Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
06 February 2025 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied
Dr Jared McDonald
Prof Jared McDonald, Assistant Dean: Faculty of The Humanities at the University of the Free State, obtained his first National Research Foundation rating in the C2 category.

Obtaining his first National Research Foundation (NRF) rating has been the goal of Prof Jared McDonald, Assistant Dean: Faculty of The Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS), since 2020 when he was selected for the UFS Transforming the Professoriate Mentoring Programme.

Prof McDonald obtained a C2 rating recently and credits the programme, under the leadership of Dr Henriëtte van den Berg, who provided invaluable support and mentorship, for this achievement. This rating recognises Prof McDonald as an established researcher and he may enjoy some international recognition for the quality and impact of his recent research outputs. 

“I am delighted to have received a C2 rating. I was hoping to obtain a C2, so when I received confirmation, it felt really good. Since being recruited to the Transforming the Professoriate Programme I have been focused on producing a series of quality journal articles, and importantly, my first monograph. At times it was a struggle to balance the demands of being Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Humanities along with my teaching responsibilities,” says Prof McDonald.

He says obtaining the rating would not have been possible without the interventions of the programme, which assisted him in securing funding for a sabbatical. The encouragement of colleagues and family was equally valuable in helping him to keep his eye on the goal.


Research 

As a nineteenth-century historian, Prof McDonald’s, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, research includes topics ranging from the London Missionary Society’s missions to the San as well as the role of controversial missionaries in influencing public discourse on the right to legal equality and social inclusion for indigenous subjects of the British Crown. Another topic is the ways in which evangelical-humanitarian discourse inadvertently provided the justification for the transfer of San children to Cape colonial society. 

“In my publications, the key actors, including Khoesan, are revealed to have been exercising agency in response to a social and political context that was not of their own choosing, but to which they had to respond. The contradictions of the period, coupled with the prospects for blurring the social boundaries of an otherwise strict hierarchical society, provided the means for social manoeuvre and options for resistance from within the confines of the colonial state. I am continuing to explore these ideas in a series of upcoming journal articles and book chapters,” he says. 

The pressure, says Prof McDonald, is already on to retain his rating, and hopefully improve it, when it comes up for review in five years’ time. He is currently working on his second monograph, which is a historical biography of a controversial, but fascinating, missionary who played a notable role in South African history in the early nineteenth century. “The worth of any historical biography lies in the biographer’s ability to shed light on the circumstances, contingencies, and contradictions that shaped the contours of the protagonist’s life, thus illuminating the historical context,” concludes Prof McDonald. 

He seeks to relate his research to his approach to teaching by exploring innovative ways of making the past relevant to students today. This is motivated by the conviction that the elucidation of possibilities of agency in the past raises the prospect for students to engage with the meanings and possibilities of agency in the present.

News Archive

2015 Open Day on Bloemfontein Campus inspires prospective students
2015-05-14

Photo: Charl Devenish

“Here we use our minds and not muscles. We use reason and not rage.”

This is how Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), described what being a Kovsie is.

Prof Jansen welcomed thousands of prospective students and their parents to the Bloemfontein Campus on Saturday 9 May 2015 for the annual Open Day.

“Academics are everything. We don’t expect you to do well. We expect you to excel,” he said.

Prospective students got a taste of the #KovsieFeeling with a mind-dazzling laser show, a surprise performance by Micasa, the introduction of our sports champions, and an inspiring message from our SRC President, Mosa Leteane.

“When you are comfortable, you are not challenged. You can only learn to grow when you are uncomfortable.”

Visitors also had first-hand experience of how accessible Prof Jansen really is. At the Talk to Me gazebo outside his office, Prof Jansen dished up food while having a chat with parents. This gesture echoed Prof Jansen’s message: “If you want to be a decent human being, welcome to Kovsies.”

To all its visitors, the 2015 Kovsie Open Day, with all its fun and laughter, reflected the truth of the UFS as an academic institution that inspires excellence and transforms lives.

Even if you missed the Kovsie Open Day, be sure to grab the chance to study at our university, and ensure a lifetime of excellence and innovation. You can visit our Prospective Student webpage for more information.

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