Nationwide— Professorships at Oxford University have been awarded to Patricia Kingori, 28, who is originally from Kenya. This makes her the university’s youngest Black woman to get tenure at the school, which has been around for more than a thousand years.
An international sociologist, Kingori investigates how frontline employees deal with their daily ethical dilemmas in an everyday setting. In acknowledgment of “the excellence and global effect of her academia research and beyond,” she has been named to the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities at Oxford, according to the university’s statement.
Kingori studied at Oxford University for eight years, during which time she achieved several notable achievements. She had obtained competitive funding awards, published remarkable publications, supervised several DPhil candidates, and taught hundreds of students throughout her time at the University of Oxford.
Before it, Kingori’s trip had not been without its bumps. The Wellcome Doctoral Studentship that she won to fund her Ph.D. at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine came just a few months after she had given birth to her first child.
For a year, she was required to file for maternity leave before traveling to Kenya with her family to conduct research. Kenya was undergoing civil instability at the time, and Kingori, who was expecting her second child, was forced to flee the country due to the situation. She was able to return after ten months to complete her data collection with the assistance of two new supervisors, and she did it successfully.
When Kingori finally finished her doctoral studies, she took advantage of a Wellcome Research Fellowship to conduct postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford’s Ethox Centre. During this period, Kingori has progressed from being a research lecturer to an associate professor in only five years.
“Patricia has climbed mountains and cracked numerous glass ceilings to achieve this historic feat,” said Jan Royall, the head baroness of Oxford’s Somerville College, who congratulated Patricia on her accomplishment. It is said that she is a woman of firsts and a trailblazer in the purest sense of the word in Somerville. However, I am confident that when Patricia leads with such drive, unflagging good humor, and brilliant leadership, others will follow.”
