La Roche University Names Yohani Kayinamura Inaugural Best for the World Award Recipient

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 6, 2026 – La Roche University has named Yohani Kayinamura ’04, Ph.D., senior professor at Daytona State College and president and founder of Umuryango Children’s Network, the inaugural recipient of its Best for the World Award. Dr. Kayinamura will receive the award Friday, Oct. 16, during the University’s Distinguished Alumni Circle Dinner, held as part of Red, White, and You Homecoming Weekend.

Established in recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Sisters of Divine Providence in America, the new institutional award honors individuals whose lives and work make an extraordinary and lasting difference in the world. It recognizes those who use their gifts, talents, knowledge, leadership, and opportunities in service to others and the common good. Unlike the University’s alumni awards, the Best for the World Award is not limited to La Roche graduates and may be presented to any individual whose life and work embody its purpose.

“Yohani’s life embodies our call to students and alumni to be the best for the world,” said Christina A. Clark, Ph.D., president of La Roche University. “The opportunity he received through Pacem in Terris has multiplied through his commitment to children and families in Rwanda, creating an impact that now reaches across generations. It is especially meaningful that the inaugural recipient of this award is a La Roche graduate whose life so powerfully reflects the values of both the Sisters of Divine Providence and our University.”

Originally from Rwanda, Dr. Kayinamura came to La Roche through the Pacem in Terris program. Founded in 1993 by then-President Monsignor William Kerr, the program brought students from war-torn and developing nations to La Roche, preparing them to take leadership roles in building more just and inclusive societies in their homelands.

For Dr. Kayinamura, the opportunity to study at La Roche ultimately became a responsibility to create opportunities for others.

“When others invest in your life so generously, you begin to ask how you can use what you have received to make a difference in someone else’s life,” he said.

During a visit to Rwanda while he was a La Roche student, Dr. Kayinamura met a homeless boy named Vincent and promised to help him attend school. He later adopted Vincent, an experience that helped shape his commitment to vulnerable children in Rwanda.

That commitment ultimately led Dr. Kayinamura to establish Umuryango Children’s Network, a Christian nonprofit dedicated to helping homeless and vulnerable children build different futures. Umuryango is a Kinyarwanda word meaning “family,” and that idea remains central to the organization’s work.

Today, Umuryango cares for more than 400 children and supports dozens of jobs through its school, ministry, and related programs. Its work provides children with family, education, faith, stability, mentorship, skills training, and long-term support designed to help break the cycle of poverty.

Dr. Kayinamura and his team have watched children who once lacked stable homes grow up, marry, raise families of their own, and give their children the love, security, and opportunities they themselves once lacked.

Through Bright Future Academy, part of Umuryango’s work in Rwanda, Dr. Kayinamura and his team are now developing a Pacem-inspired opportunity for deserving high school students from neighboring countries to study at the school.

“My hope is that students will eventually carry what they receive back into their own communities, allowing the spirit of Pacem in Terris to continue through another generation,” he said.

Alongside his work with Umuryango, Dr. Kayinamura is a senior professor in the School of Biological and Physical Sciences at Daytona State College in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he has worked for the past 15 years.

A 2013 recipient of La Roche University’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Dr. Kayinamura views the Best for the World Award as both an honor and a reminder to extend to others the opportunities he received.

“What has been poured into my life must continue to flow toward its next destination: the next child, the next young person, the next family,” he said. “This award is a powerful reminder that grace was never meant to end with me, but to pass through me.”

For more information about Umuryango Children’s Network and its impact in Rwanda, visit umuryango.org

About La Roche University: An independent liberal arts university in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, La Roche University offers undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs with particular strengths in education, business, criminal justice, cybersecurity and forensics, psychology, nursing, and health and medical sciences as well as interior architecture & design and graphic design. This residential university provides a vibrant campus community for women and men enjoying multiple student organizations and an exciting NCAA Div. III athletics program. Founded by the Sisters of Divine Providence in 1963, La Roche University embraces its Catholic heritage while welcoming people of all faiths and backgrounds. With a legacy of social justice and a commitment to international exchange, La Roche University educates students to be lifelong learners and achievers in an increasingly diverse and global society.

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