John Ngunjiri

John Ngunjiri comes from a long line of passionate educators. His father, Godfrey Ngunjiri, was a professor of agricultural and mechanical engineering at Egerton University in Kenya. He came to the United States for college studies, and two Fulbright scholarships and three degrees later, the elder Ngunjiri returned to Kenya to continue teaching and eventually become founding dean for the Egerton University faculty of engineering and technology.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Susan Ngunjiri, John’s wife, shares a similar heritage. Her mother, Anna Gitau, was a primary school educator in the city of Nakuru, Kenya.

After the passing of these two influential family members, the Ngunjiris felt the best way to honor their parents was to encourage others in the pursuit of education. The Godfrey Ngunjiri & Anna Gitau Memorial Endowed Scholarship for the benefit of the Law Center at the University of Houston was born.

The Ngunjiri feel that they are returning the favor of funding education.

“I have a duty to give back, as l am a product of scholarships and education support, from my undergraduate days at Kansas State, graduate school at Cornell, UHLC and former employer ExxonMobil,” he said.

The scholarships he received opened doors to both theoretical study and hands-on practical work. As a UH Law student, Ngunjiri served an externship at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. He was the managing editor for the Houston Journal of Health Law and Policy, which helped him learn by doing and gave him glimpses of how real-world attorneys get work done.

While a student at UH Law Center, Ngunjiri’s commitment to family was tested when his family went through difficult times. His father faced terminal illness, with treatment taking place in India, USA and Kenya. During this time, Ngunjiri’s professors at the UH Law Center permitted him to continue his studies virtually. Ngunjiri feels that the strong network of support at the UH Law Center became his new family when he was in need.

“They stepped up and allowed me to continue my studies while being available to my parents,” said Ngunjiri.

If you ask him about his years at UH Law Center, Ngunjiri will tell you that they were packed with the best of the best.

“I had a lot of wonderful courses at UHLC, including the Texas Oil and Gas Law with Adjunct Professor Jasper Mason, Real Property with Professor Kellen Zale, Trans-National Arbitration and Petropolitics with Professor Julian Cardenas Garcia, Constitutional Law with Professor Renee Knake Jefferson and Street Law with Professor Ellen Marrus,” he said.

Ngunjiri says the most valuable course he took was Street Law. “Teaching high school seniors the basics of law — from court procedures, how laws are made, disputes resolution methods, criminal law, torts, grassroot and national elections processes, lobbying, to the importance of the rule of law and good citizenship — all opened my eyes to why we must, as attorneys, work hard to ensure a population that is well-versed in basic rule of law tenets, which in turn helps in making reasonable and rational decisions in matters that affect our day-to-day lives,” Ngunjiri said.

This experience showed him the impact of, and need for, civic and legal education in the community, and he now believes it is this generation’s turn to make a difference in the lives of the next generation of students.

“We are called upon to leave the world a better place,” Ngunjiri said. “And giving to enable others to pursue their dreams is but one small way to enhance and achieve this mission to humanity.”