My name is Dr. Luke Odiemo Okunya. Officially I am known by the name Dr. Odiemo. I am a Senior lecturer in the department of Psychology at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. Due to my childhood interest in understanding human behavior, I opted to pursue my academic career in the area of psychology. I am sure many people will wonder how a child could develop interest in such a discipline!

This was basically due to my late father who was a teacher. Whenever we tried to play tricks on him, he would tell us, “I already know what you are up to. Remember, I studied human psychology as part of training in teaching.” This made me fascinated about this subject of psychology. I thought that if I learn psychology, I could pre-empt behavior like my father used to. Because of this, I followed my father into the teaching career where I learned human psychology too and even pursued it to PhD, where I studied educational psychology. Having been educated in this discipline, I have been able to develop my expertise in the Psychology of Teaching and Learning, Psychometrics and Psychology of Human Development. I have never regretted this decision at all.

Today, I have even widened my academic area of interest beyond educational psychology. I also lecture Community Psychology where my main focus is usually to educate and train students in methods of influencing people attitude and behavior towards building a friendly community. Another area of interest concerns Family Psychology where I lecture students in attitudes and behavior that can foster healthy family relationships. Youth counseling is also an area that I have developed a lot of interest. 

Nothing pleases me when some of my students of Family Psychology, Community Psychology and Psychology of Teaching and Learning come back to me three or four years after graduation to thank me for the knowledge they acquired from me. It pleases me a lot. Having been privileged to get most of my post-graduate education in Western Europe, I strive as much as possible to emulate the teaching methods used by professors, especially those in the United Kingdom. And it pays a lot.

I am currently the Patron of psychology club of the University of Nairobi. This is a vibrant club that is used to mentor young students into leadership and practical application of psychological knowledge to solving community problems. We basically mentor socially disadvantaged children in slums into being law abiding citizens through literacy, numeracy and counseling services.

My mission is to develop all-round students who are able to cope with challenges of life without engaging in illegal or socially unacceptable behavior.