Victoria Ngumi is the current Vice Chancellor, Administrative Head, and Chief Executive Officer of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
Before her appointment in August 2018, Prof. Ngumi was serving as the Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Administration, a position she had held since October 2014.
In 2005, she was appointed the founding Principal of JKUAT Karen Campus, having served as the founding Director of the Alternative Degree Programmes.
In addition to being a member of the African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF) and the Natural Products Research Network for East and Central Africa (NAPRECA), Prof Ngumi had served as a senior education fellow at the African Network of Agro-forestry and Natural Resource Management Education.
Victoria Ngumi Educational background
Prof. Ngumi is a beneficiary of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, which took her to Clemson University in South Carolina, USA, where she earned her PhD in Plant Physiology in 1997.
She had earlier won another Japan-based Mombusho scholarship, which enabled her to pursue a Master of Science in Botany at Hiroshima University, and she graduated in 1989.
She is an alumnus of the University of Nairobi, where she obtained an undergraduate degree in Education.
She also holds an Executive MBA from JKUAT, a PhD in Plant Physiology, and an EMBA degree.
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Career Background
From October 2014, she served as Deputy Vice Chancellor in Administration until her appointment as VC.
In 2005, she was the Founding Principal of the JKUAT Karen Campus, appointed as the first principal.
Victoria served as the founding director of Alternative Degree Programmes, where she restructured the office into functional sections.
Between 2005 and 2006, she served as a Senior Education Fellow at the African Network of Agroforestry and Natural Resource Management Education (ANAFE), overseeing East and Central Africa.
In 2024, she was elected as the Vice Chancellor’s representative to the African Institute for Capacity Development (AICAD) Governing Board.
In 2018, she was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of JKUAT. She became the second female Vice Chancellor of the institution, succeeding Prof. Mabel Imbuga.
Achievements
Prof. Ngumi has positioned JKUAT as a premier research hub, with the university holding 17 of the 51 patents acquired by Kenya’s public universities. Under her tenure, JKUAT was ranked as the second-best institution nationally in research productivity.
In 2025, she introduced the Vice Chancellor’s Research Merit Award to encourage faculty to produce high-impact research.
Victoria has also strengthened JKUAT’s collaborations with institutions across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
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In 2021, Prof. Ngumi was awarded the Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear (EBS) by the former President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, for her distinguished and outstanding services rendered to the nation.
She was the first Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration) during the division’s founding and reorganization, including the establishment of a strong HR department, following its breakaway from the Division of Administration Planning and Development.
As the second Director of alternative degree programmes, she reorganised the Alternative Degree Programmes Office into functional sections.
As Chairperson of the Department of Botany, she started the MSc Botany Programme and also coordinated the writing of BSc Medical Microbiology, BSc Biotechnology (Plant Biotechnology Option), BSc Crop Protection, and the Bridging Course in Biology.
She won the Fulbright Scholarship for PhD studies at Clemson University, South Carolina, USA.
She was the Chairperson of the Department of Biological Sciences, established the Department, and won the Monbusho scholarship for MSc studies at Hiroshima University (Japan).
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