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UFS Council member makes contributions in books on leadership and responsive universities

27 August 2021 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Supplied

dr-millard-arnold copy — Dr Millard Arnold, UFS Council Member and Senior Consultant at Bowman Gilfillan.

Dr Millard Arnold, Council Member of the University of the Free State (UFS) and Senior Consultant at Bowman Gilfillan, recently contributed to a noteworthy book on leadership and a book on responsive universities. His experience as a journalist and later as a seasoned leader and keynote speaker positioned him well to participate in the book: The Book Every Upcoming, New, and Seasoned Leader Needs to Read – Lessons From Leading Business Minds and Thought Leaders.

From surviving to thriving

Incorporating collective leadership wisdom for both the leaders of tomorrow and the leaders of today, the book is full of lessons, insights, pep talks, advice, and direction for building your own style and approach to great leadership, and not to shy away from the ecstasy (and sometimes agony) of becoming a significant leader. Packed with the contributions of 48 authors, the book is the antidote to the lack of mentorship in the field. Authors include Brand Pretorius, Edwin Cameron, Marnus Broodryk, Nyimpini Mabunda, and Roze Phillips – to name a few.

Giving problems to solutions

Dr Arnold’s contribution focuses on fishing out the valuable leadership principles from the sea of leaderships that we are drowning in. “I have found myself in positions of leadership and have had to develop a number of thoughts on leadership which have helped guide me in determining how best to lead,” he writes. This guided him to discover the true essence of leadership, which is problem solving. He asserts that “if there are no difficulties to overcome, no problems to resolve, the leadership is unnecessary”. Leadership has its genesis in problems, he believes.

Effective leaders make things happen

Among the profound insights that Dr Arnold shares, he highlights the notion that great leaders must understand the problem and have the vision to see the solution. Inevitably, this necessitates the leader to take some risks and to persuade others to get on board. This is only possible if the leader has integrity and ultimately deliver on the promise made. He advises leaders to “ask good questions, listen to the answers, assess the reality, be empathic, and spend a great deal of time on self-reflection”.

Universities must remain relevant

Dr Arnold also contributed a chapter titled, Poverty, Inequity and Decolonisation: Are Business Schools Responsive to the Challenge? in a book by Chris Brink, The Responsive University and the Crisis in South Africa. The book brings together contributions on the issue of responsiveness from several international university leaders. Dr Arnold’s chapter presents an overview of the impact of colonialism and capitalism on the African mind set and stresses how different South African business schools have responded to the task of being responsive to the challenges confronting the country. It argues that, if carefully managed, business schools can, and should be, vehicles to promote and facilitate positive and constructive change.

News Archive

Research project gives insight into the world of the deaf

2005-11-30

Mr Akach in conversation (using sign language) with his assistant Ms Emily Matabane. Photo: Lacea Loader

UFS research project gives insight into the world of the deaf

The Sign Language Division of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Afro-Asiatic Studies and Language Practice and Sign Language has signed a bilateral research project with the universities of Ghent and Brussels to write a book on sign language.

“We want to compare the Belgium and South African sign languages with each other. The book will be about the deaf telling us about themselves and how they live. It will also focus on the use of story telling techniques and the grammar used by deaf people. We want to see if the hand forms and the grammatical markers and other linguistic features that deaf people from these two countries use are the same or not,” said Mr Philemon Akach, lecturer at the UFS Sign Language Division and coordinator of the research.

According to Mr Akach, the sign language community in South Africa, with about 600 000 deaf people who use South African Sign Language (SASL) as first language, is quite big. “Over and above the deaf people in South Africa, there are also the non-deaf who use SASL, like the children of deaf parents etc. This book can therefore be used to teach people about the deaf culture,” he added.

Another of Mr Akach’s achievements is his election as Vice-President of the newly established World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI). The association was established earlier this month during a conference in Worcester.

Mr Akach has been actively involved with sign language interpretation since 1986 and has been interpreting at the World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) since 1987. “My appointment as Vice-President of the WASLI is an emotional one. I have been involved with deaf people for so long and have been trying to create awareness and obtain recognition for sign language, especially in Africa,” said Mr Akach. WASLI is affiliated to the WFD.

According to Mr Akach there was no formal structure in the world to support sign language and sign language interpreters. “Now we have the backup of WASLI and we can convince governments in other African countries and across the world to support deaf people by supporting WASLI and therefore narrow the communication gap between the deaf and the hearing. My main aim as Vice-President is to endeavour for the recognition of sign language and spoken language interpreters as a profession by governments,” he said.

According to Mr Akach the formal training of interpreters is of vital importance. “Anybody who has a deaf person in his/her family and can communicate in sign language can claim that they are an interpreter. This is not true. It is tantamount to think that all mother tongue or first language speakers are interpreters. Likewise students who learn sign language up to whatever level and are fluent in signing, should still join an interpreter’s programme,” he said.

“Sign language interpreting is a profession and should be presented as an academic course alongside other spoken languages. The UFS has been taking the lead with sign language and spoken language interpretation and was the first university on the African continent to introduce sign language as an academic course,” he said.

“Although sign language has always been an unknown language to young people it has become quite popular in recent years. This year we had a total of 160 students at the Sign Language Section of the UFS and the numbers seem to increase steadily every year,” he said.

Mr Akach’s assistant, Ms Emily Matabane, is deaf and they communicate in sign language. Ms Matabane also handles the tutorials with students to give them hands-on experience on how to use sign language.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
30 November 2005

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