The immediate former Vice-Chancellor of Kenyatta University (2006-2016) where she spearheaded the institution’s transformation in many ways including growth in students’ enrolment, infrastructure development and expansion, staff welfare, and introduced market driven programmes. She ably turned the University into an entrepreneurial and research institution and championed innovation in academics, administration and research. Prof. Mugenda is a Commissioner of the Judicial Service Commission, a Non-Executive Director of UBA Kenya Bank Limited, a multinational financial institution, a Board member of the African Centre for Transformative and Inclusive Leadership Initiative (ACTIL), a member of the Steering Committee for the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI), and a Board member of Global Training and Research Program, an NGO owned by the University of California. Previously, Prof. Mugenda has been Chairperson of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and Vice-President of the International Association of Universities (IAU).

She is a recipient of the Elder of Burning Spear (EBS) and Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear (CBS) presidential awards. Prof. Mugenda is also a recipient of the Ernst and Young Lifetime Achievement Award and was recently awarded the highly competitive and prestigious Impact Research and Science in Sub- Saharan Africa (IMPRESSA) Award by the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). In February 2016, the French Government through the French Embassy in Nairobi awarded Prof. Mugenda the Order of Academic Palms – a national order of France for Distinguished Academics and figures in the world, for her efforts in steering the growth of Kenyatta University. Prof. Mugenda holds a first class honours degree in Education from the University of Nairobi, a Master of Science degree and PhD in Family and Consumer Sciences from Iowa State University (USA). She also has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI). Prof. Mugenda has since 2016 founded CLIG with the aim of empowering university leaders to be transformational leaders in their organizations and communities locally and regionally.