Carleton University names Dr. Wisdom Tettey as president
Wisdom Tettey will become the 17th president and vice-chancellor of Carleton University on Jan. 1, it was announced Tuesday.
In a news release, Greg Farrell, chair of Carleton’s board of governors, described Tettey as “an inclusive and authentic leader who will build on the university’s reputation for teaching, learning and research excellence. He impressed the advisory committee with an ambitious vision of Carleton as a top-tier university on both a national and international scale.”
In a statement, Tettey said he was committed to “fostering and sustaining an equitable, inclusive, healthy, caring and mutually supportive working and learning environment.”
Currently vice-president at the University of Toronto, Tettey has also served as principal of U of T Scarborough and a professor of political science and development studies.
While there, he has helped institute a five-year strategic plan known as Inspiring Inclusive Excellence to engage with diverse perspectives inside and outside the university, a release said. He also helped create the Scarborough Charter on Anti-black Racism and Black Inclusion in Higher Education, which outlines a commitment to understand the effects of anti-black racism and to help enhance Black inclusion.
“Under his stewardship, U of T Scarborough has flourished as a hub of inclusive excellence and a model for sustainable campus growth,” University of Toronto president Meric Gertler said.
Tettey became U of T vice-president in 2018. He was reappointed in 2023 for what would have been a second five-year term.
A scholar in African politics, diaspora and media, Tettey will also take on a tenured position with Carleton’s department of political science.
He previously held positions at the University of British Columbia as dean of the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies and at the University of Calgary as interim dean of the Faculty of Communication and Culture.
Tettey, who is originally from Ghana, completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Ghana in Accra before pursuing postgraduate education in Canada. He earned a master’s degree from the University of British Columbia and a PHD from Queen’s University, both in political science.
Jerry Tomberlin has served as Carleton’s interim president and vice-chancellor since the departure of Benoit-antoine Bacon, who left on Aug. 31 to become president and vice-chancellor at the University of British Columbia.