Ratemo W. Michieka is a former director-general of the National Environmental Management Authority in Kenya. He is a longtime leader in education and agricultural policy in eastern Africa. He earned three Rutgers degrees, including a master’s degree in agricultural education and vocational technical agriculture, and a doctorate in weed science. He returned to his native Kenya, where he taught and later became chair of the Department of Crop Science at the University of Nairobi. In 1994, he was named vice chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University College of Agriculture and Technology in Nairobi, a post equivalent to a university president in the United States. Michieka has chaired the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, considered the finest of its kind in Africa, and the Kenya Education Network. He has also held administrative positions at the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Program and consulted for CARE and the Swedish International Development Agency. In 1997, the Cook Alumni Association honored Michieka with the George H. Cook Distinguished Alumni Award.