Humanities & Social Sciences
CHUSS Creates Special Journal Issues to Expedite Graduate Publication
Makerere University College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS) through her Center of Excellence in Research, Teaching and Learning (CERTL) has partnered with the Mawazo and Journal of Languages, Literature and Communication to expedite graduate publications.
This initiative funded by Andrew Mellon Foundation is aimed at nurturing the next generation of academics to excel and become university ambassadors.
To kick start this intervention, the college organised the Graduate Research Writing and Mentorship Workshop held on 11th December 2023 at Fairway Hotel in Kampala that brought together senior academics and over 30 graduate students.
The workshop answers a particular need for graduate studies at Makerere University where PhD students are required to have published at least two articles before they graduate.
CHUSS Projects Coordinator Dr. Edgar Nabutanyi observed that, publishing tends to be one of the challenges that graduate students face.
Noting that the gestation period of a journal article normally takes between two and three years, Nabutanyi said, by the time a student has enough material to draft a journal article, he or she would be in the second or third year of study meaning that, the student has only one year, in which to draft an article but also complete the thesis.
“This calls for special intervention and this is what the college is doing with these graduate research writing and mentorship workshop, to create a special vehicle, in this case, a special issue which can be managed to get the article out within the specified time
Mawazo and the Journal of Languages, Literature and Communication have partnered with the college to create this vehicle to expedite publication of the graduate students”, The don explained
Dr. Nabutanyi reported that although the original idea was for PhD students only, the college considered and expanded the scope to include masters’ students as the next generation of PhD candidates.
“We hope that this intervention is going to lay a foundation for their future life in the academy. We are creating two special issues: A special issue of Mawazo and another one special of the Journal of Languages, Literature and Communication. These special issues will have someone in charge referred to as the Publishing editor”, Nabutanyi stated.
For the Mawazo stream, Dr. Edward Kaweesi is going to be the Publishing editor while for the Journal of Languages, Literature and Communication, Dr. Linda Nakalawa will be the publishing editor. Dr.Edward Kawesi and Dr. Linda Nakalawa pledged to deliver on this assignment.
The college sent out the call for abstracts including the motivation for inclusion.
On 11th December, 2023 a plenary workshop was hosted at Fairway Hotel in Kampala in where discussions on what goes into a journal article were presented by editors. The journal editors and other facilitators also talked about what journals require and the dos and don’ts of writing a journal article.
A session was dedicated for a-one-on-one students discussions with the editors. Senior academics looked at students’ abstracts and what they were proposing to write about.
After the workshop feedback, students are expected to go back and write the articles and thereafter, they will be allocated to the publishing editors for details.
“This is work in progress and the first we are trying. We may make adjustments and mistakes but we are hopeful that by 30th August, 2024 the articles will be out for launching the special issues at that time”, Nabutanyi pledged.
The Director CERTL Prof. Andrew Elias State said, the college is graced with this wonderful initiative to be funded by Andrew Mellon Foundation.
State noted that, Makerere has gone through changes, and changes of not its own making, but world makings for instance, the implementation of new neoliberal policies which requires that Makerere University scales down.
Highlighting the recruitment ban and the freezing of the positions of teaching assistants which were training grounds for many of the renown professors now, Prof. State observed that the university opened up to many people but with unforeseeable consequences.
“So we went for many numbers but we are not able to handle. It means that the ingredients that go with quality are missing. The people we produced were very good in memory but not good at application”. The Director State added.
“This workshop is to give hands-on but also to allow you live beyond in the academic life. In academics, you either publish or perish. When you publish, you live in glory and the university is very easy to recognise and have you invited back and install you. When you don’t publish, you live in sorrow, you will always complain”, the Professor stressed.
Prof. State challenged students to ensure they publish and share generously the knowledge to make the desired impact on a wider community.
He reported that CERTL has given two journal platforms where students can have an opportunity to publish adding that, they have to go through the process of peer review.
He explained that colleagues in the same discipline will have to read the articles and appreciate that there is knowledge to be communicated and to ensure that sentences are communicating with one another
“We want quality and also to nurture the young talent that we have. Remember that it is a requirement that you have to publish before you graduate. Unless you die young, you have to live to publish”, The Director stated
Senior academic staff presented on different aspects of writing as listed below:
Presentation 1: Publishing with Mawazo: Writing, Revision, Submission, Peer Review and Copy Editing (Prof. Peter Atekyereza, Prof. Paul Omach)
Presentation 2: Publishing with Journal of Language, Literature and Communication: Writing, Revision, Submission, Peer Review and Copy Editing (Assoc. Prof. Saudah Namyalo and Dr Brian Ssemujju)
Presentation 3: The Practice of Academic writing: The Role of Critical Reading, Notetaking and Citation in Writing (Dr. Alfadaniels Mabingo)
Presentation 4: Language and Style for Scholarly Communication (Dr. Levis Mugumya)
Presentation 5: Scholarly Writing: Navigating the Art and Mechanics at Makerere University (Dr. James Taabu Busimba and Dr. Nambi Rebecca)
Presentation 6: The Peer Review Process: What Reviewers Expect and How to Respond to the Feedback while Retaining your Sanity (Assoc. Prof. Susan N. Kiguli)
33 abstracts were reviewed during the breakout sessions. 19 of these were Mawazo destined abstracts while 14 abstracts were destined for the Journal of Languages , Literature and Communication.
On the morning of Friday, February 27, when the academic procession winds its way across Makerere University’s Freedom Square for the last day of the 76th Graduation Ceremony, Whitney Najjuka will walk into history with a number beside her name: 4.46.
At Makerere, that number means First Class Honours. It means the Vice Chancellor’s List. It means she graduates as the only First-Class student in Journalism and Communication this year. But numbers, as Whitney has learned, rarely tell the full story.
Born on March 27, 2002, in Nabbingo, Kyengera Town Council, to Margaret Kusemererwa and Fred Kasirye, dreamt she would do Law, one of the disciplines, prestigious, almost inevitable next steps for a student who had excelled in secondary school. She had done everything correctly. Studied hard. Scored well. Followed the script.
But Makerere University had other plans. She missed the pre-entry mark, but found her name under Journalism and Communication, another prestigious course offered by the Journalism and Communication Department at Makerere University.
Najjuka began her academic journey at Muto Primary School in Buwama, earning 8 aggregates in the Primary Leaving Examination, a performance that positioned her strongly for secondary school.
She would later join St. Lucia Hill School, Namagoma, where she earned 20 aggregates at O-Level and 17 points in History, Luganda, and Divinity at A-Level.
Missing her dream course, Law, felt at first, like a detour. But Whitney was encouraged by Sanyu Christopher, her uncle, and she settled for a government-sponsored slot in the Bachelor of Journalism and Communication at Makerere, which she had applied for before.
She entered uncertain. But she graduates transformed.
The Pivot That Became a Purpose
Whitney speaks of her early university days with candor. She did not arrive at the Department of Journalism and Communication with a burning childhood ambition to be a journalist, but because another door had closed.
Then, Social and Behavior Change Communication happened. Applied Strategic Communication happened. She began to see media not as headlines and microphones, but as architecture, shaping how societies think, argue, and act.
The turning point came in her third year. The Female Journalist Foundation published her story on Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and its emotional toll on survivors. What startled her was not its publication but the reaction. Comments flooded in. Debates ignited, especially about the role of men in combating GBV.
“I realized media doesn’t just report,” she says. “It frames how society views a crisis.”
Her voice, once tentative, had entered a national conversation.
The Discipline Behind 4.46
At Makerere University, a First Class CGPA is not built on brilliance alone but on ritual.
Whitney’s ritual began with showing up, on time, every time. She treated lectures as appointments with her future self. She refused to confine her learning to the syllabus. While attending workshops at the Aga Khan Graduate School of Media and Communication and obtaining external certifications, she sought and was open to mentorship through the Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU).
She wanted theory anchored in practice. And then there was the commute.
From Nabbingo, a hill in Wakiso District, some 18.6 km to Kampala, where the Makerere Main campus is situated, and back, nearly 20 hours a week dissolved into Kampala traffic. Two-hour journeys before 8:00 a.m. lectures. Dust. Noise. Headaches. She learned to manage energy the way others manage time. Fatigue became a tutor in resilience.
“I had to be intentional with every remaining hour,” she says. “Excuses were not an option.”
Learning to Practice Communication
If classrooms taught her analysis, presentations taught her courage. Pitching projects, defending research, and standing before peers quick to critique forced her to think on her feet. She was no longer simply studying communication; she was practicing it.
In 2024, the AGMES Fellowship at the Aga Khan Graduate School of Media and Communication pushed her further. She received funding to produce a capstone project on the mental impact of gender-based violence on survivors. She identified sources, conducted interviews, handled trauma with care, and worked with professional editors.
The Communication, she learned, is logistics and ethics as much as eloquence.
The Future She Sees
Whitney is optimistic about Uganda’s media landscape. The digital shift, she believes, has democratized influence. Young communicators are no longer confined to legacy newsrooms or offices.
Yet she sees a gap in the absence of structured research on sustainable, ethical, profitable independent media ventures in Uganda. Her ambition is not only to practice communication, but to study it. To produce data-backed frameworks that help young Ugandans transition from graduates to media entrepreneurs.
She wants to make the impact scalable.
What Remains
As the only First-Class graduate in her cohort, she is careful not to mythologize herself. “Success isn’t brilliance alone,” she says. “It’s a daily commitment when nobody is watching.”
Even before graduation, Whitney had stepped into the industry through a mentorship internship at Capital One Group (COG EA Ltd), a strategic marketing communications agency operating across East Africa.
At Capital One Group, we spoke to Paul Mwirigi Muriungi, the Managing Director and Head of Strategy, who spoke of Najjuka as a progressive and intentional young professional who approaches her work with curiosity, maturity, and responsibility.
“Her attitude is exemplary. She is teachable, receptive to feedback, and eager to grow. While technical skills can be taught, character, work ethic, and mindset determine long-term success, qualities that Whitney consistently demonstrates. Given her academic excellence and professional application, we believe she has a bright future both at Capital One Group and within the wider communications industry. She represents the kind of talent the profession needs: thoughtful, adaptable, and committed to excellence.
“We look forward to seeing her next chapter unfold,” says Mwirigi.
Najjuka’s gaze extends beyond her own trajectory. She speaks of what the Department could become. Furnished and equipped with industry-standard equipment, newsroom simulations, and deeper investment in data journalism as prayers. Her excellence is not self-congratulatory, but it is forward-looking.
“The University should support the Department to procure industry-standard equipment. Access to high-quality cameras, sound booths, and updated editing software like Adobe Creative Suite is critical to our learning environment,” she says.
Adding that, “We need a newsroom simulation, a physical or digital space where students work under real-time deadlines to produce content for the public. That would prepare us for industry and even strengthen the University’s own media platforms.”
In an era defined by metrics, algorithms, and digital traceability, data journalism is no longer a niche skill but a sine qua non of credible reporting. “There should also be more focus on data journalism and search engine optimization. These are no longer optional skills. Students would benefit immensely from stronger training in these areas.”
Dr. Aisha Nakiwala, the Head, Department of Journalism and Communication, says the faculty are very proud that she is graduating with a First Class—the only one in this year’s cohort.
“This achievement reflects not only exceptional intellectual ability but also discipline, resilience, and sustained dedication to the highest standards over four years. Graduating with first-class honors is no small feat; it requires consistent outstanding performance.
“Her accomplishment sets a powerful example for continuing students and reaffirms our department’s commitment to nurturing excellence. We are confident she will make meaningful contributions to the communication profession and society at large,” says Dr. Nakiwala.
On graduation day, applause will crest and recede. The gowns will fold back into wardrobes. The transcripts will be filed away in cabinets. But something quieter will endure; a young woman from Nabbingo who once missed her Law mark, who spent 20 hours a week on the road, who discovered that storytelling is power, and who now walks into Freedom Square not by accident, but by intention.
Life, as she has come to understand it, lives on.
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