KENYA: First-ever African Appointed Vice-Rector of Salesian Pontifical University Promises to Fulfil Office “Diligently”
Fr. Kevin Otieno Mwandha
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
Since establishment of the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS) in Rome, Italy, in 1940, the administration of the educational institution has been under non-Africans until Thursday, July 4, when the first African Fr. Prof. Kevin Otieno Mwandha, was appointed one of the senior executive administrators for the University. In an interview with AMECEA Online Wednesday, July 6, the Kenyan cleric narrates…
AMECEA Online: Since the Salesian Pontifical University run by the Salesians of Don Bosco was established over eight decades ago, non-Africans have been in the senior executive administration, what is your take concerning this appointment as the first African in the position of a Vice-Rector for the University?
Fr. Otieno: After 84 years of the foundation of Salesian University, the appointment of the first Salesian African to the office ever since occupied by non-Africans gives a new mentality that governance of the University is based on the capacity and ability to perform the duties assigned rather than any other factors.
AMECEA Online: Now that you have been serving in this very University as a full-time Professor of Canon Law and you have been the Vice-Dean since 2023, what new strategies will you put in place to assist the University’s administration?
Fr. Otieno: It is now necessary more than ever before to listen to the signs of the times and enter into a mature Academic dialogue with other Ecclesiastical and Civil Universities to grasp what society needs today. A synergistic strategy with other Universities should be a priority.
AMECEA Online: What would you consider a priority when you commence the work that His Eminence Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Salesian Society of St. John Bosco, and Chancellor of the University said will begin on 3 August 2024?
Fr. Otieno: The priority as I begin the office is to motivate the students and teachers to work together for human and academic excellence. We are also going to review our statutes and plan of studies so that we can have the best performance, typical of a Salesian University.
AMECEA Online: Does the University restrict students who wish to study at Salesian Pontifical University?
Fr. Otieno: The University has students from all over the globe. Currently, it has more than 2,500 students with Africa alone having more than 300 students. It has 400 teachers on permanent and non-permanent contracts. The students are distributed in five faculties: Philosophy, Theology, Christian and Classical writing, Social and Educational Sciences, and Social Communication. The students are laity, religious, and clerics.
AMECEA Online: Any additional information in relation to your appointment as the Vice-Rector for the University?
Fr. Otieno: The Grand Chancellor, the Rector, and the University Senate made a decision after a long discernment. It is my hope and prayer that I will be able to fulfil the office diligently with God’s grace.
Fr. Otieno is a guest lecturer at the Pontifical College of St. Bede (Rome) and at the Studium Theologicum Salesianum (Jerusalem). He is the former Director of the Institute of Dogmatic Theology (2020-2023), an invited lecturer at the Tangaza University College (Nairobi – Kenya) as well as at the Don Bosco Utume Salesian Theological College (Nairobi – Kenya).
