Dr. Mary Magdalene Ashi

MBBS (Sydney), FRACS (Paediatric Surgery)

Rev. Sis. (Dr) Mary Magdalene Ashi is of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus. She started her teaching career as a certified teacher in the Cross River State Secondary Education Board in 1976. She was later admitted into the Federal College of Education, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria where she obtained her Nigeria Certificate in Education (Special Education) in 1983. Christoffel –Blinden Mission, Germany trained Rev. Sis. Ashi in Mobility Instructor in Togo and Ghana. She later undergone a Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling from the University of Washington DC, USA. She holds a B.Ed, degree in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Calabar, M.Ed. degree in Special Education from the University of Jos, Nigeria and a Ph.D degree in Educational Psychology from Loyola University, Chicago, USA in 2005. Her main area of specialization is counselling and visual impairment. Sis. Ashi transferred her services to the University of Calabar in 2006 as Lecturer II in the then Department of Vocational and Special Education. She rose through the ranks and was promoted Associate Professor in 2015. Since joining the University, she has been teaching especially blind students, researching and mentoring students at all levels as well as staff, thereby contributing to the development of the University. She has successfully supervised and co-supervised over ten graduate students and several undergraduate students. Rev. Sis. Ashi has published over thirty articles in both local and international peer reviewed journals. She has attended many local and international conferences in her area where she made presentations in some. She was the Administrator and the first Principal of St. Joseph’s Centre for the visually impaired in Obudu between 1985 and 1998. In collaboration with the Cross River State Government School Board and the Christoffel-Blinden Mission, Germany, she established the integrated Primary School for children with low vision and blindness in 1988. She has taught Special Education within and outside Nigeria including Cardinal Cushing School for Children with Developmental Disabilities in Boston, Massachusett-USA and St. Coletta’s School, Wisconsin, USA. Dr Ashi is a member of many professional associations including International Society for low vision, National Association of Special Education Teachers and Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria. .