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The Humanities five: ‘doctoral degrees culmination of years of dedicated focus’

26 February 2021 | Story Rulanzen Martin

Read More Humanities 5 Phds 755x502 — Clockwise from left; Dr Alta Grobbelaar; Dr Merlene Esau; Dr Albertus Barkhuizen; Dr Helen-Mary Cawood and Dr Wade Goodrick.

“It (doctoral degrees) signifies the culmination of several years of dedicated focus amid the ongoing demands of their day-to-day work as academics in a dynamic and diverse faculty,” said Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, about the conferment of doctoral degrees to five lecturing staff members in the faculty.

The newly capped doctors are Drs Alta Grobbelaar, Merlene Esau, Albertus Barkhuizen, Wade Goodrick, and Helen-Mary Cawood. “The Faculty of the Humanities strives to support its entire lecturing staff to obtain their doctoral degrees. I therefore take great pleasure in congratulating the five staff members in the faculty,” said Prof Hudson. Prof Hudson said what made their achievement even more special, was the fact that they obtained their degrees during unprecedented and challenging COVID-19 times.

The PhD degrees were conferred during a virtual ceremony on 24 February 2021.

PhD studies look extensively at social issues

It is important for PhD candidates in any discipline that their research theses should contribute new or additional information to their respective disciplines. Undertaking a PhD in the social sciences (humanities) can be loosely attributed to the curiosity of humankind – its connectedness, shared attributes, history, relations, or the deeper meaning of human existence.

The five research theses presented by the candidates look at various social themes, ranging from Dr Albertus Barkhuizen’s thesis on French as a possible teachable foreign language in South Africa, to Dr Helen-Mary Cawood’s argument that the collective memories of modern English football fans have been curated by contemporary ‘museal cultures.’ Dr Barkhuizen is a lecturer in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, and Dr Cawood in the Department of Philosophy.

In her thesis, Dr Merlene Esau makes a considerable contribution to the development of social-work practices by focusing on child-led households as a vulnerable group in South Africa. Dr Esau is a lecturer and head of the Department of Social Work. Dr Alta Grobbelaar from the Department of Political Studies and Governance looks in her thesis at the interrelationship between the media and terrorist groups in Africa, while Dr Wade Goodrick from the Department of Sociology focused his thesis on the risks associated with unconventional gas developments in South Africa.

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

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