By Prudence Minayo
Prof. Rose Mwonya was appointed the Vice Chancellor of Egerton University in 2015, and went on to serve the institution in that capacity for five years. This made her the first female VC of the institution since its more than seven decades of operation. She became the fifth VC of Egerton after taking over from Prof. James Tuitoek.
She was among the 21 applicants who expressed interest in the position and was also among the top three names forwarded to retired president Uhuru Kenyatta.
Here is her story as told by WoK.
Background and Education
As a young girl, Rose was like any other village child who played with friends and collected firewood among other household chores. The firstborn in the family, her father was a driver to a government officer.
She attended Ndenga Primary School until Class four before she was transferred to Asumbi Girls boarding school in Homa Bay county. Afterwards, she joined Nyabururu Girls in Kisii before attending Embu Institute of Agriculture.
This was followed by a diploma at Egerton University, then still operating under the University of Nairobi. She would go on to pursue Agriculture and Home Economics.
Later, the United States Agency for International Development gave her a scholarship to Iowa States University to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture. She then proceeded with her Master of Science and PhD in Home Economics at the same university.
Career
After leaving Embu Institute of Agriculture, she worked at the Ministry of Agriculture. This would be followed by a stint as the District Home Economics Officer at the then Kakamega District.
She got this job after completing her diploma course at Egerton University. Her love for teaching came to fruition after she got a job at Bukura Institute of Agriculture in the then Western Province. All she wanted was to become the best teacher.
Egerton University
The professor joined Egerton in 1987 as a lecturer. Before becoming VC, she served the institution in various capacities including as the founding director of the Center for Women Studies and Gender Analysis and as the chairperson of the department of Agriculture and Home Economics.
In 2007, she was appointed the Dean of Students and the following year became the deputy vice chancellor in charge of academics. She served in this post until her appointment as the institution’s VC in 2015.
Her appointment took effect in January 2016. She vowed to curb exam cheating since she believed there was no honor in certificates obtained by dishonest means.
She told the Daily Nation in a past interview that staff caught in the vice would be terminated and students discontinued. She also expressed interest in developing a bigger modernized library.
Towards the end of her term, however, she faced a number of hurdles and could not renew her tenure. The university had attempted to send her on terminal leave after she was accused of gross misconduct before her contract had come to an end.
She had been accused of losing millions of shillings through procurement malpractices and interfering with students record. The university in early September 2018, sent her on a 90-days compulsory leave.
She moved to court and was cleared of wrongdoing and reinstated the following month. The court reinstated her again after she was sent on terminal leave.
Finally, she exited the institution paving way for professor Isaac Kibwage in January 2021.
