UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Graduate School alumna Judi Wangalwa Wakhungu is the recipient of the 2022 Graduate School Alumni Society Humanitarian Award. The award recognizes Penn State graduate alumni who have made a positive societal impact on the welfare of humankind beyond the responsibilities of one’s profession. One recipient is honored annually.
Since earning a doctoral degree in energy resources management from Penn State in 1993, Wakhungu has focused skills and knowledge gleaned during her doctoral education to improving the lives of others.
After graduation, she spent several years at Penn State as associate professor, science, technology, and society, and founding director of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Institute. It is fitting she led an institute focused on trailblazing women, as she is a woman of “firsts.” She was the first woman geologist in the Ministry of Energy and Regional Development in Kenya; the first female petroleum geologist to serve in the National Oil Corporation of Kenya; and the first woman faculty member in the Department of Geology at the University of Nairobi.
After leaving Penn State, she returned to Kenya and served as the country’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources where she was responsible for ensuring good governance in the protection, restoration, conservation and management of the environment and natural resources. She made evidence-based science policy the cornerstone of her agenda. Her accomplishments include implementing the Climate Change Act, the Water Act, and facilitating the country’s first nation-wide ban on single-use plastic polythene bags.
In 2018, Wakhungu was appointed Ambassador of Kenya to the French Republic, Portugal, Serbia, Monaco, and the Holy See. In this diplomatic capacity, she is Kenya’s highest-ranking representative with responsibility for stewarding negotiations and delivering bi-lateral messages on behalf of Kenya. Her work centers on broad issues of trade, peace and security, and environmental issues.
In 2016, Wakhungu captured global headlines when she championed the burning of Kenya’s entire stockpile of ivory and rhino horns. She is a member of the Giants Club, which brings visionary leaders together to support the protection of elephants.
Wakhungu was formally recognized during the Graduate School Alumni Recognition Ceremony on March 26, at the Penn Stater.