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June 2004

VISITING LECTURER PROFILE: AYORKOR MILLS-TETTEY

By Ayorkor Mills-Tettey
Visiting Lecturer

I was born and spent most of my childhood in Nigeria where my parents worked at the time. When my family moved back to Ghana, I attended Wesley Girls' High School in Cape Coast for my senior secondary education. I then took some time off, during which I worked for a year with Patrick Nutor at Accu-Computers in Accra. Patrick was one of the people who encouraged me to attend his alma mater, Dartmouth College in the U.S., for my university education. It was at Dartmouth that I was first bitten by the computer science "bug", leading me to combine my studies of engineering with the fascinating field of computer science.

During both my undergraduate and master's programs at Dartmouth, I had the opportunity to conduct research, present at conferences, do internships, participate in student groups, and make friends from around the world. Each of these made for a rich learning experience. I was initially drawn to Dartmouth because of its liberal arts educational philosophy. Although I wanted to study engineering, I believed, even then, that education should be broad, enabling individuals to develop all aspects of themselves. From my childhood, I have been inspired by the following quotation from the writings of the Bahá'í Faith: "Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom " . "In my work, I am motivated by the belief that education is one of the most important things in life, and also by the simple fact that I enjoy teaching. This is one of the reasons I love my job at Ashesi. The other is that Ashesi has a great community of motivated and visionary students, staff, and faculty that I feel privileged to work with.

When I am not teaching, I am often involved in activities of my Bahá'í community. These include organizing interfaith activities aimed at promoting unity, and serving on administrative institutions. In my "down" time, I also enjoy books, theatre, music, movies, dance, swimming, and simply spending time with my family and friends. Two enjoyable things I have had the opportunity to do are singing with the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir and hearing Tracy Chapman live in concert.

My aspiration is to continue to work in education. I believe that it is the key that enables us to fulfill our individual and collective potential, find creative and lasting solutions to the problems that plague us, and live lives that are dignified, productive, and joyful. All levels of education interest me - one of my dreams is to establish a school for children based on a holistic philosophy of education. I am also interested in developing technology and promoting research. In relation to this, I plan to begin a doctoral program in robotics later this year. Although I will have to leave Ashesi to do this, I hope life brings me back here soon.

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