Micere Mugo

Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo is a poet, playwright, literary critic and Emerita Full Professor, retired from the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University in May 2015. A Kenyan by birth, she has two daughters, Mũmbi ad the late Njeri, whom she describes as her "comrades" and close friends. Dr. Mũgo has been in the teaching profession since 1967 and has served in such distinguished positions as: high school headmistress, university department/unit head, first woman faculty dean at the University of Nairobi in 1980, East African Examinations Council's first Chief Examiner of English and Literature, etc. Prof. Mũgo joined the Department of African American Studies, Syracuse University, in 1993 and during her tenure served as Director of Graduate Studies, Chair of the SU wide Africa Initiative and from 2005-8, as Chair of the Department. In the late 1990s she served as the Director of SU DIPA's Summer Traveling Seminar to Southern Africa while across SU she has served on: the University Senate, its subcommittees, the Chancellor's Citation Awards Committee, the Faculty Council, the College Academic Committee, the Honors Program's Board, the DIPA Program Committee, the Humanities Council and a host of others. During her tenure at Syracuse University, Dr. Mũgo received no less than 25 awards for teaching, advising, academic excellence and community service from students' organizations; Syracuse University; and the Syracuse Community at large. In December 2020 she was awarded a Doctor of Letters honorary degree from the University of Nairobi. In December 2013, she was awarded the Elder of the Burning Spear and in 2012, the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Distinguished Lecturer Award. In 2008 she received the CNY Women of Distinction Award and in 2007, the academic Distinguished Africanist Award, while in 2004 she was named Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence, becoming the first Black person at SU to receive this honor. In Kenya, The East African Standard Century publication of November 2002 cited her among "The Top 100: They Influenced Kenya Most" during the 20th Century list. Mũgo's publications include 6 books, 1 co-authored play, 8 co-edited supplementary readers for Zimbabwean schools and an edited journal, Third World in Perspective. She has many chapters in various books, 4 monographs, a lot of internationally anthologized poems, numerous reviews, interviews and citations.