Center Director
Kenya
Ph.D. in Philosophy in Wildlife Ecology and Management
University of Alberta (Canada)
M.Sc. in Wildlife Resources
University of Idaho (ID, USA)
B.Sc. in Wildlife Management
Moi University (Kenya)
SFS 2060 Introduction to Swahili Language and East African Tribal Communities
(The School for Field Studies)
SFS 4910 Directed Research
(The School for Field Studies)
SFS 3151 Primate Behavioral Ecology in East Africa
(The School for Field Studies)
Moses Makonjio Okello (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Tourism and Wildlife Management and Director of The School for Field Studies Center for Water and Wildlife Studies, Kenya. He studied at Moi University in Kenya (B.Sc) 1987 – 1990; University of Idaho, USA (M.Sc), 1991 – 1993; and the University of Alberta in Edmonton CANADA (Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology and Management), 1993 – 1996. He returned to Moi University between 1996 and July 1999 taught for department of Wildlife Management. He joined The School for Field Studies from July 1999 to July 2009 as a lecturer and rose through the ranks to full professor in 2006. He was appointed SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies (CWMS) Director in July 2009. He then founded and directed SFS – CWMS Tanzania in addition to Kenya between September 2010 to 2012. He was appointed SFS Senior Director of East Africa between 2012 to 2015 overseeing SFS programs in both Kenya and Tanzania from 2012 to 2015. He left SFS briefly between 2015 and 2018 (when SFS suspended the Kenya program) to serve as full professor of tourism and wildlife conservation at Moi University in Kenya and returned to SFS in fall 2018 as CWWS Director in Kenya.
He has done extensive research over the years in wildlife ecology, wildlife conservation and ecotourism. He has given lectures widely around the world, including many keynote speeches in many conferences in the USA, Netherlands, the Caribbean, Rwanda etc. He has served on several boards of publication journals and conservation initiatives. He has published widely with over 10 book chapters and over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is an external examiner for University of Botswana, University of Namibia, University of Eldoret (Kenya), Maasai Mara University (Kenya), Egerton University (Kenya), KWS Training Institute KWSTI (Kenya) and MWEKA East Africa College of Wildlife Management studies (Tanzania). Most of his research work has been in Kenya and Northern Tanzania. He has influenced many conservation initiatives mainly in the Amboseli Ecosystem, collaborates with many conservation NGO’s including KWS, AWF, IFAW, and Big Life. His work in Amboseli has led to the establishment of some community and private wildlife sanctuaries and has influenced management plans in the ecosystem. In 2010, he served as a juror for the 2012 Indianapolis Zoo International Conservation Prize as a representative of Africa. He was appointed KWS Honorary Warden for Amboseli between 2014 to 2017. He was awarded a College of Natural Resources of the University of Idaho College of Natural Resources (Idaho, USA) International Alumni Achievement Award in 2011.