USIU-A has extended the contract of Freida Brown as interim Vice Chancellor for four months as the search for a substantive occupant of the office continues.
The privately-held institution hired UK-based Oxford HR to spearhead the international process of recruiting a replacement for Prof Zeleza.
Prof Brown had served as vice-chancellor at the institution for 21 years before retiring in early 2016 and returning to the US.
United States International University-Africa (USIU-A) has extended the contract of Freida Brown as interim Vice Chancellor for four months as the search for a substantive occupant of the office continues.
The university’s council last August recalled Prof Brown from retirement to serve on a nine-month contract following the exit of Paul Tiyambe Zeleza after a five-year stint.
The privately-held institution hired UK-based Oxford HR to spearhead the international process of recruiting a replacement for Prof Zeleza.
“My stay here has been extended until the end of September,” said Prof Brown on Wednesday during the launch of the USIU-Africa five-year strategic plan.
Prof Brown had served as vice-chancellor at the institution for 21 years before retiring in early 2016 and returning to the US.
Oxford HR was given a maximum of nine months to identify the ideal candidate.
“Three candidates have since been identified with the ultimate decision resting with the university council,” she said.
USIU-A, which has had a presence in Kenya since 1969 initially as a Nairobi campus before becoming a full-fledged university in 1999, is keen on enhancing its national, regional and international positioning in higher education.
The tenure of the previous substantive vice-chancellor, Prof Zeleza, was characterised by a clash with lecturers over salary cuts and a union following plans to lay off non-teaching staff.
In October 2020, the Employment and Labour Relations court suspended the bid by USIU-A to slash lecturers’ pay, pending the determination of the petition the tutors had filed.
In May last year, the university denied violating a court order stopping it from laying off non-teaching staff pending the determination of a case filed by the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions and Hospital Workers.
