College of the Gold Coast then an external affiliate of the University of London. He was amongst the first residents of the university's premier hall, Legon Hall, won the English Travelling Exhibition in 1954, awarded the Gurrey Prize for original composition in 1955,[2] and graduated with first-class honours in English in 1957. In the same year he entered Downing College, Cambridge and took a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959 and started studies for an M.A. degree at Downing which was completed whilst at Yale University in 1964.[3] Senanu received his doctoral degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1965. [4]

He was first appointed lecturer at University of Ghana in 1960 and made a senior lecturer from  1967 to 1971. He became a Schofield Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge, UK from September 1971 to October 1972.[5] He was a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria from 1975 to 1977. In 1977 he was made associate professor and became the first African head of the English department at the University of Ghana. He served as an editor of Universitas, an inter-faculty journal at the University of Ghana.[6] In 1981 he was appointed pro-vice chancellor of the University of Ghana and served until September 1983, when he assumed the role of acting vice chancellor of the university serving until December 1984. He was a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge beginning in October 1985.[4] In 1986 he returned to teaching in the role of associate professor at the University of Ghana and finally left the university in 1988.[7] In 1988 Senanu joined Moi University in Kenya as a professor of Social, Cultural and Development Studies staying on in the university until 1997.[7] He returned to Ghana and served as chairman of the council of the University of Cape Coast from 1997 to 1999. He was one of three consultants to the Government of Ghana on preparing the draft Technical and Vocational Education Policy from 2000 to 2001 and served as TVET/Adult Education Consultant on ADB's Mission to the Gambia's Education III Project. [7] In 2016, he was the External Judge for the Nigeria Prize for Literature.[8] He participated in deliberations of UNESCO and the Association of African Universities.[9]

Kwadzo Ebli Senanu was married to Ivy Degbor in 1968. He died on 21 May 2020.[7] He was the father of businessman, Kris Senanu.[10]

• A Selection of African Poetry edited with Dr. T. Vincent and published by Longman.
• Creative use of Language in Kenya edited with Drid Williams and published by Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, 1995.