Meet Kenya’s First Woman Professor of Architecture

Since April, Susan Njeri Kibue, an architect who lectures at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, has been trying to get used to the title — Professor.

Now celebrated as Kenya’s first female professor of architecture, Kibue admits, “Whenever I hear someone calling ‘Professor’ behind me, I first look around me to see if there are other professors before responding. I am still getting used to it.”

The road to professorship in Kenya is not for the faint-hearted. The Commission for Higher Education’s 2014 guidelines set a high bar — a doctorate, at least sixty publication points, and the supervision of postgraduate students, among other criteria. 

In each of these, Prof. Kibue excelled, often exceeding her own expectations. 

“I have supervised Diploma and Degree undergraduate and postgraduate students and co-authored published papers together. This enriches my research. Learning only stops at the grave,” she remarks.

Prof. Kibue vividly recalls facing a panel of nearly twenty senior academics at JKUAT for her professorship interview, chaired by the university council chairman.

“It was a bit intimidating sitting in the middle of the room with all eyes glued to me and answering numerous questions relating to my academic work. I must have satisfied them and that is why I am where I am,” she says.

Born in Nyeri but raised in Nairobi, Kibue joined the University of Nairobi in 1983 to study for her Bachelor of Architecture and, after graduating, worked at the Ministry of Public Works as an assistant architect.

“I worked on government projects, including police and National Youth Service buildings. No assignments were beneath me as I also worked on dog kennels at the Police Dog Unit in Langata and Mombasa,” she recalls.

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Her early days were not without struggle. She soon realised that gender bias was a persistent barrier. Some superiors trusted her to lead, while others looked uncomfortable — the kind of thinking that kept women out of architecture.

When she began lecturing at JKUAT in 1992, there were hardly any female students. 

“Girls were persuaded to pursue ‘softer’ studies such as secretarial courses. There were only two girls in our class. In fact, I saw some girls who had joined the university with straight ‘As’ drop out. Sadly, some of these also felt this was man’s world,” she says.

Nevertheless, Kibue, who had earned a Master of Arts in Housing Studies from the University of Newcastle in 1991, went on to complete her PhD in Architecture at the University of Sheffield in 2000.

Today, Prof. Kibue holds a vast portfolio in housing research, architecture and design. Through Domus Architects, her firm, she designed a 300-seater lecture theatre at Kirinyaga University — a structure defined by its environmental consciousness and cultural sensitivity.

Prof. Kibue is a woman of many firsts. At JKUAT, she became the first female Associate Dean of the School of Architecture and Building Sciences and the first woman to chair the Department of Architecture. 

She also serves as an external examiner at universities in Uganda, Namibia, and Tanzania.

For Prof. Kibue, her elevation to professorship is not just a personal triumph but a collective victory for women in the technical sciences. 

“We are nurturing girls in our universities to become the next professors in the field,” she insists. “They are as capable as men are.”

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