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10 December 2018 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
UFS CMD team at the MACE Awards
The team from the UFS which attended the Mace Excellence Awards function in Cape Town this year, are from the left: Rulanzen Martin, Valentino Ndaba, Lacea Loader, Lelanie de Wet, Maria Venter; back: Zama Feni, Vivek Daya and Eugene Seegers.

The Department of Communication and Marketing won seven awards during the 2018 Excellence Awards presented by the National Association of Marketing, Advancement, and Communication in Education (MACE), which took place in Cape Town on 29 November 2018. It is the third consecutive year the department has brought home seven and more awards for its work in communication and marketing.

Lacea Loader, Director: Communication and Marketing at the University if the Free State (UFS) says: “Being recognised by our peers for quality and innovative work is most rewarding. This year, 172 entries were received from 12 institutions across the country. Although the competition was tough the UFS also received the Severus Cerff Award, one of three special awards. This award is made to the institution with the highest success ratio and for consistent excellence.” Loader serves on the MACE Board of Directors as Excellence Awards Coordinator.

Promoting best practices

MACE plays a vital role in adding value to practitioners in marketing, advancement and communication through high-quality development programmes, facilitating networking partnerships and transformation, as well as promoting best practices among these professions at member institutions.

The awards ceremony is part of the MACE Annual National Congress, which took place from 27-29 November 2018 at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town. The MACE Congress is a platform on which experts from the fields of marketing, advancement, and communication share experiences and best practices.

This year’s programme included speakers such Thabang Chiloane (executive head of Nedbank’s Group Public Affairs), Dr Marina Joubert (senior science communication researcher at CREST), Karyn Strybos (Marketing Manager at Everlytic), Bruce Dube (Managing Director of Nine80 Digital Media) and Brendan Cooper (head of New Media’s internal communications division).

Recognising hard work and innovation

Lelanie de Wet, Manager: Digital Communication received the Platinum award in the Division Campaigns with her entry for the Website Re-launch Awareness campaign. The Platinum award is bestowed on the best entry in a specific division.

The Digital Communication Unit in the Department of Communication and Marketing walked away with four more awards. De Wet also received a Gold award in the Design for Digital Media category for her work on the KovsieLife student web design.

Moeketsi Mogotsi received a Gold award in the category Design for Visual Media for his entry: UFS Women’s Month Billboard.

Barend Nagel, who joined the department this year, received a Gold Award for his photographs for the Africa Month Awareness campaign in the category Photography: Feature and Documentary. Nagel also received a Bronze award in the category Videography Skills, for his video entry: UFS Exam Hack.

In the Unit: Internal and Media Communication, Valentino Ndaba brought home a Bronze Medal for her entry of the BSafe Take Action campaign which was entered in the Issue Management Campaigns category.

IABC Gold Quill Merit Award

The Department of Communication and Marketing earlier this year also received an International Gold Quill Merit Award for the Website Re-launch Awareness campaign.

“The fact that we were also again acknowledged by the International Assocation for Business Communicators  is also commendable. "I am immensely proud of the national and international recognition my team received this year,” said Loader.

MACE Awards. Photo by Sonia Small
MACE Awards. Photo by Sonia Small
2018 Africa Month photographs
2018 Africa Month photographs
2018 Africa Month Photographs
2018 Africa Month Photographs
UFS Womens Month Billboard
UFS Womens Month Billboard
BSAFE Safety week day 2018 2
BSAFE Safety week day 2018 2
BSafe Safety week 2018
BSafe Safety week 2018

News Archive

Maize breeder rewarded for his research to enhance food security in Africa
2016-08-26

Description: Maize breeder rewarded Tags: Maize breeder rewarded

Prof Maryke Labuschagne from the UFS Department
of Plant Sciences, Berhanu Tadesse Ertiro, a
postgraduate student in Plant breeding at the UFS,
and Dr Peg Redinbaugh of the US Department of
Agriculture in Wooster, Ohio.
Photo: Supplied

Ethiopia is one of the African countries, deeply affected by food insecurity. Berhanu Tadesse Ertiro, a citizen from Ethiopia started his career - after graduating with his undergraduate degree in 2003 - as a junior maize breeder. Today he is pursuing his doctorate degree in Plant Breeding at the University of the Free State (UFS).

His research had made some great strides in contributing to food security in Africa. He recently received a fellowship from the prestigious Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (Borlaug LEAP).

This fellowship is only awarded to students whose research has relevance to the national development of the student’s home country or region. The aim of these fellowships are to enhance the quality of thesis research of graduate students from developing countries who show strong promise as leaders in the field of agriculture and related disciplines.

Low soil fertility a major maize production constraint
Berhanu is also a visiting student at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Kenya, where he is running field experiments for his PhD thesis dissertation. His research focuses on Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) and Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease tolerance. Low soil fertility and MLN are among the major maize production constraints in eastern and southern Africa, where maize is staple food.

Such hybrids have the potential to contribute greatly
towards food security among farmers and their
families through increased productivity.

The use of new tools could increase breeding efficiency and reduce the time needed for the release of new stress tolerant hybrids. Such hybrids have the potential to contribute greatly towards food security among farmers and their families through increased productivity. Berhanu is looking at the feasibility of genome wide selection for improvement of NUE in tropical maize.

Fellowship includes mentorship and supervision across borders
The programme supports engaging a mentor at a United States university and Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR). During his fellowship, he will be supervised and mentored by Prof Maryke Labuschagne of the UFS, Prof Rex Bernando, a professor of Corn Breeding and Genetics at the University of Minnesota and Dr Biswanath Das of CIMMYT, Kenya.

As a LEAP fellow, Berhanu was invited to attend the 30th Annual World Food Prize events to take place in October 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa. The week will include his attendance at the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development meeting, participation at side-events at the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium and the World Food Prize.

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