Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

UFS pays tribute to outstanding graduates at June graduations

05 July 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Stephen Collett

June Graduation medalist — Recipients of special awards are from left; Elzmarie Oosthuizen, Council Medalist; Jannie de Villiers, Chancellor's Medalist; Dr Khotso Mokhele, UFS Chancellor; Dr Jerry Mofokeng Wa Makhetha, and Dr Barnard Fanaroff, both honorary doctorate recipients.

The UFS presented a number of special awards during the graduation ceremonies on its Bloemfontein Campus on 27 and 28 June 2019.

Jannie de Villiers earns UFS Chancellor’s Medal

Chief Executive Officer of Grain SA and recipient of the 2019 Chancellor’s Medal, Jannie de Villiers, is a renowned leader in the agricultural and food sectors, nationwide and globally. He started his career as an economist for the South African Department of Agriculture in 1985, and dedicated more than 30 years of his knowledge, skills, and leadership to the agricultural sector, specifically in grain-industry development.
Mr De Villiers is commended for a number of initiatives he has implemented to enrich people’s lives throughout his career. One of his many admirable achievements is equipping upcoming farmers with the necessary knowledge and practical skills to advance crops and establishing a sustainable livelihood for South African citizens in the process.

UFS Council honours Elzmarie Oosthuizen

Council Medal recipient, Elzmarie Oosthuizen, is the Director: Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in the UFS Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS).
Oosthuizen’s experience and leadership in foundation and bridging programmes are exceptional. She has successfully initiated a programme to promote teaching and learning in Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Economics, and Agricultural subjects. Due to her active involvement in managing foundational and bridging programmes for students who do not meet the minimum requirements for mainstream higher-education degrees in NAS, the pass rate of the BSc bridging programme has increased from 34% to 83%.

“This award inspires me to sustain my efforts and find extraordinary solutions for the challenging and complex scenarios that we are facing in higher education,” said Ms Oosthuizen.

UFS June graduation Dean’s Medal recipients

Michelle Nöthling (Master of Arts in Africa Studies) in the Faculty of the Humanities and Megan Braithwaite (Master of Arts in Theology with specialisation in Bible Translation) in the Faculty of Theology and Religion were awarded Dean’s Medals on the morning of 28 June 2019. The Faculty of Education also honoured Deborah Lynn Fair, who achieved the best results for her master’s degree in Education with specialisation in Curriculum Studies, with a Dean’s Medal.

On the afternoon of 28 June, Teboho Mooko (Master of Medical Science with specialisation in Pharmacology) received the Dean’s Medal in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Tshanduko Mutandanyi (Master of Science majoring in Geohydrology) received the Dean’s Medal in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, as well as the Senate Medal for the best overall results in both under- and postgraduate qualifications in all the UFS faculties.

Dr Khotso Mokhele hosts Chancellor’s Dinner

Later that evening, the Chancellor of the UFS, Dr Khotso Mokhele, hosted the Chancellor’s Dinner in the Centenary Complex on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus, paying tribute to the outstanding achievements of the recipients of UFS honorary doctorates, Council and Chancellor’s medals, and doctorates.

Among the honoured guests were the two honorary doctorate recipients, Dr Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha – world-renowned, respected television and theatre actor (DLitt Honoris Causa – Faculty of the Humanities), and Dr Bernie Fanaroff (DSc Honoris Causa – Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences), who is the Co-chair of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Working Group on Information and Communication Technologies and High-Performance Computing, and member of the Advisory Committee of the Breakthrough Listen project; Mr Jannie de Villiers; Ms Elzmarie Oosthuizen; the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof Francis Petersen; and Mr Willem Louw, Chairperson of the UFS Council.

Guests also enjoyed a musical performance by the Graduation Instrumental Ensemble under the direction of Anton Esterhuyse, accompanied by the vocal ensemble of Thabo Hlongwane, Jacobus Silwer, and Mario Lategan.

News Archive

Council votes on appointment of senior staff

2004-11-18

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) today voted on the filling of three senior vacancies, including one post at Dean level and two at the level of Vice-Dean.

The Council voted as follows:


Dr Natie Luyt will be offered the post of Dean: Student Affairs	Prof Engela Pretorius will be offered the post of Vice-Dean: Faculty of Humanities	Dr Choice Makhetha will be offered the post of Vice-Dean: Student Affairs

“There are special challenges for the UFS in the short and medium term regarding transformation of our residences, and a certain combination of management qualities and skills is desirable. As a result of the diversity of the UFS’s student community it is therefore important to us to follow a team approach to deal with the challenges. With the combination of Drs Luyt and Makhetha, I believe we will be able to manage student affairs effectively and skillfully,” says Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

“It is wonderful that we are able to celebrate the outcome of this process that has brought forward such excellent candidates who reflect our country’s diversity. It shows that we can achieve the goals of quality and diversity at the same time,” says Prof Fourie.

Prof Pretorius obtained all her qualifications (BA, BA (Hons) (cum laude), MA (cum laude) and D Phil) from the UFS, except for the Certificate in Gender Policy Management (cum laude) which she obtained in 2000 from WITS. She joined the Department of Sociology at UFS in 1980 and has headed the Department since 2001. She acted as Vice-Dean: Faculty of Humanities since July 2004. She has some thirty publications to her credit, published both nationally and internationally and has delivered 20 national and international papers. She is a member of the South African Sociological Association and is a member of the Council of the association and of the Editorial Board of Society in Transition, the society’s journal. She is also a member of the South African Academy for Science and Art and the Federation of African Women Educationalists in South Africa (FAWESA). Project involvement includes the Australian Women’s Executive Development Programme and the project Executive Development of Senior Women in South African Higher Education Institutions. She is also an NRF panelist.

Dr Luyt obtained his qualifications (BA, BA (Hons) (cum laude), MA (cum laude) and D Phil) at the UFS and started his career at the same institution in 1980 as lecturer in Political Science. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1983 and appointed as Director: Student Affairs in 1997. He has been acting as Dean: Student Affairs since 2003. Dr Luyt completed several work-related training courses, among others a course in ethnic and multiculturality at the Swiss Institute for Federalism and a course in conflict management at the South Tyrolean Economic and Social Institute.

Dr Makheta also obtained all her qualifications (BA, BA (Hons), MA in Political Science and Ph D in Political Science) at the UFS and started working as a student assistant in Political Science at the same institution in 1999. She was promoted to junior assistant in 2000, coordinator and facilitator of Political Science in 2001, assistant/acting Director: Student Affairs in 2001 and acting Director: Student Affairs in 2003. Dr Makhetha is currently a Senior Political Analyst at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The UFS Council also approved the promotion of nine professors to the rank of senior professor. They are Proff Louise Cilliers (Department English and Classical Languages), Dap Louw (Department of Psychology), Philip Nel (Department Afro-Asiatic Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice), Dirk van den Berg (Department of History of Art and Visual Culture Studies) Dingie van Rensburg (Director: Centre for Health Systems Research and Develoment), Andries Raath (Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law), James du Preez (Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology), Johan Grobbelaar (Department of Plant Sciences) and Louis Scott (Department of Plant Sciences).

This is the first group ever of senior professors at the UFS. The post level was created to provide better career and earnings opportunities for high quality academics and to increase the attractiveness of an academic career to young people.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept