Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

CEO of Toyota Free State Cheetahs delivers guest lecture during UFS visit

29 August 2024 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Harmse Photography

The Business School at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently hosted the CEO of the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, Ross van Reenen, for a guest lecture. Van Reenen presented the guest lecture in the Business School Auditorium on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus on 21 August 2024.

Reflecting on Van Reenen’s address

In a lecture addressed to an auditorium filled with UFS staff and students, Van Reenen’s talk was divided into several sections. Firstly, he spoke about the concept of the ‘black swan’ in reference to the book written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, titled The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. Referring to Taleb’s book, Van Reenen defined a ‘black swan’ as a rare event that has a severe impact, and the occurrence of which people try to explain. He used some examples to explore this concept as well as its implications, including COVID-19 and its impact on the world, and the tragic death of the people in the Titanic disaster. However, he delved deeper into 9/11 and the extent of its impact, saying that “9/11 was a major wake-up call in the world economy”. Van Reenen highlighted how some companies such as Barclays, for which he previously consulted, had to work to be up and running after the collapse of the Twin Towers in 9/11.

In addition, Van Reenen’s lecture also touched on the importance of the first ninety days of a job after an individual has been employed. “Those first ninety days are crucial, as you have to establish yourself in a company where you are paid less than you are worth,” Van Reenen said. As such, he gave the audience insight into what they could focus on in that time frame. This includes focusing on the small wins, as well as ensuring that you are working at keeping the team together, as the team is an integral part of an organisation.

Van Reenen concluded his address by speaking about his time as the CEO of the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, including some of the decisions he took to ensure the success of the organisation.

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

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept