January 6, 2017
In 2016, generous Ashesi donors helped complete funding of 5 new campus buildings – a health center, engineering workshop, faculty housing, business incubation space and a new student dormitory. Below, learn about these exciting new expansions for Ashesi.
BUSINESS INCUBATION SPACE FOR THE GHANA CLIMATE INNOVATION CENTER
In 2015, a consortium led by Ashesi University won a World Bank (WB) grant of $17.2M to establish a climate innovation center in Ghana (www.ghanacic.org), a green project incubation hub where entrepreneurs and startup ventures can access support to develop their innovative ideas into strong and viable businesses. The center will help local entrepreneurs design and commercialize innovative clean technologies, such as climate-smart agriculture, waste water treatment, and off-grid renewable power. The GCIC will also offer seed financing, market connections, technical and business training, and policy advocacy for companies whose services and products will help with climate change mitigation and adaptation. WB funding covers operating costs of the center, services and investments provided to GCIC clients. Ashesi Foundation funded the construction of business incubation space on campus for GCIC startup companies.
Status: 100% funded, with construction completed in Oct 2016.
ENGINEERING WORKSHOP
Ashesi’s engineering program is designed to educate designers, tinkerers and inventors committed to improving the lives of people. Learning from exceptional engineering schools such as Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Ashesi has developed a project-based approach to teaching engineering. The workshop provides an essential space and the tools needed to enable project-based engineering education.
Status: 100% funded, with construction completed in Oct 2016.
HEALTH CENTER
With a growing student population, the university needs to grow health services capacity. The new facility provides nurse practitioner care for the campus community, with support from regular physician visits. The facility has the capacity to accommodate overnight stays for up to seven patients at a time and also has a small dentistry and pharmacy. Adjacent to the health center is an emergency medical isolation unit with three patient beds and temporary living quarters for two health workers. Status: 100% funded, with construction completed in Oct 2016.
VISITING FACULTY HOUSING
Visiting faculty have added to Ashesi’s excellence since classes began in 2002. Over the years, faculty from institutions such as Lehigh University, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Mälardalen University College (Sweden), Northwestern University, New York University, Southern University, Southwestern University, Swarthmore College, University of California at Berkeley, University of Sussex, and the University of Washington have collaborated with Ashesi’s permanent faculty. Ashesi’s existing apartments for visiting faculty have been a great enabler for these collaborations. Our newly constructed house can now accommodate additional visiting faculty.
Status: 100% funded, with construction completed in Dec 2016.
ADDITIONAL STUDENT HOUSING
In addition to fostering a strong campus culture, on-campus student housing has played a very important role in convincing families to send their daughters to Ashesi University College, especially in their first year. As such, the university’s current ten-year plan seeks to improve the availability of on-campus housing. Currently 42% of students live on campus. We seek to increase that ratio to over 60%.
Status: In 2016, generous donors helped complete fundraising for a new student dormitory, Cluster B, opening in fall 2017.
To learn more about future campus growth projects and how you can partner with us to make them happen, contact the foundation at 206.545.6988 or foundation@ashesi.org
Share this story