By Harold Ayodo
She came to the limelight after winning a seat in the male dominated Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) six years ago.
Dr Judith Atieno Miguda-Attyang has since been devoted to academia and community development.
The former Uasu national treasurer champions gender rights and development of rural women.
She is the chairperson in the Department of Communication and Media Technology at Maseno University and holder of three post-graduate degrees, two Masters and a Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD).
It was during her reign that the organisation of scholars forced the Government to negotiation over good pay.
Head of department
Miguda-Attyang, however, did not defend her seat after her term ended as she was pursuing her PhD and was later appointed to head a department.
"I have always demanded that the voice of women must be heard in matters of development, from scholarships to the village," says the mother of four. Dr Miguda-Attyang, the chairperson of the Department of Communication and Media Technology at Maseno University. [PHOTO: JAMES KEYI /STANDARD]
Her struggle has prepared her for tougher battles in development.
The scholar says teaching is her passion, arguing she carries out her responsibilities with conviction. "I have come along way since my days as a pupil at Dr Krapf Primary School in Nairobi in the 1960s," she recalls.
Miguda-Attyang says she was the only woman lecturer for almost a decade in the Department of English at Maseno in the 1990s.
Most holders PhD, a prerequisite for promotion at the institution, were male. She acquired a PhD in 2003.
She also had to publish widely to fit university benchmarks for promotion.
"It is not easy balancing between scholarship, domestic and roles of community development," she says.
Miguda-Attyang says she has unfinished business arguing being an Associate Professor is her immediate ambition.
Ascending the academic ladder called for sacrifices, especially her domestic roles as both a wife and mother.
"I got my first scholarship to pursue Masters of Arts at the University of Birmingham in the UK in 1990," she says.
Miguda-Attyang was toying with the idea of remaining at home to look after her little children when her husband came to the rescue.
Another scholarship for a PhD came her way when her last born was three years old before her husband again volunteered to ‘baby sit’. The thumbs up from her husband to feather her academic cap, however, did not mean she cuts communication.
"I kept in touch with developments in the house by telephone calls, including issuing directions on how food should be prepared," Miguda-Attyang says.
The former games captain at Kenya High School, Nairobi, believes her father had a role in making her what she is.
"I was the first born in a family of six daughters before our elder brother was born…my father, a pharmacist, ensured we went to school," she says.
She never looked at herself as a woman until her male classmates in primary school started bullying the girls.
Air hostess
"I stood for the girls and ensured boys who snatched our pencils brought them back, that was how they (boys) started respecting us," she says.
Her ambition as a pupil in lower primary was to be an air hostess before she nursed ambitions of being a lawyer in high school.
"I was called to study Bachelor of Education at the University of Nairobi where I graduated in 1978," Miguda-Attyang says.
Her leadership responsibilities date back to her days as a primary school pupil where she was a prefect. Miguda-Attyang at one time represented the national team in netball and the University of Nairobi in swimming. She set an example to her peers, balancing between academic excellence and co-curricular activities.
She confesses the hardest part of growing up as a girl was lack of counsellors to guide on careers.
"Most professional careers were a preserve of men apart from teaching and nursing where few women were," she says.
The scholar argues that women today are advantaged.
"They can get sponsorships to study professional courses," Miguda-Attyang says.
Miguda-Attyang, whose role model is Nobel Laureate Prof Wangari Maathai, says success of her students is also her satisfaction.
"I was a high school teacher from1978 and left in 1989 as the head of English department at Kipsigis Girls High School," she says.
She moved to Maseno University as a senior lecturer before she enrolled for her PhD, an achievement that she treasures.
Miguda-Attyang continued leaving a blaze on her trail as head of the Department of Communication and Media Technology at Maseno.
"We have come up with a Masters and PhD programme at the department awaiting approval of the Senate," she says.
Modern media equipment for practical and hands on instruction and construction of a media centre at the public university are almost through.
Rural girls
"Maseno University now has a radio transmitter. We also have linkages with universities abroad," Miguda-Attyang says.
She wants the Government to step up sensitisation of the importance of education to rural girls arguing they could revamp the economy.
"Girls growing up in urban areas are better off as they watch in the media successful women worth emulating compared to their rural counterparts," she says.
The scholar says containing the number of under-age pregnancies could translate into more women professionals.
"The girl child can compete well. Some overcome challenges to the top and others should be encouraged," Miguda-Attyang says.