United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) Council on Tuesday appointed Prof Freida Brown as the Interim Vice Chancellor effective August 16, 2021.
She will be replacing the outgoing Vice-Chancellor Prof Paul Zeleza, a position he assumed on January 1, 2016.
He was also a Professor of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the institution.
He holds a PhD in economic history from Dalhousie University, Canada, which he completed at age 26, and a Master of Arts from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and the London School of Economics.
He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree (with Distinction) from the University of Malawi, where he majored in History and English.
According to the council, her appointment is expected to run for a period of nine months to facilitate the recruitment of a new Vice-Chancellor and ensure institutional leadership and stability within the period.
“The global search for a new Vice-Chancellor is expected to be an extremely intense process and is anticipated to last approximately 6 to 9 months. We will do our best to have new leadership on board as early as possible in 2022,” University Council Chairman Kris ole Senanu said in an emailed statement.
A seasoned academician, Prof Brown previously served as the USIU-Africa Vice Chancellor for more than two decades before retiring in 2016.
During her 21 years of service at USIU-Africa, Prof Brown oversaw the student population to grow from 1,100 students to more than 4,700 and increased the number of faculty and academic programmes.
She has a doctoral degree in Developmental Psychology from Michigan State University. She has taught at several institutions including Howard University and Washington University in St. Louis.
She has written and made presentations in the areas of cross-cultural psychology, psycho-social development of children and management in higher education.
She serves on several boards in Kenya including the Federation of Kenya Employers, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and is Secretary to the Kenya Educational Network (KENET) Board.
She is a Commissioner of the Kenyan Commission for Higher Education and a member of the Higher Education Loans Board.
She is the founding Chair of the Kenya Association of Private Universities (KAPU) which is an advocacy group supporting the development of private higher education in Kenya.
