More Than a Title: Dr. Faith Ngure’s Journey of Purpose and Perseverance.
For many postgraduate students, earning a PhD can feel like a distant dream. The journey requires patience, discipline, long hours of research and the resilience to keep going even when progress seems slow. For Dr. Faith Ngure, the journey to earning a PhD in Mass Communication from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) became a defining experience of growth, purpose and perseverance.
Driven by a desire to contribute to knowledge and address real communication challenges, Dr. Ngure pursued doctoral research on the effects of COVID-19 television messages on vaccine adoption behavior among youths in Kiambu County.
Her study sought to understand how television messaging influenced people’s decisions about vaccination and highlighted the importance of how information is framed, presented and received.
The journey, however, was far from easy. Balancing research with professional and personal responsibilities meant navigating periods of exhaustion, delays, extensive revisions and moments when the work felt overwhelming. Instead of giving up, she learned to pause, regroup and take the journey one step at a time.
“Sometimes you simply need to pause, regroup and continue. Discipline, planning and the willingness to accept constructive feedback has helped me maintain momentum,” Dr. Ngure reflects.
Her supervisors; Principal Karen Campus, Prof. Hellen Mberia and Head of Department(HOD) Public Health MKU, Dr. Joseph Muchiri, provided guidance and mentorship, while her husband, Paul, offered unwavering encouragement and support. Family, colleagues, mentors and friends also became an important part of her support system.
Her academic journey has also shaped her professional leadership. Dr. Ngure currently serves as the Head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Mount Kenya University(MKU), where she draws on the lessons gained through her postgraduate experience to mentor students and work with colleagues.
As journalism continues to evolve through digital media and artificial intelligence, she believes communication students must develop skills in digital journalism, data journalism, multimedia storytelling, social media, fact-checking and AI. However, she emphasizes that technology must be accompanied by accuracy, ethics, verification, fairness and critical thinking.
For Dr. Ngure, the PhD represents more than an academic qualification. It represents resilience, growth and responsibility, as well as an opportunity to use knowledge to contribute to society and mentor others.
Her message to students considering postgraduate studies is simple: begin, even when the entire journey is not yet clear. You do not have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
And to the person she was when she began her PhD, she would say: “Trust the process, stay focused and do not give up. You are capable.”
Her story is a reminder that meaningful achievements are built one step at a time. The PhD may be a title, but for Dr. Faith Ngure, it is ultimately a testament to perseverance and a renewed responsibility to use knowledge to make a difference.
