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03 April 2023 | Story Dr Cinde Greyling | Photo Susan Bowlus
Maye Musk
Maye Musk.
On 12 April 2023, the University of the Free State (UFS) will confer an Honorary Doctorate in Dietetics to Maye Musk. Honorary Doctorate is a prestigious title for individuals in recognition of their outstanding contribution to a particular field or society. It is based on generous and altruistic actions or lifetime accomplishments that benefit a community, nation, or humanity in general, which makes Musk a perfect recipient for this esteemed award. 

Musk is an international best-selling author, dietitian, model, and public speaker. Her book, A woman makes a plan, is available in 100 countries and published in 30 languages. She has run her own nutrition business in eight cities and three countries for more than 45 years. Her company offered  professional services in counselling, speaking, consulting, writing, and media work. In addition to her skills, Musk’s leadership traits pivoted her into being the first Representative of the Consulting Dietitians of South Africa, President of the Consulting Dietitians of Canada, and Chair of the Nutrition Entrepreneurs, Academy of Dietetics and Nutrition.

Paving the way for many to follow in her footsteps, Musk was the first dietitian to run a website, and the only dietitian to take the registration exams in three countries. Her passion for nutrition and empowerment has seen her speak at events around the world, including Melbourne, Stockholm, Kiev, Budapest, Cannes, Beirut and most of the major cities in the USA, Canada, and South Africa. She also won the Outstanding Nutrition Entrepreneur Award in the USA.

Considering all Musk’s accomplishments, it is inspiring that her research studies in nutritional sciences began at the University of the Free State when she was accepted for a Diploma in Hospital Dietetics at the Universitas Hospital. Upon completion, she was offered a bursary for a Master of Science degree before moving to Canada, her country of birth.

The UFS is privileged to be associated with Musk, and grateful for her contribution to the field of nutrition, which affects overall human well-being. The awarding of the honorary degree coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Department of Dietetics. 

News Archive

Transformation in higher education discussed at colloquium
2013-05-16

16 May 2013

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The University of the Free State hosted the Higher Education Transformation Colloquium earlier this month on the Bloemfontein Campus.

On Monday 6 May 2013 till Wednesday 8 May 2013 the event brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including some members of university councils; vice-chancellors; academics and researchers; leaders of student formations and presidents of student representative councils; transformation managers; executive directors with responsibility for transformation in various universities, members of the newly established Transformation Oversight Committee and senior representatives from the Department of Higher Education and Training.

The event examined and debated some of the latest research studies and practices on the topic, as well as selected case studies from a number of public universities in South Africa.

Delivering a presentation at the colloquium, Dr Lis Lange, Senior Director of the Directorate for Institutional Research and Academic Planning at the UFS, said transformation in South Africa has been oversimplified and reduced to numbers, and the factors that might accelerate or slow the process have not been taken into account.

Dr Lange was delivering a paper, titled: The knowledge(s) of transformation: an archaeological perspective.

Dr Lange argued that “in the process of translating evolving political arguments into policy making, the intellectual, political and moral elements that shaped the conceptualisation of transformation in the early 1990s in South Africa, were reduced and oversimplified.”

She said crucial aspects of this reduction were the elimination of paradox and contradiction in the concept; the establishment of one accepted register of what transformation was and it is becoming sector-specific or socially blind. This means that the process was narrowed down in the policy texts and in the corresponding implementation strategies to the transformation of higher education, the schools system, the judiciary and the media, without keeping an eye on the structural conditions that can influence it in one way or another.

Dr Lange said the need for accountability further helped with reduction of transformation. “Because government and social institutions are accountable for their promises, transformation had to be measured and demonstrated.”

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