Dr Admasu Tsegaye: AAU’s 10th president

Dr Admasu Tsegaye holds a BSc degree from Alemaya College of Agriculture and MSc and PhD degrees in Crop Ecology and Resource Conservation from Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Dr. Admasu has also participated in several international trainings in higher education including Transforming Tertiary Education for Innovation and Competitiveness, World Bank Institute Washington, DC, USA; Management of Higher Education Institutions, Galilee College, Israel; Change Agendas in Higher Education Institutions, Center for International Cooperation-Vrije University Amsterdam; and Higher Education Management Training, University of Warwick.

Dr Admasu started his research career in 1984 as an Assistant Research Officer at
the Institute of Agricultural Research in Hawassa. He joined the Awassa College of Agriculture (now Hawassa University) in1986 as a full-time faculty member and became Assistant Professor in May 2002 and Associate Professor in September 2007. While at Hawassa University, he taught courses in both undergraduate and graduate programs and supervised numerous PhD and MSc students. He has also supervised graduate students at Haromaya University and other universities abroad.

In addition to his research and teaching career, he has served in numerous administrative positions, including Academic Program Officer from September 2002 to May 2003, NORAD project coordinator from July 2002 to January 2011, Vice President for Administration and Development from January 2004 to July 2005, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research from July 2005 to January 2008, and President from January 9, 2008 to March 10, 2011. He also served as chairperson of several committees such as the Strategic Planning and BPR committee that spearheaded reform at Hawassa University, transforming the university into one of the leading higher learning institutions in the country. Dr Admasu is also actively involved in the country’s effort to produce educated and competent personnel to assist the country achieve its economic transformation. He is currently a member of Dilla and Hawassa University Governing Board, the National Staff Development Committee and National Curriculum Review Committee.  Recently, he received the Excellence and Distinguished  Leadership Award from the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Regional State and Hawassa University in recognition of his outstanding leadership and services to education.

Dr. Admasu holds several international higher education and research positions.  He is the country representative of Plant Resources of Tropical Africa (PROTA), Director of Consortium of African US- Educators, and project leader and country representative of Co-Innovation for Quality in Agri-food Chains (CoQA). He has traveled extensively, and has participated in research and partnership visits to a number of universities, including Free University of Amsterdam, Maastricht University, Twentee University, Earth University, University of British Colombia, Kent University, Oxford University, Bern University, Giesseen University, Hohenhiem University, Oklahoma University, Maryland University, Uppsala University, Oslo University, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Kenyatta University, Sokaine Agricultural University, KTH, Sweden and Wits University amongst many others.

Dr. Admasu has published extensively in a wide range of distinguished international journals (more than 18 journal publications). He has published in Field Crops Research, Journal of Agronomy, Crop Science, Experimental Agriculture, Annals of Applied Biology, J. Essent. Oil Res., Gent Resource Crop Evol., Herditas, Netherlands Journal of Agriculture, ScienceDirect and African Journal of Biotechnology. His research and journal articles focus on various aspects of biodiversity, genetic diversity and physiology of indigenous crops like korarima, enset and amochi. He has also presented several professional papers, conducted a variety of research trainings, written research manuals and book chapters. He is currently the associate editor of the Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science and received a prestigious Fulbright African Research Scholar Award for the 2011-2012 academic years.

Dr Admasu enjoys playing basketball, and though he might not be a Michael Jordan, he is a good sprinter. He is married and a father of two teenage girls, Hanna, 17 and Ruth, 14 year old. 

For more information, contact:

Communications Office,

Office of the President

Addis Ababa University

Tel: 251 111 239705

Email: commoffice@aau.edu.et