Olive Mugenda

Prof. Mugenda is the Vice-Chancellor of Kenyatta University. Her career at Kenyatta has included serving as Head of Department, Dean of Faculty, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and now the first woman Vice-Chancellor of a public university in the East Africa region. Professor Mugenda has, over the years, built an international reputation as a university teacher and researcher. Professor Olive Mugenda obtained a Bachelor of Education (First Class Honours) from the University of Nairobi in 1979. Her masters and PhD degrees in Family Studies and Consumer Economics were obtained from Iowa State University. She has supervised numerous Masters and PhD theses and won several research grants and served as technical adviser and resource person to numerous workshops in and outside Africa. Among the numerous researches she has carried out, perhaps the current one on Improving the Performance of Girls in Science and Mathematics in Secondary Schools serves as a model project that has been nominated for a Commonwealth Education award. She has published numerous scholarly papers and books and she has received several scholarly awards.  Professor Mugenda serves on the board of a number of continental and global bodies including the Association of African Universities (Board Member) and International Association of University (Vice-President).