Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
03 January 2023
|
Story Lacea Loader
|
Photo Evert Kleynhans
Dr Dolf van Niekerk.
The University of the Free State (UFS) would like to express its condolences to the family and friends of South African author, Dr Dolf van Niekerk, on his passing.
Dr Van Niekerk, the recipient of an
honorary doctorate from the UFS, passed away on 31 December 2022. The UFS awarded a Doctor of Letters to Dr Dolf van Niekerk during its April 2021 graduation ceremony.
Dr Van Niekerk was a celebrated author who also achieved fame as a dramatist and radio presenter. An alumnus of the UFS, he received a BA degree from the university cum laude in 1949. He also played a role in academia and was an emeritus professor at the University of Pretoria until his retirement in 1994. His work includes 27 books in philosophy, poetry, fiction, drama, and memoirs, for which he has received numerous awards. These include the
Eugene Marais Prize, the MER Prize, and the Scheepers Award for Youth Literature.
“Dr van Niekerk is a Kovsie alumnus with a deep connection to the Free State. He played a significant role in the country’s literary history, and it was an honour for the university to award him with an honorary degree. A wordsmith of note, Dr van Niekerk’s contributions to South African literature, radio, and stage will live on," says
Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor.
Sorghum breeder from Texas visited UFS
2005-05-24
The Plant Pathology Division of the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) was recently visited by Prof Gary Peterson, a sorghum breeder from Texas A&M University. Prof Peterson is also Southern African regional coordinator for the International Sorghum and Millets Collaborative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL). The aim of his visit was to investigate the possibility of adding to the compliment of INTSORMIL-supported students at the UFS by funding a sorghum breeder at PhD level at the Centre for Plant Health Management in the Department of Plant Sciences.
From left: Profs Neal McLaren from the Plant Pathology Division at the UFS; Wijnand Swart, Chairperson: Centre for Plant Health Management at the UFS and Gary Peterson