Why a professor is not a ‘senior lecturer’: A note to Ghanaian journalists

Regularly, one may hear some Ghanaian TV/radio news anchors say, for example, that “Prof. John Gatsi is a Senior Lecturer at UCC”, or that “Prof. Ransford Gyampo is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana”.

These descriptions are incorrect but have remained in widespread use across Ghanaian media houses for as long as one can remember.

Perhaps it is now time for our journalists to address this problem. Otherwise, it may suggest that not enough research goes into news production, potentially raising credibility questions.

The Problem

While the descriptions “Senior Journalist” and “Senior Police Officer”, for example, have also been used by Ghanaian journalists, sometimes in a generic way to respectively describe how “senior” a particular journalist or police officer is, the term “Senior Lecturer” should not be used in the generic sense, because it is actually an academic rank. Doing so creates confusion.

In Ghanaian academia (specifically in public universities), the following faculty ranks and their analogous versions exist (from the least to the highest): Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Full Professor (a.k.a. Professor). Academics who have attained the rank of associate professor or full professor all carry the title “Prof.”

Because of both “Senior Lecturer” and “Prof.” rank, an academic carrying the title “Prof.” cannot simultaneously be a “Senior Lecturer”, as two different ranks cannot be held simultaneously for the same job description.

However, there is an important caveat. If a professor in a university also works for another organization, for example, a think tank, he may hold the title “senior research fellow” while there. In that case, a journalist could say “Prof. John Gatsi is a senior research fellow” with the said think tank.

As noted earlier, one might say, for example, ACP John Doe is a senior police officer, and that would be alright because generally speaking, “senior police officer” would be considered―once again―a generic term and not a rank. Indeed, in the Ghana Police Service, “Senior Police Officer” is not one of their ranks.

Correct Usage

So, how should Ghanaian journalists correctly introduce their resource persons who are professors? We have a great example from some other academic systems, whereby even if an academic has risen to the rank of a full professor, they would simply go by the title “Dr.”, if that is their highest academic qualification. Their rank may then be used to further describe what they do.

The following are real examples: Dr Kwabena Boahen is a Professor of Bioengineering & Electrical Engineering at Stanford University; Dr. Kafui Dzirasa is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral  Sciences, and the A. Eugene and Marie Washington Presidential Distinguished Professor at Duke University; and Dr. Rexford Sefah Ahima is a Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing, and the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Diabetes at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

You may also simply say “Kwabena Boahen is a Professor of Bioengineering & Electrical Engineering at Stanford University”. (You should not say that Prof. Kwabena Boahen is a Senior Lecturer at Stanford University.)

However, there is a notion that in Ghana, for cultural reasons, ignoring a person’s proper title in formal conversations may cause offence. If true, then instead of saying that “John Gatsi is a Professor of Finance at UCC”, the simple solution, in my opinion, is for the journalist to say “Prof. John Gatsi is a Professor of Finance at UCC”, or “Prof. Ransford Gyampo is a Professor of Political  Science at the University of Ghana”.

As a reminder, not everyone who carries the title “Prof.” is a full professor. Some are associate professors. So, the journalist must do their homework as to whether to say “Prof. John Doe is a professor, or an associate professor”, at this or that university.

Regardless, the description “Prof. John Gatsi is a Senior Lecturer at UCC” or “Prof. Ransford Gyampo is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana” is misleading and should not be used in that way.

The writer is a scientist at the University of Cape Coast