The Update(Welcome Back) January 2015

Abstract

Warmest best wishes for 2015! As we all know, Tangaza is undergoing many important changes. We began this academic year with a new Development Officer (Eric Njoroge) and Marketing Officer (Beatrice Muchugiah). The School of Theology received its long-awaited affiliation with Urbanianum, allowing it to give an ecclesiastical degree, the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology. We hosted various important events, including a three-day Conference on Social Transformation that brought speakers and participants from around the world. Our librarians organized a wonderful “E-Resources Week.” After many years of service to Tangaza, Sr.

Loretta Brennan has stepped down as Director of the Centre for Leadership and Management, and Sr.

Agnes Njeri Mburu has succeeded her as the CLM Director. We have new partnerships with the Administration Police and with Africana College in Thika.

Several new programmes have been approved, including ISRF’s Masters in Religious Formation and CTIE’s Masters of Education in Leadership and Administration. And ISMM has launched Tangaza’s

first doctoral programmes, in Social Transformation! But the most profound change is the result of the Commission for University Education’s insistence, and the Board of Trustees decision, that Tangaza should no longer remain a constituent college of CUEA but should “mature” and become a Kenyan university in its own right. On the level of legal requirements, this means that we must now bring ourselves into conformity with the Universities Act 2012, and with the Commission’s documents, Regulations 2014, and Standards and Guidelines 2014 (see http://www.cue.or.ke). Those of you who have consulted those texts know that they require some adjustments in our governance structures. They also require us to submit a proposed charter, new statutes, a strategic plan, etc., all of which we are working on. But most importantly, the process itself invites us all to re-examine and reaffirm our shared mission, vision and values, so that these are not lost but enhanced as we become “Tangaza University.” We should never forget Tangaza’s roots in the charisms and “mission”-orientation of the founding and participating congregations, as well as our rich diversity, because these are part of what give us our special identity and make us unique. At the same time, we must together seek fresh and creative ways to express our core identity in the contemporary context.