Alumni Spotlight: Godeaver Kufuor

Interdisciplinary Studies '11 Hometown: Aflao, West Africa, Ghana Fun Fact: Is a U.S. Army spouse

"Most people in Ghana know that Godeaver is business oriented, since she is always trying to sell something to somebody," laughs recent interdisciplinary studies graduate Godeaver Kufuor as she tells us her story.

"I have a business mentality. As early as junior high, I was always selling something; anything I could get my hands on I was selling, like kerosene, water, ladies beauty accessories. I opened a provision shop and I wanted to save my money. My goal was to own my own business someday. But I was very young. I didn't know what business administration was."

Since junior high, Godeaver has stuck to the business path, but has had to overcome a number of obstacles along the way. Despite life's challenges, her perseverance and dedication to education have served her well.

Her first hurdle came when her uncle, after she graduated from junior high, insisted she focus her studies on business throughout high school. She'd had her heart set on science.

"I think my uncle was paying attention to me," she says, referring to her "business mentality" and tendency to sell, sell, sell. "I said I wanted to do science, that I wanted to be a doctor. He said no, you're going to do business. He was the only one who was highly educated in my father's family, so when he said something, it was final."

By the time she finished high school, her uncle again insisted she go on to polytechnic school (with a professional focus) rather than the university (which is more broad in its education).

"He said that he wanted me to focus on purchasing at polytechnic because by the time I was done, I could get a very good job, because I would have an emphasis," she explains. "At the time I was very upset; I really wanted to go to the university. But now I understand him. He was the only person who had college education in my family, so he was trying to push me to a field that he knew I was good at and knew every time I could have a job and help support the family, too. The whole burden would not be on him. Which right now makes a lot of sense to me. In hindsight, I am so happy."

So in 2002, Godeaver completed her "Higher National Diploma" in business administration, with an emphasis in purchasing and supply.

In 2001, she met her Ghana-born husband who was serving in the U.S. Army but on vacation in his home country. They were married in 2005 and Godeaver moved to Germany, where he was stationed. In 2009, they found out they were being transferred to Alaska.

"When they told us we were coming to Alaska, I was freaking out," she laughs. "I am straight from Africa. All I knew about Alaska was Eskimos and that it was all frozen, like someone putting you in the deep freezer."

Turns out Alaska was a pleasant surprise to Godeaver (if not a tad warmer than Germany when they landed in December), and she has really grown to like it. She immediately went to work figuring out how to continue with her education.

Back in Germany she had already tried to go back to school through University of Maryland University College (UMUC), which has programs for military soldiers and family members serving overseas. She managed to take a few classes, but only after an arduous process of getting her transcripts from Ghana equated into U.S. credits through American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) International Education Services. It was not an easy process compounded by the fact that UMUC wouldn't accept all her credits.

When she moved to Alaska and was introduced to UAA, she was disappointed to hear she would have to track down her Ghana transcripts again because UAA doesn't use AACRAO for their equivalency comparisons, they use the World Education Service.

"I was like, I don't want to go through this stress anymore, is there any other way?" Godeaver remembers asking her UAA advisor on Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER), Cheryl Smith. "I was in tears. Mrs. Smith said, 'I can see that you are eager to go back to school. Don't cry. I will assist you.'"

Luckily, Godeaver's husband was making a trip to Ghana and would be able to track down her transcripts from the school. It took him two weeks. Godeaver admits the educational system in Ghana isn't quite as streamlined, maybe, as it is here in the States, but her husband prevailed and was able to mail one copy directly to World Education Services and one to UAA.

In the meantime, Godeaver enrolled in a core class that Smith knew she would need regardless of her past education.

The next obstacle cropped up once her transcripts arrived at the College of Business and Public Policy (CBPP) and she was told in order for them to accept her credits, she would need to go through a petition process to defend each of the classes she took in Ghana.

Again, frustration set in, until Rashmi Prasad, CBPP dean, was able to help shed some light on things.

"Lucky for me, Dr. Prasad has been to Ghana and he knew the school I went to, so he knows where this certificate was coming from and he knows our standard of education," Godeaver says. "Even though we are less privileged without all the resources to make education a little bit easier for us, for me to really come out with those grades in my professional studies, then that means I really got it, because it's hard. Dr. Prasad said I needed to be given a chance to come up with a personalized course plan that I could follow based on what I had already taken in Ghana."

By December 2011, Godeaver had earned her interdisciplinary studies degree at UAA near the top of her class. She was working full-time with a logistics contractor on JBER, raising a young son and pulling top grades in all her classes at UAA.

"I knew I needed a university that was really going to assist me," she says. "I didn't care how tough the classes were because I was ready to study. Overall, I will never forget my professors. It's like your professors are trying to do everything possible to make sure you make it. Just pay attention to what the professor is teaching you, do what they tell you to do, and you should be able to get it."

Godeaver would recommend UAA for most international students and would love to stay and pursue her master's degree here as well.

"I will say that you want a school that understands your language, and I'm not saying your language in terms of what you speak, but that they know where you're coming from. And UAA is the right place to start."

Her husband is being transferred to New York this summer, but Godeaver is looking into the possibility of a distance education program in public health administration through UAA.

"I told Mrs. Smith, I still have that science thing in me. I want to work in the hospital. One day I'd like to work for USAID, a job that would take me around the world."

Again, Smith has stepped up to the plate to help Godeaver map a path. Whether UAA ends up being on that path again or not, we're just glad to see Godeaver heading in the direction she wants to go.