By Eriah Lule
Rev. Canon. Assoc. Prof. Nassaka Olivia Bbanja officially handed over her deanship of the School of Education to Dr. Mary Kagoire, the former Head of the Education Department and PhD coordinator before.
This followed her appointment as the Vice Chancellor of Ndejje University, a sister university founded by the Buganda Diocese under the Church of Uganda. Bbanja had only been her dean for a year.
According to Bbanja, serving at Uganda Christian University (UCU) was her biggest opportunity to grow her profession. Serving in different capacities, from a secondary school teacher to later mentoring teachers in the department of education to being dean of the Bishop Tucker School of Theology and Education as well as director of teaching and learning,
“I have been nurtured and grown in various capacities through UCU,” he said, adding that “the experience I have gained over my time in UCU will help me better in my new position.”
“My prayer is that we continue collaborating in research and partnerships as we grow the two church institutions,” she added.
Kagoire commended the good work that Bbanja has done, given the shortest time of her deanship, in reorganizing and restructuring the school.
“She is one person who will give you space to grow and explore your creativeness in every aspect,” she said. “We were all new by the time of our appointment after Covid, but with her, our boat never sank because we had a good captain.”
Kagoire, who joined UCU in 2018 as a PhD cordinator, had never held an administrative position as a dean in her 28 years of teaching.”I must confess that replacing Bbanja is a big task, but with God’s grace, I will try.” She said.
On the same occasion, Kagoire handed over to Mrs. Faith Musinguzi as the new head of the department of education. Musinguzi couldn’t help but express her gratitude towards the two gallant women.
