Burundi: Gwendoline Albright Ndikumagenge

Gwendoline Albright Ndikumagenge was born in Bujumbura, Burundi, in 1998, and in 2006 moved to Kigali, Rwanda, where she received her high school education before relocating to the U.S. in 2015 for college. She holds a bachelor’s of science in architecture, a Certificate of Leadership, and a master’s in Architecture from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Her undergraduate honors research project, titled “Strengthening Social Bonds in Bujumbura through Public Space: Redesigning Jardin Public de Bujumbura for the Restoration of the City’s Sense of Community,” was meant to help her home country of Burundi use the power of design to restore the city’s historical sense of community. She also holds a master’s of science in project management from the University of Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky, where she is currently pursuing a PhD in organizational leadership with a concentration in business, anticipating graduation in fall 2026.

Ndikumagenge is a licensed financial professional and a sustainability scholar with LEEP AP and WELL AP certification. She has worked as an architectural designer throughout various regions of Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central America, and the U.S. She is pursuing her architecture licensure, a professional certification in project management from the Project Management Institute, and a Leadership, Speaking, Facilitation, and Coaching certification from the Maxwell Leadership Program. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), and was very involved in the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), serving as the Freedom By Design Director (FBD) for several years in the AIAS Andrews University chapter and on the AIAS FBD national advisory board.

Ndikumagenge has served as co-editor of the AIAS yearly CRIT journal (2023), in which she also published scholarly articles titled “Agency and Autonomy” (January 2022) and “Designing Justice” (January 2021). She, a colleague, and a professor were featured on 3ABN to talk about their work in eSwatini, a land-locked developing country in southeastern Africa, and was featured in the REFLECTIONS series of the Primaverarch website, a platform committed to stimulate change through the recognition of women in architecture. In 2022 she a Keynote Speaker at the Summer Series Young Architect Conference, where her speech was titled, “Who are you called to be, to create what the world really needs?” She was also a guest speaker on the Young Architect podcast, and has been working on her own podcast, “The Gap We Live In,” hosting discussions about managing life’s transitions with a leadership mindset rather than a survival mindset.

Ndikumagenge is a current Christopher Keller Leadership Program Scholar (2025), the sole recipient of the Alpha Rho Chi Graduate Medal issued by Andrews University School of Architecture and Interior Design (2020), and recipient of the Leadership Growth Award by the Andrews University Undergraduate Leadership program (2019). She was a candidate for the Bridge to the future MAF + AIA Michigan Internship Bridge Program, and was chosen as one of 199 graduates from the class of 2020, representing 44 different design schools, who joined the Reimagine workshop organized by the Architectural League of New York to discuss their roles as emerging designers in the converging crises of COVID, climate change, economic inequity, prevalent racism, and racist violence.