Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
![]()
Prof Marian Tredoux, Associate Professor in the
Department of Geology at the University of the Free State,
recently had a mineral named after her.
Photo: Sonia Small
Prof Marian Tredoux is a geochemist and lecturer in the Department of Geology at the University of the Free State (UFS). Her research interests are rocks, particularly the chemistry of rocks and the minerals they are composed of – chemicals similar to those found in laboratories, although they occur in nature.
Prof Tredoux started her research career at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), after which she spent a number of years at the University of Cape Town (UCT). For the past 11 years, she has been at the UFS, which has brought her in close proximity of her primary field-research area in Barberton. This fascinating part of the country has been the focus of her research for 30 years. She has always been intrigued by the earth's crust in this area, which she describes as "very old, very strange, and very interesting".
Prof Tredoux has been collaborating with colleagues and peers overseas in an attempt to unravel the intricacies of this unusual geological area. Some of these colleagues recently discovered a new mineral in one of the rock formations of the Barberton mountain range. They decided to name the mineral after Prof Tredoux, dubbing it tredouxite. "I am very honoured by this, and very grateful that all these years of collaboration are being acknowledged," Prof Tredoux said.
Students come together to commemorate Mandela
2016-08-18
Where there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful results are bound to follow. Students from the School of Allied Health Professions at the Faculty of Health Sciences demonstrated this in their collaboration with students from the Department of Fine Arts to pay homage to Mandela, through a Nelson Mandela-inspired art piece.
Fingerprint donations go a long way
Creating a portrait of the icon on a canvas, they invited members of the university to take part in completing the portrait with their fingerprints, for a small fee. The initiative was aimed at celebrating the life of the world leader. And in true Madiba spirit, the contributions collected were donated to the university’s ‘No Student Hungry’ (NSH) programme. The programme provides less privileged students with the necessary nourishment to excel in their academic studies.
UFS community embodies selflessness
Vicky Simpson of the NSH programme said that initiatives such as these reveal the true spirit of compassion and sense of commitment found in members of the UFS community. “NHS is sincerely grateful to each and every person who made a contribution. It will surely go a long way”. The day was sealed with special performances by Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy students.
More opportunities for student participation and involvement in completing the artwork will be presented in future.