His professional and scholarly development directly informs his teaching and the design of curricula at the intersection of planning, health, and sustainability. In 2023, he played a central role in launching UB’s MS in International Development and Global Health, and has since overseen two cohorts of student independent study projects in collaboration with government agencies, international non-government organizations, and private companies. He also currently advises and works with the World Health Organization’s Urban Health Unit and is the co-director for the Pan American Health Organization-WHO Collaborating Center at UB.

“Professor Boamah possesses interdisciplinary training and interests, a unique combination of domestic and global work, and enthusiasm for working with external partners – all of which he brings to the classroom,” says Korydon Smith, professor and former chair of architecture at UB, who has worked closely with Boamah as founding co-director of CGHE, including as co-teachers of UB’s 2020 Global Innovation Challenge, an intensive, multidisciplinary course and competition on global health and equity problem-solving.

As chair of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Boamah has set goals to strengthen its academic programs, ensure thoughtful, ethical, and socially just outreach and community partnerships, and hone the department’s curriculum to address today’s complex global challenges. In addition to his global networks, Boamah's engagement across Western New York cultivates practice-based learning for students and supports equitable, resilient regional planning and development. He serves on the boards of the Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, UB Community Health Equity Research Institute, Providence Farm Collective, and the Center for Regional Strategies.

Regularly earning the highest scores possible on student course evaluations, Boamah is widely admired for balancing high expectations with rigor, support, and mutual respect. In 2019, the Graduate Planning Student Association presented him with the “Ray of Sunshine Award” (named in honor of his School-given moniker), in recognition of his inspiring leadership and creativity within and outside the classroom. He has advised student organizations including the African American Students of Architecture and Planning and the Planners Club.

“I find it important to note Professor Boamah’s boundless optimism, practical responses to complex challenges, and willingness to ‘wonder aloud,’” Smith continues. “In his courses, he works hard to flatten (if not reverse) the teacher-student hierarchy, positioning students in leadership and facilitator roles while, himself, stepping into collaborator and co-learner roles. This is a purposeful choice for critical, self-reflective, and egalitarian pedagogy.”

“As a teacher, Professor Boamah is a storyteller, cleverly engaging students and inviting them to think about infrastructural problems as health problems,” says Katarzyna Kordas, UB associate professor of epidemiology and environmental health, who collaborated extensively with Boamah as co-director of CGHE from 2018-2023. “As a guest lecturer in my Global Health course, he talked about land and water governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, drawing on examples from his native country of Ghana, entwining stories from his childhood with recent events in the news.”

Students who have benefitted from his teaching and mentorship note his selfless dedication to and deep involvement in their scholarship and professional development.

“Professor Boamah is both a coach and a mentor who inspires and lays a strong foundation for my growth as a scholar and a person – brainstorming research ideas, exposing me to new challenges, offering constructive feedback, checking on my well‑being, and creating a nurturing environment for my development,” says Enoch Yeleliere, a PhD candidate in urban planning whose dissertation committee is chaired by Boamah. “Despite a demanding schedule, he remains easily accessible, and every meeting with him becomes an opportunity to learn and be inspired."

Nisha Botchwey, a colleague of Boamah’s from the University of Minnesota and dean and professor of its Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, recalls Boamah’s above-and-beyond service to students amidst the disruption of the COVID pandemic. “During COVID-19, when many faculty struggled with student engagement, he supervised 34 undergraduate research projects entirely online. This required extraordinary creativity, flexibility, and dedication, and it highlights his commitment to student success, regardless of circumstance.”

Boamah carries the same level of dedication and care to teaching and leadership roles well beyond UB. He serves as a mentor to the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship, which trains leaders in the movement to end hunger and poverty in the United States. He is a faculty affiliate of Indiana University's Ostrom Workshop on commons and governance research. In 2024, he was awarded the Raymond Lifchez Endowed Chair and Visiting Professor position at UC Berkeley’s Department of City and Regional Planning.

Karen Trapenberg Frick, associate professor of city and regional planning at UC Berkeley, says Boamah had an outsized impact on the intellectual life of the program. “Like many instructors, Professor Boamah encourages student participation and multiple viewpoints, but he is a particularly gifted facilitator, able to elicit and provide support for that participation and those viewpoints,” says Frick, adding that Boamah’s tenure included a “tour de force” keynote lecture on just planning in the Global South and North, delivered to a rousing standing ovation. “He has made strong, enduring connections with students and faculty here that continue to flourish.”