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13 December 2022 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Supplied
Prof Mogomme Masoga
Prof Mogomme Masoga, newly appointed Dean: Faculty of the Humanities.

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the appointment of Prof Mogomme Masoga as Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities for a five-year term during its quarterly meeting on 25 November 2022. 

He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zululand. 

“Prof Masoga has extensive and an impressive national and international research standing, established networks and partnerships, and substantive management experience. He is a visionary leader and a renowned scholar and will be able to lead and manage the faculty at academic, research, engaged scholarship, and community-service level,” says Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor. 

Prof Masoga holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of the Free State. He began his academic career with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he proceeded to complete two honours and a master’s degree. He received a second Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of South Africa.

Prof Masoga has an excellent record of research publication within the broad niche area of Oral History, Africanism, and Indigenous Knowledge System Studies. He has developed a well-grounded sense of autonomy and involvement, as he has been able to establish a number of research projects and has produced single and co-authored articles. He was able to synergise and sustain his research niche on Africanism and Indigenous Knowledge Studies, which has informed his research over the years. 

He has maintained a coherent research trajectory as a recognised NRF-rated scholar in Indigenous Knowledge System Studies. Prof Masoga’s participation in international collaborative projects has had a positive impact on his scholarly growth, as well as on other colleagues and departments in his faculty at the University of Zululand. 

“Prof Masoga will be able to sustain his existing networks and build new ones that will support research and postgraduate studies at the UFS. This will be particularly valuable in support of the university’s Vision 130, which expresses the institution’s strategic intent to position itself in the period leading up to 2034 when the university will be 130 years old. Vision 130 furthermore exemplifies our commitment to be acknowledged by our peers and society as a top-tier university in South Africa, ranked among the best in the world,” says Prof Petersen. 

Prof Masoga will assume duty on 1 March 2023.

News Archive

Meet Dr Aliza le Roux, Prestige Scholar
2013-07-10

 

Dr Aliza le Roux
Ground-breaking research on gelada ape made waves.

Photo: Sonia Small
10 July 2013


Dr Aliza le Roux is an NRF Y2-rated senior lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Entomology on the Qwaqwa Campus. She joined the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP) in 2013.

Dr le Roux has devoted the past decade to research on the cognitive and communicative skills of wild mammals in the arid regions of South Africa and the highlands of Ethiopia.

She spent four years as postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan, leading to ground-breaking work on the cognitive and communicative underpinnings of gelada monkey behaviour. This was published in Nature Communications and created waves in the international scholarly community.

Most recently, Dr le Roux has focused on the paternal care of an eccentric canid– the bat-eared fox. She is convinced that we have much to learn about ourselves from animals outside the primate order. This unusual little fox eats mainly termites, and males – rather than females – take care of the offspring. The reason why, is still a mystery Dr le Roux hopes to unravel. Little is known about the physiological stress that foxes face, or how paternal care affects the father, the mother, and the pups. Even in humans, the true impact of paternal care is poorly understood.

With this ground-breaking project, Dr le Roux hopes not only to describe the ecology and physiology of fatherhood, but also how a father’s care can affect the cognitive development of his offspring.

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