The Department of Philosophy and Classics of the University of Ghana has received a donation of academic journals for the Classics Student Reserve reading room. The donated Journals were the personal collection of Prof. Allan H. Sommerstein, Professor of Greek at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. The collection includes about 140 issues of Classical Review, 61 issues of Journal of Hellinic Studies and 58 issues of Proceedings of the Classical Association. The shipment of the Journals was financed by Dr. Ted V. Buttrey , Honorary Keeper of Antique Coins and Medals, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University, UK.
At a short ceremony to receive the Journals, the head of the Department of Philosophy and Classics, Prof. Kofi Ackah, expressed heartfelt gratitude to Prof. Sommerstein and Dr. Buttrey for the gesture. He noted that the journals would help advance the quality of teaching and research in the Department. He further commended the former Head of the Department, Prof. Helen Lauer, for the significant role she played in ensuring that the Department became a beneficiary of the journals.
Prof. Ackah also expressed gratitude to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Development, Prof. John Gyapong and his Office for the research grant awarded to Prof. Lauer which he believed, prompted and sustained Prof. Lauer’s interest in ensuring that the donation came to the Department.
The donation falls within the ORID grant project for upgrading the libraries of Classics and Philosophy. The Department is grateful to Prof. John Gyapong who approved the reorganisation of the use of funding to capture such a rare opportunity to pursue the donation, which was initiated under the Ways of Analysis: Canonical Text Resource Capacity Building (URF/5/ILG-00/2012-2014), with Prof. Helen Lauer as Principal Investigator.
The Department would also like to recognize the assistance of Mr. Andy Lumor, Overseas Representative, at the Universities overseas Office in London and his staff, for coordinating the collection of the journals from Nottingham to the Legon campus. The Department further acknowledges the assistance of Mr. David Konu, of the UG Procurement Unit of PDMSD, who watched over receipt of the parcels to ensure the relevant exemption status from duties and import taxes would be effective for this donation of educational goods.
