President Admasu Tsegaye become the 10th President of Addis Ababa University, the largest and oldest higher Education Institution in Ethiopia on March 2011. He holds a BSc degree from Alemaya College of Agriculture , now Haramaya University, and MSc and PhD degrees in Crop Ecology and Resource Conservation from Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Dr. Admasu Tsegaye has also participated in several international training schemes in higher education including Transforming Tertiary Education for Innovation and Competitiveness, World Bank Institute Washington, DC, USA; Management of Higher Education Institutions, Galilee College, Israel; Change Agendas in Higher Education Institutions, Center for International Cooperation-Vrije University Amsterdam; and Higher Education Management Training, University of Warwick.

Dr Admasu Tsegaye started his research career in 1984 as an Assistant Research Officer at the Institute of Agricultural Research in Hawassa. He joined the Awassa College of Agriculture (now Hawassa University) in1986 as a full-time faculty member and became Assistant Professor in May 2002 and Associate Professor in September 2007.

In addition to his research and teaching career at Hawassa University, he has served in numerous administrative positions, including Academic Program Officer, NORAD project coordinator, Vice President for Administration and Development, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research, and President. He also served as chairperson of several committees such as the Strategic Planning and BPR committee that spearheaded reform at Hawassa University, transforming the University into one of the leading higher learning institutions in the country. He is also actively involved in the country’s effort to produce educated and competent personnel and other cross cutting issues to assist the country to  achieve its economic transformation. He is currently Chair of Board of Ethiopian Quality Award Organization, Vice Chair of Board of Gulele Botanic Garden, Board member of Ethiopian Higher Education Strategic Center, Member of Governing Board of Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Board member of Ethiopian National Education and Examination Agency, Board member of the National Athletics Training Center,  Board member of the National Museum, and Vice President of Ethiopian Universities Consortium.  Recently, he received the Excellence and Distinguished Leadership Award from the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Regional State and Hawassa University in recognition of his outstanding leadership and services to the education sector.

Dr. Admasu Tsegaye holds several international higher education and research positions.  He is the Global Vice President of Sun Moon University, South Korea, the country representative of Plant Resources of Tropical Africa (PROTA), Director of Consortium of African US- Educators, and project leader and country representative of Co-Innovation for Quality in Agri-food Chains (CoQA). He has published extensively in a wide range of distinguished international journals such as Field Crops Research, Journal of Agronomy, Crop Science, Experimental Agriculture, Annals of Applied Biology, J. Essent. Oil Res., Gent Resource Crop Evol., Herditas, Netherlands Journal of Agriculture, Science Direct and African Journal of Biotechnology. His research and journal articles focus on various aspects of indigenous production methods, biodiversity, genetic diversity and physiology of indigenous crops.. He has also presented several professional papers, conducted a variety of research trainings, written research manuals and book chapters. He is currently the associate editor of the Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science and received a prestigious Fulbright African Research Scholar Award for the 2011-2012 academic years.