By Ernest Mwanzi and Justus Kisilu

On Thursday, November 7, 2019 the University, led by the Management Board welcomed new members to its Board of Trustees and the University Council. The new members were taken through an orientation of the University, which consisted of an overview of USIU-Africa’s history, its Vision, Mission and Values, its organizational structures and its important statutory documents. The new members were also taken through their roles and responsibilities, as well as those of other governing bodies at the University.

The Board of Trustees is mandated to appoint members of the University Council, raise funds for the benefit of the University and appoint the University Chancellor among many other functions, while the University Council is tasked with appointing and approving the terms and conditions of service of the Vice Chancellor, approving the University’s annual budget and the supervision and administration of University assets in a manner that best promotes the purpose for which the university is established.

The new members of the Board of Trustees Included Prof. Alondra Nelson, a Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, an independent research center in Princeton, New Jersey and Dr. Thomson Frank Mpinganjira, Chief Executive Officer of the FDH Financial Holdings Group in Malawi.

The University Council’s new members included Prof. Ihron Lester Rensburg, Chairperson of the South Africa UNESCO National Commission, Administrator of Vaal University of Technology, Prof. Ben Vinson III, Provost and Executive Vice President at Case Western Reserve University in the United States of America, Prof. Salah M. Hassan, Professor of Art and Visual Studies, and Founding Director of the Institute for Comparative Modernities at Cornell University, Dr. Denise M. DeZolt, Founder of DD and Associates Consulting, LLC., Dr. Chaloka Beyani, Associate Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Prof. Margaret Kasimatis, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Saint Mary's College of California.