Simon Gikandi
James Ogude
Ndirangu Wachanga
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Wanjiku wa Ngũgĩ
Mumbi wa Ngũgĩ
Ndũcũ wa Ngũgĩ
Nyambura Sallinen
Wangũi wa Goro
Karen Lawrence
Colette LaBouff
Angela Davis
Adriana Johnson
Mukul Kumar
Carla Wilson
Paa Kwesi-Heto
Akosua Adomako Ampofo
Chimee Adịọha
Baba Badji
Jaye Austin Williams
Cilas Kemedjio
Anindo Marshall
Kwame Rĩgĩĩ
Nii Armah Sowah
Sela Adjei
Victor Nani Agbeli
Mumbi Ngũgĩ
Fred Moten
Jimmy Centeno
Idza Luhumyo
Bwesigye Bwa-Mwesigire
Rah Hite
Tyrus Miller
Jane O. Newman
Jerry Lee
Ketu Katrak
Gabriele Schwab
David Theo Goldberg
Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan
Cecelia Lynch
S. Ama Wray
Munyao Kilolo
Glaydah Namukasa
Joel Veenstra










Karen Lawrence





Karen R. Lawrence assumed her current position as the ninth president of The Huntington in 2018, following a decade as president at Sarah Lawrence College. This marks her return to Southern California, where she led the School of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine, as its dean from 1998 to 2007. Throughout her career, as scholar, teacher, and administrative leader, she has been a forceful advocate for the liberal arts.

As Dean of Humanities, Lawrence championed the creation of the International Center for Writing and Translation in 2002, brainstorming with the center’s major donor, UC Irvine alumnus Glenn Schaeffer, and UCI faculty to craft and support the Center’s mission, establishing its illustrious advisory and executive boards, and recruiting its distinguished inaugural director, Ngugi wa Thiong’o. 

Overseeing 207 acres, 600 staff, and 1.1 M visitors annually at The Huntington, Lawrence has fostered greater access to its three world-renowned collections—library, art, and botanical gardens—shepherded major acquisitions; enhanced the Huntington Research Fellowship program; and expanded educational programming onsite and online. She has initiated transformative capital projects, including an 83,000 square-foot new Library/Art building and renovated Main Exhibition Hall, and a residential housing complex on campus for visiting Research fellows.

President Lawrence is a renowned English and Irish literature scholar who has written widely on 20th-century literature, particularly on the work of James Joyce; women and travel; experimental writing; and higher education.





The Celebration of the Life and Work of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is made possible through the support of the:

UCI Office of the Chancellor
Dean of the School of the Arts
Dean of the School of Humanities
Dean of the School of Social Sciences
Humanities Center
International Center for Writing and Translation
UCI Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality
Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies
Office of Inclusive Excellence
UCI Illuminations: The Chancellor's Arts & Culture Initiative
Alex Glasser The Center for the Power of Music and Social Change
Department of Anthropology
Department of Comparative Literature
Department of Drama
Department of English
Department of Dance

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Organized by:

Adriana Johnson
Jane O. Newman
Gabriele Schwab
Ketu Katrak
Jerry Lee
Cecelia Lynch
S. Ama Wray