UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Wanjiru Kareithi, a postdoctoral scholar in the College of Arts and Architecture’s Office of Access and Equity (OAE), has been honored by the Penn State Postdoctoral Society with the 2026 Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar Award in Arts, Humanities and Education for her research and work centered on equitable and inclusive leadership.
Kareithi is an educator, researcher and strategist with expertise in law, policy and cross-sector partnerships. For more than a decade, she has led collaborations across academia, industry and policy, driving innovation and real-world impact.
Kareithi came to Penn State in 2023 and holds courtesy affiliations in the College of Liberal Arts’ African Studies Program, the Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) and Penn State Dickinson Law.
At Penn State, and throughout her career, she has designed dynamic learning experiences that equip students and professionals with critical skills for leadership and problem-solving while advancing effective leadership through capacity-building and institutional partnerships.
“Being selected as an outstanding postdoctoral scholar means a great deal to me. It affirms that the work that I have been carrying out is impactful, and it encourages me to work even more diligently towards lasting change, not just within the colleges and university, but in the world beyond them,” Kareithi said. “I am deeply grateful that the College of Arts and Architecture has fully supported my endeavors and continues to do so.”
Karethi’s postdoc work at Penn State is organized around three connected strands: academic, programmatic and advisory. On the academic side, she conducts research on Black women's leadership in higher education, working to bridge contextual differences and identify models of feminist leadership that support women’s agency, equity and decolonization in academia globally. As an educator, she teaches a course in WGSS, the College of Arts and Architecture, and a special topics course within Penn State Dickinson Law.
Programmatically, she worked closely with Folayemi Wilson, former associate dean of access and equity in Arts and Architecture’s OAE, helping to develop and implement new programs and interventions for needs identified in the college.
In an advisory role, she served the student organization Helping Hearts at University Park and has mentored several students across the U.S. and African Diaspora.
“Dr. Kareithi is a model postdoctoral scholar. She has taken full advantage of this postdoctoral opportunity in her scholarship, work with our college, and service to the college, university and greater national and international community,” Wilson said. “She has not been afraid to reach beyond our college to find additional mentors to guide her path, and she has forged constructive relationships with other postdocs in other disciplines and colleges.”