Professor William Rugumamu
Title: Professor, Department of Geography
Company/Organization: University of Dar es Salaam
Program: Partners for International Education and Training (PIET)
Degree: Short-Term Training
Year Completed: 1994
Professor William Rugumamu is currently a Professor of Geography at the University of Dar es Salaam. He started lecturing at the University as a Tutorial Assistant in 1974 and held various teaching and lecturer positions throughout his 34 year career. He has taught and conducted research on a range of topics, including environmental resources and disaster management, land evaluation and planning, and sustainable development.
Professor Rugumamu holds bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Dar es Salaam. He also earned a master's of science degree in soil science from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, specializing in land evaluation. He has taken several post-graduate short-term training courses, including Emergency Settlement Planning at University of Wisconsin in the United States in 1996 and Remote Sensing for Disaster Management, United Nations European Space Agency in Vienna in 1995. He also received a scholarship under AAI's Partners for International Education and Training (PIET) to undertake a short-term environmental studies fellowship at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C in 1994.
Professor Rugumamu has had numerous articles and research papers published throughout his career. In addition, he has worked with a number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as well as Tanzanian Government and United Nations agencies on a number of sustainable development and refugee-focused projects, such as his work on the reconstruction and development of the refugee affected areas of the Kigoma Region of Tanzania in coordination with the Prime Minister's Office and the UN Development Programme.
In 2000, Professor Rugumamu was presented with the Environmental Leadership Award by The Eastern Africa Environmental Network in Kenya for his dedication and research in the field of environmental studies.
Professor Rugumamu is married and lives with his wife and three children in Tanzania.