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10 January 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Sonia Small
Prof Heidi Hudson
Prof Heidi Hudson wants her faculty to embrace the digital era to find that unique ‘KovsieHumanities’.

Ever since her appointment as Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities in March 2018, Prof Heidi Hudson has been on a mission to build relations – and importantly – to find a unique identity for ‘KovsieHumanities’.

“My immediate aim is to consolidate
where things are going well,
and to rectify imbalances and inequities
that developed over time.”
—Prof Heidi Hudson.

 

Prof Hudson is Professor of International Relations with a B2 rating from the National Research Foundation. She was until recently a member of the Committee on the Status of Women in the International Studies Association (ISA), a Global Fellow of the Oslo Peace Research Institute (PRIO) in Norway and is also an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

 

Critical self-reflection

 

“My immediate aim is therefore to consolidate where things are going well, and to rectify imbalances and inequities that developed over time,” Prof Hudson said. Such a process will require critical self-reflection from all concerned in order to carve out and claim a specific identity and role for the Humanities at the UFS.

 

Research excellence important

 

Research excellence is a major priority for her and plans to enhance research within the faculty will include measures to understand the faculty’s research landscape, addressing uneven productivity and the lack of diversity of our researchers; creating research-ready undergraduate students; increasing and developing postgraduate students; and effectively marketing our Humanities research. 

 

The diversity of the faculty is considered a strength in terms of interdisciplinary and cross-faculty collaboration. “This aspect is also encouraged by the university’s differentiated research strategy where the Humanities will lead and coordinate an African Studies research hub.”

 

Curriculum development and renewal, together with space to actively engage with discipline-specific questions on the decolonisation of the curriculum, is a key priority related to teaching and learning for Prof Hudson. “The approach to curriculum renewal is collaborative, with the recent formation of two programme committees for the generic degrees,” she said.

News Archive

New infrastructure development project planned for the Bloemfontein Campus
2015-06-03

Illustration by Incline Architects

The university community can look forward to two new infrastructure development projects on the Bloemfontein Campus. The construction of a new parking area for staff and students accommodated in the new Education Building, will begin as early as June 2015.

The project includes 113 parking places for students and 16 covered parking places for staff. According to Nico Janse van Rensburg, Senior Director at University Estates, the project will be tackled using several green approaches. “The parking area’s lighting will be solar-powered. The surface will not be the normal paving stone but will permit the water to drain into the ground and in this way be more environmentally friendly and minimise the greenhouse effect,” he says.

Several indigenous trees will beautify the area.

The new parking area will be situated opposite the UFS Sasol library’s student parking area, between the cricket field and the present parking area at the Education Building.

The second project involves a new roof structure at the Bloemfontein Campus’s main entrance security gate.

Since August last year, the university has been enforcing rigorous entrance controls. No person can access any of the five entrances of the Bloemfontein Campus without a valid entrance card. Should individuals not have a card, they must access the campus at Gate 5 in DF Malherbe Avenue where a temporary access card will be issued to them.  Scanning for visitors and service providers is also available at Gate 1 (Nelson Mandela Drive) and Gate 5 (DF Malherbe Avenue).

The  roof structure at the main entrance will serve as a security point. Primarily, it will provide shelter from the elements for those staff manning the area.

Nico says that the plan is to complete the projects before the end of the year. The projects are currently in the planning phase.

“The gate may possibly be closed for a day or two but the main work will be done during weekends. Certain lanes may also be closed from time to time to ensure the safety of both users and construction workers,” says Nico.

Staff and students will be advised well in advance if and when the gate will be closed.

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