Prof Dr Anne Nangulu
Professor of History in the Department of History, Political Science and Public Administration, School
of Arts and Social Sciences
Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya
Guest of BIGSAS: May – June 2015
“I’m an historian through and through.”
Professor Nangulu teaches History at Moi University in
Eldoret, Kenya, which is also a Partner University of BIGSAS.
She is the coordinator for BIGSAS at Moi University where
she has been teaching for 25 years. As BIGSAS coordinator
she wants to spend her stay in Bayreuth observing how
BIGSAS operates, attending board meetings, workshops and
defenses. She is also planning to talk to post-graduate
students about their career and to give a lecture on
“Internationalization of Higher Education, Quality Assurance
and Benchmarking: The Role of Universities and the
Commission for University Education in Kenya” on 18 June
2015.
Since July 2014, Professor Nangulu works as Deputy
Commission Secretary at the Commission for University
Education (CUE), Kenya. She is in charge of Quality Audit &
Standards. In this position she oversees all universities in Kenya, is responsible for internationalisation and
higher education issues. “The policy making aspects are important to me”, she says about her work.
As a researcher she is interested in a diverse field of subjects and worked on a multi-disciplinary approach:
economic and urban history, food security and coping mechanisms, the state, constitution and
constitutionalism, quality assurance and internationalisation of higher education and gender studies. At Moi
University she is supervising two Master students and a PhD student but has decreased her teaching work due
to her current engagement at CUE. She intended to become a lawyer but the shortage of students’ slots at the
University of Nairobi, Kenya, at that time caused her to focus on her main subject History. Subsequently, she
undertook her undergraduate and graduate studies in History and became Professor of History at Moi
University in 2008. “I love teaching, being in a seminar room, looking at students’ eyes. It makes me feel
young.” She set up this target very early in her academic career: “I aimed to become professor before the age
of 50. And I did it.” Apart from teaching Professor Nangulu likes the “academic travels” which give her the
“opportunity to learn more, visit new places and serve as part of her holidays.” They also let her “unwind”.
During her scientific career Professor Nangulu has edited and co-edited several books, published in peerreviewed journals and presented papers at international conferences. She also worked as a lecturer at West
Virginia University, USA, where she gained her PhD. To some extent Professor Nangulu credits her career to the
support of her three mentors Professor Robert Maxon, Professor Simiyu Wandibba and Professor AtienoOdhiambo who had significant impact on her life and with whom she shares a longtime friendship.
Contact: anangulu@gmail.com