Ishmael I. Munene

Ishmael I. Munene is currently a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Northern Arizona University teaching courses in Comparative Education, Higher Education, and Educational Research. He is also the current Executive Secretary of the African Studies and Research Forum (ASRF). As an experienced scholar in higher education and education in general, he has written widely on higher education issues with specific emphasis on governance, privatization, and marketization of universities as well as globalization. He has authored: Multicampus University Systems: Africa and Kenyan Experience (Routledge, 2014), and The Politics & Economics of Higher Education Transformation in Kenya: Impact of Globalization, Privatization, Quasi-Marketization and New Managerialism (VDM Verlag Dr.Muller, 2009). He has edited: Conducting Research and Mentoring Students in Africa: CODESRIA College of Mentors Handbook (CODESRIA, 2019) Contextualizing and Organizing Contingent Faculty: Reclaiming Academic Labor in Universities (Lexington Books, 2018) and Achieving Education For All: Dilemmas in System-wide Reforms and Learning Outcomes in Africa, (Lexington Books, 2016). He has also edited two volumes on Africa: An Interdisciplinary Primer in African Studies (Lexington Books, 2011) and Transforming the Academia: Exploring African Universities in a Comparative Context (Nova Science Publishers, 2009). His writings have appeared in Models for Improving and Optimizing Online and Blended Learning in Higher Education (IGI Global, 2014) Encyclopedia of African Thought (Oxford University Press, 2010), Assessing George W. Bush’s Africa Policy and Suggestions for Barrack Obama and African Leaders (iUniverse, 2009), Stakes in Africa-United States Relations: Proposals for Equitable Partnership (iUniverse, 2008), Encyclopedia of Third World (Routledge, 2005), African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook ( Indiana University Press, 2003), Capacity Building in Educational Research in East Africa: Empirical Insights into Qualitative Research Methodology (DSE-German Foundation For International Development1997), Towards a Shared Vision for Higher Education: Cross-Cultural Insights and Projects (DSE-German Foundation for International Development, 1997), and Education and National Development in Southern Africa (Debswana, 1996). He has also published on African higher education in academic journals including Africa Education Review, Basic Education Forum, Higher Education, International Journal of Educational Development, Higher Education, International Review of Education, Research in Post-Compulsory Education, Journal of Higher Education in Africa, Journal of Third World Studies, Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, Research in Post-Compulsory Education, Higher Education Policy,and Workplace: Journal of Academic Labor.

Besides teaching and publishing, the author is an avid conference presenter and skilled researcher in African education. He has presented conference papers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the US. He has also received several grants for research projects focusing on higher education in addition to participating in research activities as an associate. He has conducted research on university student activism, university governance, and gender equity in higher education. His current research effort focuses on privatization initiatives in higher education paying close attention to its manifestations, scope, configurations, and policy implications. In 2008 Munene was awarded the Excellence in Research Award by the African Studies and Research Forum for his research on African Education. He serves in the editorial advisory board of the Africa Education Review and has previously served as the executive secretary of the African Studies and Research Forum (ASRF).

Munene’s education and work experience cuts across geographical and cultural spheres. He has studied in Africa (Kenya), Europe, Asia, and United States either as a full-time student or on extended periods for specialized courses. He obtained his B. Ed and M.Ed in Comparative Education from Kenyatta University in Kenya, Africa. His academic education crystallized when he obtained a PhD in Higher Education is from the State University of New York (SUNY-Albany). He has also studied at Kassel University in Germany and Osmania University in India. This international experience is also reflected in his work, having taught at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and at SUNY, University of South Florida and currently at Northern Arizona University in the United States. This international and intercultural orientation gives Munene an array of lenses upon which to undertake a critical analysis of higher education issues.