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American Jon Kehrer astonished by Dean’s Medal honour, praises UFS Hebrew’s quality

18 May 2022 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Supplied

It was a former professor who influenced American scholar Jon Kehrer to further his academic journey with the Department of Hebrew at the University of the Free State (UFS). And it was at the UFS where he recently graduated cum laude with a master’s degree in Hebrew, and was named recipient of the Dean’s Medal.

Although he never expected to receive the Dean’s Medal, he is very glad – and somewhat relieved – that his dissertation made it through the examiners. “I never anticipated receiving this award. It makes me even more grateful for the strong Hebrew Department at UFS, and their rigorous standards for their students,” Kehrer says.

“I wish I had been able to attend the graduation ceremony, but the circumstances of the semester just did not allow it.” Kehrer is currently teaching in the areas of the Old Testament and Biblical Languages at the Ozark Christian College (OCC) in Missouri, USA. In addition to his UFS qualifications Kehrer also holds a Bachelor of Theology qualification from the OCC. “I love the opportunity to invest in students and help them see new perspectives,” he says.

UFS Hebrew a firm foundation for a solid academic career

“I was looking for a high-quality and challenging programme that was flexible, especially since I work full-time and have a large family,” Kehrer says, as he recalls how he initially decided to become part of the UFS. He remembers fondly how Dr Kevin Chau, senior lecturer in Hebrew at the UFS, motivated and supported him when he first enrolled for the BA Honours programme.

It is also a testament that the Department of Hebrew has made an impact internationally for the quality of its academic offerings. “Dr Chau helped me to think about how what I was learning would have an impact on my research and teaching in the future, and he was always quick to provide thorough and constructive feedback on my work,” Kehrer says.

Once enrolled for the master’s programme it was initially difficult to know which direction to pursue and what topic to research, but the guidance and support of his two advisors, Prof Cynthia Miller-Naude and Prof Jacobus Naude, was “very helpful”.

“They never dictated what paths I should pursue, but they listened carefully and provided expert guidance to help me choose the path that would best suit my interests and the needs of the field,” he says.

It was this support from the Department of Hebrew and its excellent reputation that came full circle when Kehrer was named Dean’s Medal recipient for achieving the highest marks of any student in a master’s qualification in the UFS Faculty of The Humanities.

Dissertation a closer look at verbs in Biblical Hebrew

His dissertation focused on Biblical Hebrew and how the object of a verb appears in various ways. “Sometimes an object appears by itself, but sometimes it can have a preposition or a two-consonant Biblical Hebrew particle along with it. Many Bible translations treat all these objects the same,” he says. “I wanted to try to understand why these variations occurred, so I looked at how different sentence elements might contribute to the variation. It was a fascinating study!”

Kehrer believes it is important for university students to continue studying classical subjects like Hebrew. “I think we can all learn much from those who have gone before us, and so much wisdom and insight is connected to these ancient Biblical Hebrew texts, texts that would be inaccessible to us without translation,” he says.

“I also think classical disciplines can help train students to think well and to read critically – essential skills for living in today’s ever-changing world.”

News Archive

Another boost for sport at the UFS

2005-10-13

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has officially appointed Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd, which has former Springbok rugby captain Morné du Plessis as managing director, to manage its Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Services (CESSS) on the Bloemfontein campus.

According to Prof Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Academic Operations, the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is another step in the implementation of the UFS’s wide-ranging sport strategy to improve sport facilities and elevate formerly marginalized sports such as soccer, hockey, netball, tennis etc.

Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is the manager of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and coordinates and manages the national basketball high-performance programme of SA Basketball, as well as the Boxing Academy on behalf of Boxing South Africa.

“It is also actively involved with the sports plans of several tertiary institutions like that of the University of Johannesburg and the University of Stellenbosch,” said Prof Verschoor.

“Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was also appointed by the Ministry of Sport and Recreation to manage the allocation of sports codes to high-performance centres and to oversee the allocation of monies received from the National Lottery to these centres – this includes the CESSS at the UFS,” Prof Verschoor added.

In unfolding its national sports plan, the Ministry of Sport and Recreation has already identified the UFS-based CESSS as the high-performance testing centre for the national basketball teams whilst the national boxing teams are also earmarked to be trained at the UFS.

“We are glad to be associated with a company of this stature and look forward to work with them in the further development of sports at the UFS,” said Prof Verschoor.

According to Prof Verschoor, the CESSS will act as a centralised body that is responsible for the coordination and management of joint initiatives between professional service providers, research projects and KovsieSport.

“The centre will also coordinate and manage joint initiatives between various academic programmes in different academic subject fields such as sports medicine, bio kinetics, physiotherapy, dietetics, etc. ,” said Prof Verschoor.

These initiatives will help the UFS to become a centre and catalyst of sports development, to become internationally recognised in the field of exercise and sports science research and to become a centre for high quality sports performance enhancement.

Some of the objectives of the CESSS are:

To provide sports science services like to athletes, students, the general public and other stakeholders including certain national sport teams.
To provide the necessary teaching and training facilities and internship opportunities for UFS students in sports related fields of study will also be provided by the centre like human movement science.
To present skills-transfer programmes directed at the broader community like development of skills in various sporting codes.
To continue and extend the current chronic risk reversal programmes presented by the Department of Human Movement Science such as obesity management, cardiac rehabilitation and other lifestyle related conditions.

The centre was founded in 2003 and was until now managed by Dr Louis Holtzhausen, from Kovsie Health and a consultant, Dr Gary Vorster.

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed today by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The manager of the centre appointed by Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is Mr Charles Store, an alumnus of the UFS, previously employed at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town and by the SANDF at 3 Military Hospital, Bloemfontein.

Media release
Issued by: Anton Fisher
Director: Strategic Communication
072-207-8334
12 October 2005

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