Cosmas Kofi Worlarnyo Mereku

Professor Cosmas Worlanyo Kofi Mereku was born on December 18, 1956 at Kpando Agudzi in the Volta Region of Ghana. He is a twin. His twin brother is also a Professor in Mathematics Education, Professor Damien Kofi Mereku. The twins attended Pong Tamale crèche and nursery; Agona Swedru Kindergarten opposite the Ahamadiya Hospital near the Swedru Main Market; Dzoanti-Gadza-Agudzi (DGA) R.C. Primary School; later back to Agona Swedru to continue at the Swedru Bebianiha District Council ‘C’ Primary School, and finally at the Salvation Army Primary and Middle Schools. After middle school he went to Ada Training College, Ada Foah; National Academic of Music (NAM), Winneba; won a Fulbright Hays Scholarship to study for his Masters of Music at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. USA. 1988-1990; won me the Overseas Research Studentship Award (ORS) & the Tetley Lupton Scholarship to study for the PhD in Musical Composition at Leeds University in England, UK. 1993-1997; composed the UEW Anthem for the first Matriculation Ceremony in 1993. Was motivated by J. M. T. Dosoo, an excellent musician, at the Ada Training College to become an art musician. Cosmas’ areas of interest are musical composition; assessment and evaluation in music; music education; music curriculum development; gender mainstreaming, collection, transcription & notation of traditional folk music and contemporary pentecoastal praise songs; and music technology. His professional leadership experience and sojourn began when he was appointed HOD in 1999 at UCEW. On this journey, he had since served seven years cumulatively as Dean of Student Affairs, three years as Deputy Director of the Gender Mainstreaming Directorate and twelve years cumulatively as Head of Department of Music. Additionally, I had served on several committees that have written academic programmes as well as strong grant winning proposals and have continued to date to teach M.A., M.Phil. and PhD programmes. I have also undertaken theses supervision and examination in all these postgraduate areas not only in UEW but also at UCC and UG-Legon. I was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cape Coast, Music Department for the 2012-2013 academic year. All these professional services offered me great opportunities to share knowledge and experiences with vast majority of students, scholars and administrators not only at UEW but also at national and international levels. His initiatives as Dean brought a lot of innovation to the Office of Dean of Student Affairs that left legacies such as International Multidisciplinary Conference for Postgraduate Students (IMCfPS-UEW); UEW Policies for Postgraduate Students (UPPS); Thesis, Dissertation and Project Handbook (TDPH); Undergraduate Handbook on Rules and Regulations (UHRR); and Intensive Pre-academic Orientation Programme (IPOP) to the University. Cosmas is a member of the National Music Committee in Ghana of the International Music Council (IMC), UNESCO; member of Incorporate Society of Musicians (ISM), London, England; the General Secretary of Ghana Music Teachers’ Association (GMTA), now Performing Arts Teachers’ Association of Ghana (PATAG) as well as the 1st Vice President of the West African Chapter of the Pan African Society of Musical Arts Educators (PASMAE). Currently, he is also among educational experts that have been brought together to develop materials for the teaching of music and dance at the pre-tertiary level in the country from KG-SHS by National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA). Besides, he is again working with the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) Group in Ghana for the preparation of Music & Dance Curriculum Strand as part of the ongoing Initial Teacher Education Reform in the country for the teaching of the course at Ghana’s universities that would be offering Music and Dance Education. In addition to the Fulbright Hays Award and the ORS and Tetley & Lupton Scholarship, Cosmas was also a recipient of Sir Michael Tippett Musical Award for outstanding work in contemporary composition–1995; he also had a Festival Honour for the 1996 Harrogate International Festival. During the 2005 UEW Congregation he was given the ‘UEW 9th Congregation Special Award’ for composing the UEW Anthem (‘The Victory Anthem’ [1993]) and also for an excellent and illustrious career as an Educationist, Musician and Administrator. The Ghana Police Band at a Republic Day Concert in 2017 celebrated four musicians that included J. H. Kwabena Nketia and C. W. K. Mereku. I am currently on Post-retirement Contract at the Department of Music Education, UEW.