Patrick Awuah Jr. '89

Founder and president of Ashesi University in Ghana

“After graduating in 1989 with majors in engineering and economics, I headed off to work at Microsoft for what I thought would be a two-year stint that would enable me to put away money for graduate school. Life turned out very differently from the one I had planned; I stayed at Microsoft for eight years. In my sixth year, I began to question my assumptions about my purpose in life-and I rediscovered Swarthmore. My search led me to a somewhat startling conclusion: that I needed to bring the Swarthmore experience back to Ghana. It took me another two years to leave Microsoft and begin to implement this decision. With tremendous help from faculty at the College, and encouragement and support from President Alfred H. Bloom, a new college called Ashesi University College (named according to conventions used in Ghana) was established in Ghana in 2002.” More