Dr. Lucille Sabas has been given a vote of confidence. As the only woman president of a Seventh-day Adventist university in male-dominated Africa, Sabas was re-elected after three years in office. An installation ceremony was held April 30 officially recognizing Sabas as the rector, or president, of the Adventist University Cosendai, located in Yaounde, Cameroon. 

“Her re-election shows that she is doing an effective job in the [opinion] of the constituency,” said Dr. Andrea Luxton, an associate director of the Education Department for the Adventist world church.  “I would say that she has been able to bring some clear direction to the Adventist University Cosendai, and [has] moved the institution forward.  It is one of our newest institutions, with great challenges, and yet great potential also. So she has taken on a difficult assignment, but she has the ability to…see the possibilities and work with her team to realize some of those.”

The Adventist University Cosendai was established in 1979 but was reorganized in 1996. Among its more well-known alumni is Paul Rusesabagena, a Rwandan whose heroic struggle against genocide was told in the film, “Hotel Rwanda.”

At the installation service, Dr. Ella Simmons, a vice president of the Adventist world church, who herself is the first woman in her position, issued a challenge: “I challenge the university’s leadership to seek and embrace change for greater ministry and service to the world and to God’s kingdom. And I caution you to remain true to the university’s roots that acknowledge God as the sole authority and ultimate source of knowledge, and is the creator and sustainer of all things.” 

Dr. Sabas holds a Master’s degree in Economics from French West Indies University and a Ph.D. with distinction from La Sorbonne University in Paris. Before coming to Cosendai she was head of the Adventist Church’s Education Department in Guadeloupe and taught at the French West Indies University.