AUA Installs and Welcomes Its 4th Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ademola S. Tayo

Sunday Morning: History Made Twice

Sunday, June 28 carried a double weight of significance, and the programme honoured both.

The VC Installation Service (9:00 a.m.)

To the soaring strains of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 in D Major, the academic procession entered the auditorium. Chancellor Dr. Harrington Simui Akombwa — who also serves as President of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division — declared the congregation constituted and presided over the formal installation of AUA’s fourth Vice Chancellor.

Dr Beatrice Muganda Inyangala, Principal Secretary of the State Department for Higher Education and Research at Kenya’s Ministry of Education, delivered the keynote address. She arrived not merely as a government representative, but as someone with a genuine investment in the question of what African higher education is truly for.

“There are moments in the life of an institution that are not merely ceremonial — they are providential,” she said. “Today is one such moment. We gather to celebrate two milestones that rarely converge in one sacred assembly. One ceremony welcomes new leadership; the other commissions a new generation. One passes the mantle, the other sends forth ambassadors. Together they symbolise continuity and renewal — a reminder that while leaders change and students graduate, the mission continues.”

Drawing from the book of Daniel, she spoke directly to the responsibilities of university leadership. Daniel, she reminded the audience, was distinguished not merely by his competence but by an excellent spirit — a quality that preceded and sustained every other achievement. “A great university will not only be measured by strategic plans and infrastructure projects,” she told Prof. Tayo, “but by the lives transformed under your stewardship.”

To the graduating class, she was both celebratory and unflinching. “Behind each smiling face today sits a story of perseverance. Some of you studied while supporting families. Others overcame financial hardship, personal loss, or moments of doubt — yet by God’s grace, you endured.” She offered five counsels to carry into the world: never stop learning; guard your integrity; prioritise service over status; build genuine relationships; and keep Christ at the centre. “When your identity is rooted in Christ,” she said, “success will never make you arrogant, and failure will never destroy you.”

She widened the frame with a challenge drawn from Africa’s own demographic reality. “By 2050, one in every four people on earth will be African. Our continent possesses the youngest population in the world, with approximately 60 per cent of its people under the age of 25. The question is not whether Africa has potential — the question is whether Africa will produce leaders capable of transforming that potential into prosperity. And you are that leader.”

She closed with a word for both the incoming Vice Chancellor and the institution at large: “This university will remain firmly anchored in its biblical foundation — but innovation and faithfulness are not opposing forces. Together, they ensure that this institution remains both relevant and rooted.”

Vice Chancellor’s Profile was then read by Dr. David Odhiambo of the AUA faculty. The Chancellor formally robed Prof. Tayo and presented the Symbols of Authority — the University Charter, Statutes, Seal, Logo, and Mace — each item carrying the weight of an institution now two decades in the making. Advocate Ken Nyaundi administered the Oath of Office, after which Chancellor Akombwa delivered the Installation Charge.

Congratulatory messages followed from Dr. Robert Osei-Bonsu, University Council Chair and General Vice-President of the General Conference, and from Dr. Emily Akuno, Vice-Chancellor of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology. The dedicatory prayer was offered by Dr. Paulus Dingindawo Shongwe, President of the Southern Africa Union Conference.

A written message from outgoing Vice Chancellor Dr. Vincent Injety — who served AUA faithfully from 2021 to 2025 — was also received. “Leadership at this university is a sacred privilege more than administration,” he wrote, “a divine call rather than a transfer. It requires Godly wisdom, integrity, courage, and an unwavering dedication to Adventist Education, academic excellence and student success.”

A University at a Defining Moment

The weekend captured something larger than any single ceremony. AUA was founded in response to a continent growing faster than its institutions could train leaders for. The Africa Graduate Education Taskforce was appointed in 2001. The General Conference voted to establish the institution in 2003. The Letter of Interim Authority came in 2008. The Charter followed in March 2013. Fifteen graduation ceremonies later, 1,192 alumni later, AUA turns its eyes toward what it is still becoming.

The recessional that closed Sunday’s ceremony — Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary — rang out over Advent Hill, carrying the sound of something that has been faithfully built, and something that, under new leadership, is still being built.

 

“For Africa, For the Church, and For Christ”: AUA Celebrates 15th Graduation

There is a particular kind of joy that settles over a campus when it marks a milestone that is both historical and deeply personal. That is what Advent Hill felt like this past weekend.

From Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, the Adventist University of Africa (AUA) hosted three days of worship, celebration, and institutional renewal — its 15th Graduation Ceremony, combined with the Installation of Professor Ademola S. Tayo as the 4th Vice Chancellor. Held at the Simeon Nyachae Auditorium, the weekend drew church leaders representing the General Conference and three SDA African Divisions, government officials, fellow Vice Chancellors, faculty, alumni, students, and the proud families who have walked every step of this journey alongside their graduates.

The theme chosen by the graduating class captured both the spirit of the weekend and the mission of the institution: “Rooted in Christ, Empowered for Service.”

Friday Evening: Setting the Heart Right

The weekend opened on Friday, June 26, with a Consecration Service at 7:00 p.m. Before anything else — before the ceremony, the gowns, the handshakes and photographs — the graduates gathered to do what Adventist education has always asked them to do first: turn toward God.

Dr. Jongimpi Papu, Associate Ministerial Secretary of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and Editor of Ministry Magazine, preached the Consecration Sermon, Why Service Matters. A scholar-practitioner in missiology and church leadership, Dr. Papu brought both intellectual rigour and pastoral warmth to a gathering that needed both. Graduating students from Angola provided special music — a reminder of how far the AUA community stretches across the continent.

The Chaplain of the Eagle Graduating Class, Godfred Kwesi Ataburo, led the class response. It was a fitting beginning — unhurried, worshipful, and pointed squarely at the reason any of them were there.

Saturday: A Full Sabbath on Advent Hill

Sabbath, June 27 unfolded in three movements, each distinct in character.

The Baccalaureate Service opened with processional music and the Doxology. Dr. Moses Ndimukika Maka, Executive Secretary of the East-Central Africa Division — a man who has himself given over 32 years to the Seventh-day Adventist Church — delivered the Baccalaureate sermon. His title echoed the class theme: “Rooted in Christ, Empowered for Service.” 

The Tribute Service belonged entirely to the students. One by one, representatives from the graduating class took the podium to honour the people who made their education possible. Tributes were offered to families and spouses, to faculty and staff, to the university itself, and to sponsors. A class gift was presented, roses distributed, and the room filled with the kind of gratitude that does not easily find its way into formal speeches — but found its way fully into this one.

 

The Commencement Service: On Roots, Fruits, and Eternity

The installation gave way seamlessly to the Commencement Service, and it was Dr. Robert Osei-Bonsu — Council Chair, General Vice-President of the General Conference, former AUA faculty member, and former Dean of the Theological Seminary — who stood to preach. He began by telling the graduates something simple and true: “This university is not distant to me. It is close to my heart.” He had watched some of the faces in front of him arrive as students. Now he was sending them forth.

He anchored his address in Colossians 2:6-7 and built from it a sustained, searching meditation on what it truly means to be rooted.

“A tree does not survive because of what everybody sees,” he said. “It survives because of what almost nobody sees. Its strength lies beneath the surface. So it is with a Christian graduate. Your degree will be visible. Your title will be visible. Your regalia today is visible. But what will preserve you through temptation, pressure, disappointment, and even success itself — is not what is on the surface. It is what is underground. It is the depth of your walk with God.”

He named the defining spiritual danger of this age not as ignorance, but as rootlessness. “We live in a time when people can be informed but are not transformed. People may be connected but not grounded. People may be visible but not trustworthy. We can learn to build platforms before we learn to build character. We can master methods before we submit to the Master. But the gospel reverses that order. In the kingdom of God, inward formation comes before enduring public usefulness. Christ first, then calling. Christ first, then competence. Christ first, then credibility.”

Drawing from seasons, rivers, the morning sun, and the winter trees he had watched burst back to life in spring, he counselled the graduates against impatience and anxious ambition. He spoke from personal experience: there were seasons in his own ministry when doors he expected to open did not open. “The silence of a closed door is not the absence of God,” he said. “Human beings may frustrate a process, but they cannot overturn a purpose whose time has come in the will of God. Don’t rush. Be in God’s purpose.”

On the class motto — Truth, Service, Eternity — he lingered with intention. “Truth in an age of confusion is an act of discipleship,” he said. “It means intellectual honesty, moral clarity, reverence for Scripture, and respect for evidence. Jesus did not merely teach truth — He declared, I am the truth. Therefore, to live truthfully is to live Christ’s word.” On service: “Service is theology made visible. Service is love with hands and feet. If Christ washes feet, no work done in His spirit is beneath your dignity. If Christ touched lepers, no human pain should be unworthy of your attention. The more educated you become, the more accessible you should be to those who need wisdom, compassion, and help.” And on eternity: “We live in a world obsessed with immediacy — instant results, instant fame, instant visibility. Adventist education refuses to imprison human life within the present moment. The eternal perspective does not make us careless about the present. It makes us faithful in it.”

His pastoral charge to the graduates was the most personal moment of the entire weekend:

“Stay rooted when you are praised. Stay rooted when you are opposed. Stay rooted when success tempts you to self-sufficiency. Stay rooted when failure tempts you to despair. Remain in Christ when you enter the office. Remain in Christ when you enter the classroom, the boardroom, the village, the hospital, the pulpit, the research lab, the digital space, or the mission field. Do not separate devotion from vocation. Do not separate excellence from holiness.”

He closed with a prayer for the record that AUA’s Class of 2026 will leave behind them: “My prayer is that when history tells the story of this graduating class, it will not simply say you were intelligent — it will say you were anchored. It will not simply say you were accomplished — it will say you were faithful. It will not simply say you were admired — it will say you reflected Jesus Christ in all aspects of your life.”

Dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies Dr. Lossan Bonde and Dean of the Theological Seminary Dr. Feliks Ponyatovskiy then presented their candidates. Chancellor Akombwa conferred the degrees, and Prof. Tayo — in one of his first official acts as installed Vice Chancellor — presented degrees alongside Registrar Samson Otieno Ooko.

Student Excellence Awards were announced by Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr. Moses Mpiima Kibirango. Class President Harriet Osaretin Ikhane delivered the Class Response, and the new alumni were inducted into the AUA Alumni Association by its President, Dr. Gerald Nyarega Mochoge.

The Eagle Graduating Class of 2026

The Eagle Graduating Class of 2026 chose their identity with care. Their class name evokes Isaiah 40:31 — *”Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles.”* Their motto, Truth, Service, Eternity, speaks of what their time at AUA was meant to cultivate. Their colours — Regal Blue and Celestial Grey — carry meaning their own Vice Chancellor unpacked for them: Regal Blue for authority, wisdom, trust, and excellence; Celestial Grey for balance, calmness, maturity, and the sophistication needed to navigate a complex world with grace.

Graduates in the Class of 2026 came from across the African continent: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Their doctoral dissertations touched some of the Church’s most pressing questions: tithing behaviour and trust in Rwanda; digital maturity and organisational resilience among Adventist self-supporting ministries in Kenya; youth outreach strategies in South Sudan; faith-based fundraising in Botswana; women as mission mobilizers in Nigeria; and a systematic theology inquiry into divine love, human freedom, and the universal salvific will of God.

The 2026 class brings AUA’s cumulative total to 1,192 graduates — alumni now serving in churches, institutions, health systems, and communities across Africa and the world.

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Strengthening AUA’s Financial Sustainability and Academic Excellence

Dr Sheron Ndhlovu, incoming DVC Finance, outlines her focus on strengthening AUA’s financial and operational systems, enhancing infrastructure, and promoting financial stewardship. Her aim is to support academic excellence, ensure programme accessibility, and build a sustainable, accountable university aligned with its mission and values.

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Embracing a New Era: Message from the Incoming DVC Academics

The incoming Deputy Vice-Chancellor of AUA shares his vision for strengthening postgraduate programmes, research, digital learning, and quality assurance, with a focus on faith-integrated scholarship and leadership development. He emphasises collaboration, innovation, and mission-driven growth to impact Africa and the world.

Website Ademola Tayo

Adventist University of Africa Announces New Leadership for the 2026-2030 Quinquennial

Adventist University of Africa has appointed Professor Ademola Stephen Tayo as Vice-Chancellor for 2026-2030, bringing extensive leadership experience from Nigeria. He will be joined by Associate Professor Moses Kibirango and Dr. Sheron Ndhlovu as Deputy Vice-Chancellor- Financial Administration. The appointments reinforce AUA’s commitment to faith-based leadership, academic excellence, and serving society through Christ-centered education.

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The Launch of Scholarly Work on Ellen G. White’s Legacy in Africa

The Adventist University of Africa celebrated the launch of Dr. Gabriel Masfa’s new book, “The Legacy of Ellen G. White in Africa.” Attendees praised her influence on theology, health, and social justice. The event highlighted her lasting impact on African Adventism and encouraged ongoing research, inspiring deeper engagement with her legacy across the continent.