HUMAN RESOURCES
HIRING: Please join me in welcoming Principal Medical Officer Dr. Tasneem Yamani and Senior Insurance Officer Mr. Edwin Ng’ong’a who joined USIU-Africa on May 2, 2017. Dr. Yamani will oversee the university’s Health Center located on the ground floor of the Freida Brown Student Center, while Mr. Ng’onga will be our first employee in the Legal Services Division’s Insurance department. This brings our total staff tally to 270.
Two members of faculty joined us during the Spring semester in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the School of Pharmacy and Health Services, bringing our total number of full-time faculty to 117. We are in the process of recruiting an additional 25 faculty members in order to maintain our tenured/adjunct faculty ratios in compliance with CUE requirements, and that our faculty-student ratios remain at appropriate levels. Other staff requirements including replacing departed staff, are undergoing a comprehensive need analysis to maintain effective service delivery.
HEALTH SERVICES: University health services will now be offered at the new Health Center on the ground floor of the Freida Brown Student Center. The new spacious facility is not only bigger and better, it is has also been inspected and certified by the respective national medical regulatory bodies. Final fittings should be complete by the end of June.
SECURITY
SAFETY PLAN: A comprehensive safety plan for members of the university in light of the approaching Kenyan general elections, is in the process of being developed.
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
FACILITIES EXPANSION: In line with our growth strategy of our student population, the university will break ground in July, for a new Humanities Center to house the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Center’s construction which will involve extensive consultations with various stakeholders to ensure modern learning standards are requirements are met, should be complete by September 2019.
In the same line, we will be undertaking a comprehensive Master Planning for the university to ensure that any future construction within campus takes into account long-term university requirements for physical facilities and general environmental conditions. The process of identifying a consultant to undertake the Master Plan will run from June through to December 2017, and will again involve wide consultations with members of the university community and other stakeholders.
CLEANING SERVICES: In the Spring the university contracted the services of a new cleaning service provider - Strami Ltd - who are in the process of familiarizing themselves with our community and its facilities.
CONSTRUCTION
UNIVERSITY ENTRANCES: Services at Gate A now are better and faster. New baggage scanning and screening equipment as well as adequate room for entry and exit, are now possible following completion of the construction works began at the end of last year. It is expected that advanced works on Gate B will soon be complete, and the university community can now begin to experience even more convenient access to the university.
PERIMETER WALL: Additional construction of sections of the wall along the perimeter facing the Northern Bypass were completed in the Spring Semester thus enhancing security within the university. A wall around our other pieces of land (on the opposite side of the Northern Bypass and the 10 acre land in Muthaiga North) should be complete by the end of this semester.
SWIMMING POOL: Construction of the university’s swimming pool, which has been awaited by generations of students, is at an advanced stage, and should be ready for use by the end of this semester.