President William Ruto has named Professor Patrick Verkooijen Chancellor of the University of Nairobi (UoN).
In a Gazette Notice dated January 12, the new Chancellor will serve for five years effective immediately.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 38 (1) (a) of the Universities Act, I, William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces, appoint — PATRICK V. VERKOOIJEN (PROF.) to be the Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, for a period of five (5) years, with effect from January 12, 2024,” read the notice.
Prior to the appointment, the Dutch professor served as the Chair of the university’s Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies.
Verkooijen is the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) – an international organization that is dedicated to providing solutions to curbing global climate effects.
“Together with African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, he is the architect of the world’s largest adaptation program, the Ksh3.9 trillion Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, which has already shaped over Ksh957 billion of resilient investments on the world’s most climate-vulnerable continent since its inception in 2021,” Verkooijen’s profile on the GCA’s website reads in part.