Joy Kwesiga

Joy Constance Kwesiga is a Ugandan academic, academic administrator, gender specialist, and community activist. She is the vice chancellor of Kabale University, a public institution of higher education in Uganda and accredited by the Uganda National Council for Higher Education in 2005.

She was born in Kabale District, Western Region of Uganda in 1943. She is the daughter of Andrew Mafigiri, a member of the Angican Church laity, and Esteri Mafigiri, a housewife. She attended Kabale Girls' Junior Boarding School for her elementary school. She then transferred to Gayaza High School for her O-Level and A-Level education. In 1964, she entered the University of East Africa at Makerere, graduating in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography. In 1979, she comoleted the postgraduate diploma program in public administration at the Uganda Institute of Public Administration (now the Uganda Management Institute). Her Master of Arts in higher education and Doctor of Philosophy in education and gender issues were obtained from the University of London in 1987 and 1993, respectively.

Following her graduation from the University of East Africa in 1967, she stayed on, working as an executive secretary in the university administration. By 1994, she had risen to serve as the deputy registrar for postgraduate studies. Between 1995 and 1998, she served as the head of the Department of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University. From 1998 until 2001, she was the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Makerere University. In 2001, she was appointed vice chancellor of Kabale University.