Professor Joe Lugalla (AKU-EP in 2021)

Professor Joe Lugalla joined the Aga Khan University in 2015, appointed as Professor and Dean of Aga Khan University's Institute for Educational Development, East Africa (IED, EA). He retired in 2021 and passed away peacefully on July 25, 2023, after battling a long and serious illness.

Prof. Lugalla, or “Joe" as he preferred to be called, was born and raised in Tanzania.  Initially trained as a teacher, he taught in both elementary and secondary schools before returning to study at the University of Dar es Salaam in 1979 where earned a BA (Honors) in Sociology and an MA in Sociology/Anthropology.  He completed a PhD in Social Sciences from  the University of Bremen in the Federal Republic of Germany and a post-doctoral diploma in higher education and international development at the University of Kassel in Germany.  In 1991, Dr. Lugalla returned to the University of Dar es Salaam to serve as Head of the Department of Sociology.  In 1993-94 he took up a Carnegie Fellowship in Health and Behaviour Research in East Africa in Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. In 1994 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) where he remained until 2014, rising to Professor in 2004 and Head of the department in 2007. 

Professor Lugalla's areas of interest in research, teaching, and publishing include anthropology and sociology of development, urban sociology and anthropology, medical sociology and medical anthropology.  Besides publishing a variety of articles in international journals, Professor Lugalla has either authored/co-authored or co-edited numerous books including:  Crisis, Urbanization and Urban Poverty in Tanzania: A Study of Urban Poverty and Survival Politics, Adjustments and Poverty in Tanzania, Poverty, AIDS and Street Children in East Africa, Urban Life & Street Children's Health: Children's Accounts of Urban Hardships & Violence in Tanzania, Social Change and Health in Tanzania, Education in Tanzania in the Era of Globalization, and Maximizing Educational Change - Rethinking Teacher Education.

A former student of UNH captured the character of Professor Lugalla at the time of his retirement from UNH.  She quoted the colleague and department chair Meghan Howey:  “Joe's work has always been very personal, driven by an intense passion to improve the lives of people in his home country…  Joe's passion for improving the lives of others is contagious," says Howey. Lugalla has been a student magnet — teaching, mentoring and transforming the thinking of hundreds, even thousands, of students. He challenged them to look at the world anew. His office was "constantly abuzz" with students inspired by him to get involved in international health, development and social justice. After meeting Lugalla, they wanted to make a difference in the world."

Known for his strong commitment and support of his faculty, he also had a major role supporting AKU engagement within Tanzania including in his role as the Associate Vice-Provost.  Dr Lugalla developed and nurtured successful relations with the Government of Tanzania and its agencies, including the Tanzanian Commission for Universities (TCU), the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, as well as the President's Office, and other members of Regional Administration and Local Government. 

Professor Lugalla was also a fierce proponent of AKU community engagement.  Chief among his numerous activities was the expansion of the Reading Clubs Project, which now works in eight regions in Tanzania (Dodoma, Arusha, Morogoro, Iringa, Singida, Manyara, Dar es Salaam and Mtwara).