Michael Darkoh (1940 - 2016)

Dr. Darkoh, affectionately known as “Mr. Geography” by students at Achimota College in Accra, Ghana became interested in geography after hearing a lecture on geography and development by Professor E.A. Boateng. Darkoh was subsequently offered an unsolicited job as a Tutor in Geography by his secondary school. Dr. Dakoh was part of the first wave of Africans to leave the continent to study abroad post colonialism and during the height of the struggle for civil rights in America. He completed his PhD in a record two years and has served on the faculty of universities all over the world including the University of Nebraska, California State University San Bernardino, University of Dar es Salaam, Kenyatta University, Ohio University, and in the Department of Geography at the University of Papua New Guinea. Dr. Darkoh spent the last twenty years of his career in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Botswana, where he would serve as Chair of the department and the Founding Chairman and Director of the International Tourism Research Centre.