Naessiamba Eab-Aggrey, Candidate for Director of Communication
Graduate Degree Program: Doctoral student, Communication, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Expected Date of Graduation: May 2027
Campus of Academic Department: Fairfax
Campus(es) of Classes, Work, and/or Residence: Fairfax
Biography and Candidate Statement
Throughout my academic and professional journey, I have served in various capacities and dedicated myself to working tirelessly for many organizations. During my undergraduate level, I was elected as a class representative for my year group in my fourth year and also served as the organizing secretary for a major university club (Volta-Hall UCF) in my Hall for three years, starting from the end of my first year while studying pharmacy at the University of Ghana. During that time, I created a database for Volta-Hall UCF club members, ensuring members were celebrated during their birthdays and visited if they were feeling ill. In addition, my team and I organized health and breakfast meetings and ensured that up-to-date information on members was kept confidential at all times. After my pharmacy degree, I started working in a retail pharmacy, doubling as a manager and superintendent pharmacist in charge of the day-to-day activities in the pharmacy. Nine months after beginning the managerial role, I increased sales by building a system that ensured customers were handled respectfully as my staff and I met customer medication needs. Later that same year, I began my journey to master communication, which is still ongoing, and I am pursuing my Ph.D. in health communication here at Mason. In my first semester, I encountered some difficulty reaching out to Ghanaian students who were also in Mason to help me address specific questions I had, so once I met two other Ghanaians, I suggested to them that we should come together to form a group of Ghanaian students to share information and this group has grown from 3 members to 21 members during this Fall. This group has started weekly play time, which helps members get to know each other and build connections, and it will serve as a support group during this academic journey. As an international student who has lived in the US since 2020, I have come to understand the different cultures. Through my communication training, I have learned the need to be culturally sensitive to all these different cultures. In addition, considering my multidisciplinary background in the sciences and the humanities, I appreciate both worlds as I have spent the first part of my life studying sciences and the latter part understanding communication. Standing from this vantage point, I know I can excel in this role and will be a good fit for the position of director of communication for GAPSA. Also, I have had close to 5 years of experience as a graduate student. I have honed my intercultural, interpersonal, and small-group communication skills, which have equipped me to work well in a team, exhibiting excellent interpersonal skills. In addition, I have honed my skills in new media design, which has further prepared me to execute my duties well if given this opportunity. As a mother, spouse, and international graduate student, I possess qualities like empathy, diligence, creativity, and resilience, which will help me be the leader who will move GAPSA forward.
Availability and Commitment to the Time and Expectations of the Position
The 2024-2025 academic year will be my second year in the Ph.D. program. As a GTA, I am required to work 20 hours a week with a nine-credit hour course load, which has always been distributed in the past within three days of the week. I would be available to work for about 6 hours a week and will be available to attend meetings.