The First Kenyan To Earn A PhD In Maths Who Became The First Professor Of Maths In Kenya

Morris Sika Alala was his name. He was the first Kenyan to earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics and the first African-Kenyan to obtain the title of Full Professor of Mathematics. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Pure and Applied Mathematics from St. Andrews University in Scotland, as well as a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from Glasgow University. He received his Ph.D. in 1973.

Morris then became an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Nairobi in 1958. Professor Alala has been dedicated to education since 1958. In 1960, he was elevated to Full Lecturer.

Alala was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship to study at Glasgow University in 1965. He was named Chair of the Department of Mathematics at Royal Technical College in 1967. Under his supervision, the department increased from two to ten African members in eleven years.

Alala was designated Senior Lecturer in 1968. In 1970, he returned to Glasgow University to complete his Ph.D., and in 1972, he became the first Kenyan African Full Professor of Mathematics. Professor Alala was Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Nairobi from 1976 until 1980. He was a math professor till his death in 1995.

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233408469_AFRICAN-AMERICANS_IN_MATHEMATICAL_SCIENCES_-_A_CHRONOLOGICAL_INTRODUCTION

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