Africa University - Structure

Structure

A 30-member board of directors governs Africa University. The board is chaired by the Chancellor. Bishop David K. Yemba, a founding member of Africa University’s Faculty of Theology, was elected the university’s third chancellor on December 8, 2008. Professor Fanuel Tagwira, another founding member of the university’s Faculty of Agriculture, was elected the university’s third vice-chancellor in March, 2009. Africa University is the first private, fully accredited, degree-granting United Methodist-related institution of higher learning on the continent of Africa as established and approved by General Conference. The university is Pan-African in design and spirit. Twenty-two nations of Africa were represented in the student population for the 2008-2009 academic year. The majority of faculty and administrative staff are Africans. Professors and policy makers comprise permanent and visiting educators from the United States, Europe, and around the world. The official language at the university is English, which is also the official language of Zimbabwe.

There are thirty-two buildings on the campus with four currently under construction. The 32

buildings include 12 dormitories, 12 senior staff housing units, a chapel, and a state-of-the-art library complex. The four buildings under construction include a student clinic, two housing duplexes for senior staff, and the building for the Institute of Peace, Leadership, and Governance.

Recently the Kent M. Weeks Archives was opened to collect all university and United Methodist Church records which are deemed to be of historic and research value.

The Kent M. Weeks Archives is an entity of the Jokomo/Yamada Library. It is located on the second floor of the Jokomo/Yamada Library. The Archives was set up in honour of Dr. Kent M. Weeks for his invaluable contributions to the development of Africa University. He is also responsible for personally raising the funds for the establishment of the Archives. Although the Archives are housed within the Jokomo/Yamada Library they are an autonomous unit within a larger library system. The Kent Weeks Archives maintains its own mission statement, goals and objectives.