21 April 2023
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Story NONSINDISO QWABE
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Dr Jared McDonald.
The post of Chief of Staff to the Rector and Vice-Chancellor is the first of its kind at the University of the Free State (UFS). As Chief of Staff, Dr McDonald will report directly to the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, supporting him in delivering his responsibilities as the university's chief executive. In particular, he will be responsible for coordinating and tracking key actions and special projects associated with the office of the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, in line with the university’s strategic goals in
Vision130.
He completed a BA in Journalism at the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), a Bachelor of Arts Honours in History at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), and a master’s in History at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He holds a PhD in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Since April 2018, Dr McDonald has been the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities on the Qwaqwa Campus. He also acted as the campus Vice-Principal: Academic and Research in 2018 and 2019.
Dr McDonald holds a Senior Lecturer post in the Department of History, where he was also Subject Head from 2015 to 2020. He is a nineteenth-century historian with interests in the history of the London Missionary Society in Southern Africa, settler colonialism, and comparative histories of children as victims of genocide. Dr McDonald’s first monograph, Khoesan and Imperial Citizenship in Nineteenth-Century South Africa, was published with Routledge in April 2023. Dr McDonald also has a keen interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning, an area in which he has published and received numerous awards.
Dr McDonald excited to take up the mantle
Dr McDonald said he is looking forward to taking up the mantle and to working closely with the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, as well as various internal and external stakeholders, to advance the strategic objectives of the UFS and to contribute to the realisation of the UFS’ aspirations as a globally competitive and research-led university.
“I am immensely grateful for this opportunity to support the office of the Vice-Chancellor and look forward to shaping the post of Chief of Staff with Prof Petersen. Globally, more and more vice-chancellors are appointing chiefs of staff to assist in coordinating and managing the demands of their office. This is an exciting development for the UFS, and I am pleased to serve the university in this capacity”, he said.