Strathmore University 2014 Graduation, After two years of hard work, sleepless nights, loads of reading, piles of case study reviews, group discussions, thorough research and a tough thesis defense, the Strathmore Business School (SBS) MBA class of 2014 finally got hold of what they had been fighting for; the Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree.
This Year marked the 6th Graduation Ceremony of the MBA for executives and the 10th annual Graduation Ceremony of Strathmore University (SU).
The Graduation which was held on the 27th of June 2014 at Strathmore University’s graduation square was abuzz with activity as graduands were accompanied by family, loved ones and friends all excited about the big day.
The SU Vice Chancellor, Prof John Odhiambo, urged the graduates to strive to be exemplary students amongst their peers, they were encouraged to have a desire to thrive, defend their own dignity as well as that of others, fight corruption as well as make the effort to use their knowledge and expertise to work not only for personal benefit but also for the benefit of the whole society.
Prof Odhiambo further mentioned that SU was recognized to have the best practice in international financial reporting in the not-for-profit category region as awarded by the Financial Reporting (FiRe) Awards in 2012. He also pointed out that each year the university has manifested the best graduate employment rate in the region with students acquiring jobs within three months after completing their studies.
He added that SU is currently acting as a pace setter in the conservation of energy due to the large-scale installation of solar panels around the institution that will assist in saving energy costs and conserving the environment. On 30th March 2012 SBS was awarded the Best Green Building Development in Africa by the African Real Estate and Housing Finance (AREHF) Academy Awards.
The SU Pro- Chancellor, Rev. Dr. Silvano Ochuodho, asked students to seek unity and aspirations of peace and harmony, while urging the Strathmore community to be part and parcel of the great men and women who have fought solemnly for justice and peace. Prof. John Odhiambo reminded the graduands that the graduation is not the end but rather the beginning as education never ends. He further stated that they should be proud of their achievements as Strathmore is also proud of them.”You will always remain part of the Strathmore family”, he concluded.
2014 Graduation: CARMS First Doctoral Candidate
Rachel Waema Mbogos doctoral candidature primes the first ever PhD candidate to make it to the graduation list since the establishment of the Centre for Applied Research and Mathematical Sciences(CARMS), a research centre in Strathmore University.
The soft-spoken, Dr. Mbogo is highly gifted and well-established mathematician and a scholar. Her passion for mathematics stems as early as secondary school, she later pursued this passion in her undergraduate studies at University of Nairobi where she studied Bachelors of Science in Applied Mathematics and later a Masters degree in Industrial mathematics. The title of her Masters thesis was Use of generating functions in HIV/AIDS transmission model
Rachel joined Strathmore University in 2003 as a mathematics lecturer; she registered for her PhD candidature in Strathmore in November 2011 under the supervision of Prof.Living stone S. Luboobi of Makerere University- Uganda and Prof.John W. Odhiambo of Strathmore University. Her studies were sponsored by DAAD, which provided her the opportunity to visit Germany for six months and meet other researchers in this field. The support mechanisms in Strathmore and in Germany have propelled me to this level, I am very grateful to all my supervisors for guiding and encouraging me, she shared.
Through hard work and determination, she managed to complete her doctoral program in November 2013, under a thesis titled: Intra-Host Stochastic models for HIV dynamics and management, and successfully defended it on 14th May, 2014. The examiners and panel were impressed with her work and considered her results to be very highly commendable.
In her work, she derived and analysed stochastic models describing the dynamics
of HIV and immune system interactions under therapeutic intervention in vivo. She used
Semi-Markov process to determine the cost of maintaining a HIV patient to the level of a normal working person.
The Semi-Markov models formulated provide insights on timing of interventions, geared towards the management of the HIV epidemic. These models can help health practitioners to make sound decisions on how to handle the HIV patients given their disease states. The models can also help the government and donors to make informed decisions about resource allocation in planning and evaluating control strategies for the disease (budget plan for the acquisition of the ARTs, VCT centres, nutritional support, etc).