Turkana University College Council has appointed Prof. George N. Chemining’wa to head the University College as the Acting Principal.

The chairman of Turkana University College Council, Dr. Solomon Muchina made the announcement on Tuesday 4^th August, 2020 during a handing over process which he presided over in the presence of Prof. Solomon Shibairo, Vice-Chancellor of Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, and other Council members. The event took place at the University College Boardroom

Prof. Chemining’wa who has been a full Professor of Agronomy and Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Nairobi takes over from Prof. Fredrick Nyongesa Kassily who has been the Acting Principal after the substantive Principal Prof. Thomas Ekamais Akuja was sent on compulsory leave pending investigation.

The incoming Ag. Principal Prof. Chemining’wa in his remarks thanked the University College Council for his appointment and promised to work towards ensuring that the institution receives a University Charter within the next two years, and to work closely with the students, staff, members of the community and the entire leadership of County for the growth of the University College. He also said that he will adhere to all the Government directives aimed at containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his remarks, Dr. Solomon Muchina noted that they have appointed a full Professor to be at the helm of the Institution of higher learning for the next six months. He also mentioned that Turkana University College is a crucial academic Institution and for it to get a charter, it needs to be headed by a full Professor. He further said that the University College Council will advertise all the positions so that they are filled by qualified and competent individuals that would drive the Institution in the right direction and greater heights.

Partnership between Saide’s African Storybook and Turkana University College

The South African Institute of Distance Education (Saide) key implementation strategy is collaboration with others who are working to uplift living standards of communities. In this regard, Saide works with a number of institutions such as universities, schools as well as education ministries at local and national levels. One of these is Turkana University College (TUC) which seeks to be a preferred learning institution for transformation of lives and service to humanity. TUC holds the view that education, training and research are major tools in sustainable development of humanity, science and technology in a global environment. As an academic institution in Turkana County, TUC wishes to be a centre of learning for the community around and the source of motivation for children and youth of Turkana so that they can aspire and embrace education for development.

Because TUC and Saide are both interested in promoting education, partnership between them to promote early literacy in Turkana County through supporting the development and use of storybooks in the languages of Kenya, namely, Ng’aturkana, Kiswahili and English, was initiated through a Memorandum of Understanding in 2019. One of the elements of the agreement was for Saide’s African Storybook team to run a workshop at TUC with a select number of TUC students on translation of children’s storybooks from English to Ng’aturkana. These would be added to the digital collection of high quality stories from Turkana County for use by children in the County.

This was realised on 19^th September through the diligent organisation of Mr Edward Lokidor, a Kiswahili lecturer at the college (Standing) and Dorcas Wepukhulu, the Kenya-based Partner Development Coordinator for African Storybook initiative.

During the workshop, 17 students worked in pairs to translate at least one story using special translation templates. A total of 18 stories suitable for use in early grades were translated. Saide values quality and so the translated stories were checked and reviewed by Prof Thomas Ekamais, the Principal of TUC. Now all the 18 are available and can be accessed on the website in Ng’aturkana.

Students translating stories at the computer lab.

Saide appreciates and values its partners and so all the students received certificates indicating the story title in English and Ng’aturkana. Each story has the name of the student who translated it. All the stories will eventually have TUC’s institutional logo at the back

PUBLIC LECTURE ON DIPLOMACY

Turkana University College held a public lecture Themed Diplomacy on the 25th February 2020 at TUC Main, Hall.

The lecture on Diplomacy was delivered by Public Affairs Counsellor, Paul Watzlavick , US Embassy
During the lecture the public affairs Counsellor, Paul Watzlavick appreciated the hospitality accorded to him during his visit at the University College. He said that the US Government Embassy has contributed to about 300,000 people leaving in Turkana County through Education, Food , Health and Security  and they are also looking forward to expanding more cooperations. He also mentioned that he will be working with Turkana Basin Institute initiattive of bringing Scholars, Researchers and scholarships to Turkana University College
He expounded more on # USA MARAFIKI commitment to Kenya’s Prosperity , offering of exchange programme so that Students from Turkana University College can be able to interact with students from USA.

The Ag. Principal Prof. F. Kassily said that partnership will flourish to a point whereby we can get researcher  and Professors from USA  to partner with Turkana Basin Institute  to promote Education.