Olive Mugenda

When Mūgenda graduated with her first degree, she joined the staff at Kenyatta University, in 1981, as a tutorial fellow. Because she had done very well during her Bachelor of Education studies, obtaining a first class honors degree, she was given a scholarship to study at Iowa State University for her master's degree and doctorate.

After her graduate studies in the United States, she returned to lecture at Kenyatta University. She specialized in "women's education, home economics, statistics and research methodology". She was promoted from lecturer, to head of department, to dean of faculty. Then she was appointed deputy vice chancellor for Finance and Planning. In 2006, when the position of vice chancellor at the university was advertised, she applied and beat three other applicants, all male, for the job. As vice chancellor, one of her major accomplishments was the establishment of Kenyatta University Referral Hospital, a 500-bed referral hospital, wholly owned by the university, which cost US$95 million to construct.^[5] In October 2013, Mūgenda was appointed chairperson of the Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.^[6] The association is the oldest international universities network, with over 500 universities in 37 countries as members. The secretariat is based in London, United Kingdom.

After her retirement from Kenyatta University, President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated Mūgenda to serve in the Judicial Service Commission, where she is to represent members of the public.^[7] She was also appointed in April 2019 as the chairperson of the board of the Kenyatta University Teaching & Referral Hospital in 2019.^[8] The board was tasked to kickstart operations in the hospital that had been lying idle years after completion due to uncertainties over its management and ownership structure. However, in December 2024, she officially resigned as the board chair.^[9]

Mūgenda and her late husband, Abel Mūgenda, an academic at the University of Nairobi, are the parents of four children.^[10]