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Dr Sebolao honoured with prestigious HERS-SA Award

22 October 2024 | Story Jacky Tshokwe | Photo Supplied

The University of the Free State (UFS) is proud to announce that Dr Rosaline Sebolao, our Teaching and Learning Manager in the Faculty of The Humanities, has been recognised with an award from Higher Education Resource Services South Africa (HERS-SA). At the ceremony, Dr Sebolao was one of the top five finalists for her exceptional contributions to higher education, particularly in academic administration.

The HERS-SA Award celebrates outstanding women in academic administration, acknowledging their crucial role in supporting and transforming the higher education landscape. According to Dr Sebolao, “The significance of this award lies in its developmental and transformative impact.” She explains that it highlights the essential contributions made by women in academic administration and encourages gender transformation within universities. This recognition empowers women to take on leadership roles, shifting the focus beyond traditional academic achievements.

Award recipients are selected based on a minimum of five years of demonstrated leadership in academic administration. Dr Sebolao’s innovative leadership practices, her contributions to institutional performance, her peer mentoring, and community engagement were all key criteria in her selection. Her mentoring efforts, particularly through school visits and support for underprivileged students, have made a lasting impact on the community and her peers.

Reflecting on the honour of receiving the award, Dr Sebolao describes it as “humbling and exciting”. She felt especially inspired as a mentor, noting that this recognition has the potential to encourage young women and men to strive for excellence in their academic and administrative pursuits.

Achievements leading to the award

In her role as Teaching and Learning Manager, Dr Sebolao has made significant contributions to both students and academics at the UFS. She has initiated several impactful projects, including the establishment of student indabas and entrepreneurial initiatives aimed at addressing graduate unemployment. Her commitment to improving communication led to the launch of a faculty newsletter, enhancing engagement among academics.

Among her most notable achievements is the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) project, which culminated in the UFS’ inaugural SoTL seminar in July 2024. She also spearheaded the Humanities Excellence Awards, encouraging faculty to pursue greater academic and research recognition. Her dedication to engaged scholarship extended beyond the university, resulting in community collaborations such as the establishment of a school library in Ikgomotseng, promoting literacy and education among local learners.

Dr Sebolao’s academic journey began after transitioning from the business sector to academia in 2013. Her experience in roles such as Peer Mentorship Coordinator and Teaching and Learning Coordinator at the Central University of Technology, and later as Manager of Special Projects in Teaching and Learning, helped shape her leadership style. She joined the UFS during the challenging COVID-19 period, a time that also marked some of her greatest achievements.

One of the key challenges that Dr Sebolao faced was overcoming the isolated nature of work within the faculty. By fostering a collaborative culture, she succeeded in promoting teamwork and innovation across departments. This approach not only improved institutional collaboration, but also strengthened her professional impact.

Dr Sebolao’s relationship with HERS-SA has been instrumental in her development as a leader in higher education. Since participating in the HERS-SA Academy in 2018, she has connected with influential women in the sector and solidified her commitment to mentoring others. Winning this award affirms the importance of mentoring and paves the way for future leaders in higher education.

Looking to the future, Dr Sebolao aspires to continue championing gender transformation in leadership. She aims to empower more women, particularly black women, to take on leadership roles within academia. Her focus is on fostering community development through collaborative projects that promote sustainable living, aligning with her broader vision for teaching and learning at the UFS.

Dr Sebolao encourages young women to believe in their abilities and seek mentorship for guidance and support. She emphasises that perseverance, coupled with a strong support network, is essential to achieving leadership success in higher education.

Outside of her professional life, Dr Sebolao draws motivation from her family and community work. Guided by Ecclesiastes 9:10, which emphasises dedication in all endeavours, and inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” she remains committed to leading with passion and integrity.

The UFS community is incredibly proud of Dr Sebolao’s achievement and her continuous contributions to academic excellence and gender transformation in higher education. This award is a testament to her tireless efforts and dedication to empowering others.

News Archive

NRF researcher addresses racial debates in classrooms

2017-03-24

Description: Dr Marthinus Conradie Tags: Dr Marthinus Conradie

Dr Marthinus Conradie, senior lecturer in the
Department of English, is one of 31 newly-rated National
Research Foundation researchers at the University of
the Free State.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

Exploring numerous norms and assumptions that impede the investigation of racism and racial inequalities in university classrooms, was central to the scope of the research conducted by Dr Marthinus Conradie, a newly Y-rated National Research Foundation (NRF) researcher.

Support from various colleagues
He is one of 31 newly-rated researchers at the University of the Free State (UFS) and joins the 150 plus researchers at the university who have been rated by the NRF. Dr Conradie specialises in sociolinguistics and cultural studies in the UFS Department of English. “Most of the publications that earned the NRF rating are aimed to contributing a critical race theoretic angle to longstanding debates about how questions surrounding race and racism are raised in classroom contexts,” he said.

Dr Conradie says he is grateful for the support from his colleagues in the Department of English, as well as other members of the Faculty of the Humanities. “Although the NRF rating is assigned to a single person, it is undoubtedly the result of support from a wide range of colleagues, including co-authors Dr Susan Brokensha, Prof Angelique van Niekerk, and Dr Mariza Brooks, as well as our Head of Department, Prof Helene Strauss,” he said.

Should debate be free of emotion?
His ongoing research has not been assigned a title yet, as he and his co-author does not assign titles prior to drafting the final manuscript. “Most, but not all, of the publications included in my application to the NRF draw from discourse analysis of a Foucauldian branch, including discursive psychology,” Dr Conradie says. His research aims to suggest directions and methods for exploring issues about race, racism, and racial equality relating to classroom debates. One thread of this body of work deals with the assumption that classroom debates must exclude emotions. Squandering opportunities to investigate the nature and sources of the emotions provoked by critical literature, might obstruct the discussion of personal histories and experiences of discrimination. “Equally, the demand that educators should control conversations to avoid discomfort might prevent in-depth treatment of broader, structural inequalities that go beyond individual prejudice,” Dr Conradie said. A second stream of research speaks to media representations and cultural capital in advertising discourse. A key example examines the way art from European and American origins are used to imbue commercial brands with connotations of excellence and exclusivity, while references to Africa serve to invoke colonial images of unspoiled landscapes.

A hope to inspire further research
Dr Conradie is hopeful that fellow academics will refine and/or alter the methods he employed, and that they will expand, reinterpret, and challenge his findings with increasing relevance to contemporary concerns, such as the drive towards decolonisation. “When I initially launched the research project (with significant aid from highly accomplished co-authors), the catalogue of existing scholarly works lacked investigations along the particular avenues I aimed to address.”

Dr Conradie said that his future research projects will be shaped by the scholarly and wider social influences he looks to as signposts and from which he hopes to gain guidelines about specific issues in the South African society to which he can make a fruitful contribution.

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