Sarkodie-Mensah, a librarian and social anthropologist by training, said she has yearned for a job where she could leverage her personal and professional experiences and interests in service to others.
“My background and experience make me uniquely qualified for UNESCO,” Sarkodie-Mensah said. “It has the mandate to implement all the United Nations sustainability goals dealing with education, science and culture.”
Sarkodie-Mensah majored in French and Spanish as a college student in Ghana. After graduation, she moved to the United States, where she earned a master’s degree in library science at Clarion University in Pennsylvania.
Following a brief stint as a librarian in New Orleans, Sarkodie-Mensah moved to Boston and earned a doctorate in anthropology from Harvard University. She then returned to library work, holding jobs at Harvard, Boston College, Modern Public Library, MassPort law library and Ropes & Gray law firm, before joining Merrimack in 2013 as the instruction/liaison librarian for the graduate program.
After rising to power last fall, the Akufo-Addos asked Sarkodie-Mensah to fill the UNESCO post.
“I’m really excited,” Sardokie-Mensah said. “My education, library work, studies in anthropology, French and Spanish — everything — has prepared me for this position.”
While Sarkodie-Mensah’s library colleagues are sad to see her go, they’re consoled by the knowledge she will be taking a bit of Merrimack with her to the United Nations.
“We’re thrilled that she will be bringing her commitment to information access and cultural stewardship from Merrimack to a wider audience,” library director Kathryn Geoffrion Scannell said.
