Program Director

Mwangi Njagi has been the Program Director for our AU Nairobi programs since the spring of 2012. He is also the instructor of the Social and Political History of Kenya course for our Contemporary Issues in Kenya and Africa program. Dr. Njagi obtained his PhD in African history from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. Before joining AU Nairobi, he worked as the Assistant Director for Stony Brook's Study Abroad in Tanzania where he developed the Kiswahili curriculum. He also taught courses in African history, politics and society at Stony Brook University. His research interests focus on the development of education policies and their interactions with political leadership in post-colonial Kenya.

Program Assistant

Victor Mwanza is the Program Assistant for AU Nairobi. He has over 15 years of experience working the security field – much of this related to foreigners living in Kenya. One of Victor's chief responsibilities is to mitigate security issues for AU Nairobi students and the programs as a whole. He has earned a BA in Management from St. Paul's University in Nairobi and is working on his masters at Daystar University in Nairobi. He has worked with AU Nairobi since 2006.

Internship Coordinator

Elmah Moore-Morara has been the Internship Coordinator for AU Nairobi since Fall 2019. She is an experienced information manager and internship coordinator with over 10 years of professional experience with NGOs, CBOs, and private as well as public organizations for international students and volunteers in East and West Africa. 

Prior to joining AU Nairobi, she worked as a Regional Internship Coordinator for Pangaya, a German organization based in Berlin; a Knowledge Manager and Database Development Adviser for Katiba Institute, a non-profit organization based in Nairobi, Kenya; an Information Specialist for the Library of Congress at the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and as an Information Specialist at the University of Toronto Law School, Canada. Elmah obtained both her MA in Information Science and Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Political Science and Information Communication Technology from the University of Toronto, Canada.

Homestay coordinator

Sabina is our Homestay Coordinator and has had an association with AU Nairobi since 2010 when she joined the orientation team to help our students acclimatize to Kenya. Her role has expanded to include being a liaison between homestay families and students. As a trained social worker, Sabina also volunteers at a small community project in Kibera that supplies sanitary towels to school girls and single mothers.

Facility manager

Mercy Kagiri is the facility manager and has been the “mama” to AU Nairobi students and staff since 2006. Mercy came to AU from the Centre for Domestic Training and Development where she trained as a cook and a housekeeper. She enjoys interacting with the students and making delicious food for all to enjoy – of which her ndengu samosas are a crowd favorite! In her spare time she enjoys reading in AU Nairobi’s library.

Instructor

Judy Kiprop teaches both beginning and intermediate Kiswahili. As a trained communications instructor specializing in Kiswahili, Dholuo and English languages, she is widely consulted by many foreign agencies and institutions. In addition to teaching for us, Kiprop also teaches for several other universities' Abroad programs and missions in Kenya. Besides working for AU Nairobi, she also teaches for the University of Minnesota and James Madison University.

Professor & Program Academic Advisor

Fred Iraki Kang'ethe is our Kiswahili Instructor and the program academic advisor. He has been with AU Nairobi since 2006. Fred earned his PhD in Linguistics at the University of Geneva. He is Professor of French at USIU. His research interests include French as a foreign language, cognitive linguistics, and tense and aspect in Kiswahili. His latest projects have examined Sheng, an urban youth dialect popular in Nairobi. Additionally, he writes commentary on current events that are published in the Kenya's national media.

Geographies of Gender Instructor

Felogene Anumo is a scholar and researcher on contemporary issues relating to Gender and Development in Africa. Her interests include advancing gender equality through research and capacity building of young feminists and women. Felogene is an alumnus of the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University for her undergraduate and post-graduate studies respectively. She is the founder and author of a pioneer magazine on young women and girls issues- dubbed AlphaDiva. Felogene has authored several articles which have been presented in various regional and international conferences. Some of these include “Feminist Leadership and Development Curriculum for Adolescent Girls” and “Brave, Creative and Resilient: The Global State of Young Feminist Organizing”. She has been associated with various gender and youth based organizations in Africa including African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Senior Programme Manager, Triple Line/IPE Global Africa and Program Manager with the Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID).

Institutional Strengthening Instructor

Mercy Kaburu is a full time Lecturer at Daystar University –Kenya, in the Department of Peace and International Studies. She teaches Foreign policy Analysis, International Development, International Organizations, and Post Conflict Reconstruction among others. She is PhD Candidate at the United States International University (USIU) – Africa, pursuing International Relations with a concentration in Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA). She holds a Master of Arts Degree in International Conflict Management from the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies, University of Nairobi, and a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree from Kenyatta University. In addition, Mercy holds a Diploma in Project Management, and a Certification in Monitoring and Evaluation from The Kenya Institute of Management. Mercy is also engaged in consultancy. She has carried out consultancy assignments for state agencies including; National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC-Kenya), Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO), the defunct Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC-Kenya) and Micro and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA). In addition she has worked as a consultant and researcher for international and local non-governmental organizations including ACCORD- International, Search for Common Ground-International, University for Peace, Costa- Rica, CHRD-Kenya, Inforkomm Media Services Kenya, and the Interreligious Council of Kenya among others.

Environmental Health Instructor

Maina Muniafu is our Instructor for Environmental Health. He is an Associate Professor of Natural Sciences at USIU. Maina earned his PhD in plant ecophysiolgy at the University of Nairobi. His research interests include sustainable resource utilisation as well as domesticating environmental protection policies. Some of research has centered on the social and health impacts of water quality in Nairobi River from source to ocean.

Epidemiology Instructor

Dr. Mweu is a Lecturer in Epidemiology the School of Public Health at the University of Nairobi. He earned a PhD from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and a post graduate diploma from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Dr. Mweu specializes in statistical tools to understand frequency, determinants, and distributions of infectious diseases for effective control. He is fluent in English and Swahili.

Community Health Instructor

Dr. Nyawade is a lecturer in Health Promotion and Education as well as Research Methodology at the School of Public Health, University of Nairobi, Kenya. She also taught in High Schools in Kenya for 10 years from 1987 to 1997 as well as teaching undergraduate students at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA as a graduate assistant. She has extensive experience in the public health field accumulated over a period of 20 years between 1997 and 2017 working in the areas of Nutrition and Health Promotion within the Ministry of Health, Kenya. Her research interest is in helping improve the nutrition, health and overall wellbeing of the general population by addressing the multiple social determinants of health using various approaches that promote behavior change for priority population segments that are directly affected or influence change at interpersonal and environmental levels.

Senior Study Abroad Advisor

Kelly Jo is the program manager for AU Nairobi, and works out of the AU Abroad office in Washington, D.C. She is one of the advisors for undergraduate students interested in the semester and summer programs with AU Nairobi. She has worked with AU Abroad since 2005, initially as the first country director for AU Nairobi, then to start an internship program in Nigeria, and from 2011 as a study abroad advisor in D.C. Kelly Jo is extremely familiar with all the phases of study abroad acculturation, and works closely with the AU Nairobi staff. Her favorite part of her professional life is experiencing how multiple cultures affect each other. Her favorite part of her job is seeing how much students grow before, during, and after their time abroad. Kelly Jo speaks Swahili from living in Kenya for nine years, and also grew up with American Sign Language.

Study Abroad Advisor

Mathew Stifter is one of the study abroad advisors for the AU Abroad Center in Nairobi, Kenya. He earned his MA in International Training and Education from American University in 2018. Matthew also attended AU’s School of International Service and graduated with his BA in International Studies. As an undergraduate student, Matthew studied abroad in Berlin, Germany. Studying abroad not only improved his German language ability, but also allowed him to achieve new insights into who he was and how he related to the world. He can be your resource for LGBTQ life in Madrid, the quirkiness of language in Brussels, or where to visit the giraffes near Nairobi!