Ghanaian aviation education professional wins award
A Ghanaian associate dean at the Kent State University’s College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology in the US, Dr Richmond Nettey, has received the University Aviation Association’s William A. Wheatley Award for his activeness and contribution to the association.
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Dr Nettey, who is the first African-American to receive the award, which is presented annually to a professional educator who is active in the University Aviation Association, has at least 10 years of experience in the aviation education profession, and has made outstanding contributions to aerospace education.
The association said Dr Nettey was selected because of his outstanding performance at Kent State and on the aviation committees at the National Research Council, as well as the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
The award also recognises his work as the former director of the Airway Science Programme at Texas Southern University.
Achievements
Under his leadership, the Kent State aeronautics programme became the first Aviation Accreditation Board with internationally-accredited aviation programme and Federal Aviation Administration-approved Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative programme in Ohio.
According to Dr Nettey, he developed interest in aeronautics when as a child his father used to take him to the airport to watch planes land and take off.
He taught his first course in aviation 31 years ago at the University of Louisiana, and had been at Kent State since 2001.
He began his secondary education at the Adisadel College on a bursary scholarship in 1973 and completed the GCE O and A Level Examinations in 1978 and in June 1980 respectively, majoring in Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. He was elected as Senior Head Prefect in 1979 and then as the Senior Head Prefect in 1980 while in Upper Six. He was also the President of the Scripture Union (SU) at Adisadel College.
He left Accra in August 1980 for university education in aviation in the United States.