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13 September 2024

The composition of the UFS Council is stipulated in the UFS Statute, which was published in the Government Gazette on 10 March 2023. The Convocation has to elect two (2) external Convocation members (who are neither employees nor students of the UFS) to the Council, as required by the Statute of the UFS. The elected members will serve on the Council for a period of four years.

The Convocation comprises all persons who obtained a formal qualification from the UFS, as well as all permanent and retired academic staff members.

Members of the Convocation are invited to submit written nominations by using the Nomination Form attached hereto.

Every nomination form must be signed by 2 (two) members of the Convocation and must contain the written acceptance of the nomination by the nominee under his/her signature, as well as an abridged CV and a motivation of ± 200 words.

All nominations must reach the office of the Registrar no later than 4 October  2024.

If more than two persons are nominated, an election will be held as stipulated in the Interim Institutional Rules. More information regarding this process will follow at that stage. 

Nominations are to be submitted to:
     e-mail: registrar@ufs.ac.za

or hand-delivered to:
     Mr NN Ntsababa
     Room 51 
     1st Floor
     Main Building
     UFS Bloemfontein Campus

For any enquiries, please contact Mr NN Ntsababa at registrar@ufs.ac.za or +27 51 401 3796.

Kindly take note that late or incomplete nominations will not be accepted or considered.

Each nomination must be submitted separately.

News Archive

NASA Deep Space Navigation engineer presents at Naval Hill Planetarium
2017-03-30

Description: NASA Deep Space Navigation engineer  Tags: NASA Deep Space Navigation engineer

From the left: Chris du Plessis; US Consulate, Johannesburg,
Prof Petrus Meintjes; Dept of Physics UFS, Christopher Jacobs;
NASA, and Anthony Deaton; US Consulate Johannesburg.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

The University of the Free State (UFS) hosted NASA Deep Space engineer Christopher Jacobs on 27 March 2017 at the Bloemfontein Campus. The engagement was hosted by Prof Matie Hoffman of the Department of Physics and the Department of Institutional Advancement, in collaboration with the US Consulate General in Johannesburg.

Jacobs is stationed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology and has served as the Reference Frame Calibration task manager for 25 years. In this role he has been responsible for delivering the reference frames used to navigate NASA missions such as the Mars Science Laboratory to planetary targets.

His visit to the UFS included a presentation to the Department of Astrophysics at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and at the Naval Hill Planetarium in Bloemfontein where he spoke on Stellar GPS: Navigating the Solar System. He also spoke about the latest research and developments at NASA in Astrometry. The visit will establish and develop shared interests and possible collaboration with UFS and other institutions of interest in the country. “South Africa, because of its well-placed geographic location in the southern hemisphere, holds a lot of answers to astronomy,” Jacobs said.

He has an active interest in professional and public education, and outreach, having given public lectures around the world. “Astronomy brings people together and is a point of common interest that is key in solving environmental and geographical challenges such as climate change, therefore global cooperation is important,” he said.

Prof Hoffman welcomed the initiative by the US Consulate and the possible outcomes of joint efforts to position the UFS as a key partner in South Africa on NASA’s astronomy projects. In the coming weeks Jacobs will speak at high schools in Gauteng including the Mae Jemison US Science Reading Room in Mamelodi, Pretoria, a centre that is focused on promoting science education.

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