Professor Malose Mphahlele

Professor Malose Mphahlele was recently appointed member of the prestigious Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). He is an NRF C2-rated researcher who chairs the Department of Chemistry. The main thrust of his research is directed towards the synthesis, structural property and biological activity studies of heteroatom-containing compounds such as polysubstituted and annulated quinolones and their quinoline derivatives, and benzoheterazepine analogues.

Dr Mokhotjwa Dhlamini

Dr Mokhotjwa Dhlamini of the Department of Physics has been confirmed as the latest member of the prestigious South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS). His research interest are condensed matter physics, materials science, surface science, and Dr Dhlamini is excited about his appointment to SAYAS. “This is the best feeling ever. I am extremely honoured and blessed to be awarded the 2012 SAYAS membership and I am looking forward to the challenge.

Prof Ruth de Villiers receiving the Chancellor’s Award.

It is with mixed emotions that CSET is saying goodbye to Professor Ruth de Villiers who has been with the College for more than 26 years.

When asked about her highlights of her career at Unisa, Prof de Villiers said “ It has been a great privilege to be a member of the School of Computing.  I owe my academic growth and development in research to the supportive environment and enabling opportunities there.

And what a wonderful group of colleagues and friends!  Over the years, we have experienced many losses of members of staff, some of them being leaders and and it has shaken us…  But SoC is  a resilient school, it has always bounced back and, as new appointments are made, we gain new colleagues and new leaders who are also special people.  There’s a large group working on the Florida Campus, including many of our new staff.  We also have a number of young staff, junior lecturers,  and are ‘growing our own timber’.  Challenges lie ahead with the Big Move, but I look forward with anticipation to see where the School is in five years time.”

Some of Ruth’s particular highlights:

• Being part of CSET’s delegation that visited Ethiopia last year – an eye-opener, and an opportunity to know CSET colleagues better.
• The experience of attending international conferences and seeing parts of the world.  I try to take a couple of days leave, if possible, and do some enriching sightseeing at my own expense.
• Authoring stories for Niche and doing photography.
• It was an honor when I was appointed as one of UNISA’s first group of Research Professors.

• When asked about challenges, the energetic Prof De Villiers said “I love doing post-graduate supervision, it is rewarding!  One of the main challenges there is that some of the students are third-language English speakers, who struggle with academic writing.  So a supervisor works on two fronts – firstly, guiding and supporting on academic matters of structure, research design and content.  Secondly, helping them to write it in a way that communicates optimally what they want to say.  I wish that UNISA offered additional support in this regard.

Then there are the challenges of frustrations that crop up, often due to circumstances outside our control.  I have found that a good way of dealing with these is a sense of humour!  And, finally, there are often not enough hours in the day.”

Prof De Villiers has a passion for working with young people.  Perhaps it is because of having had four children of her own and a house that she says is always full of their friends.  Prof Ruth De Villiers added “I was privileged to lead mentoring in the School for eight years – mentoring of new staff – and a particular involvement with the young academic assistants who passed through our passages.  I came to know many of them as friends and have watched their academic growth.  Many of them became full time academics or researchers – either at UNISA or elsewhere.  In 2011, there was another new venture – the appointment of 16 junior lecturer on contract.  My advice to young academics – and to all staff- would be ‘Grab opportunities, especially the unplanned ones, and give it all you’ve got !

When asked about what she will be doing now that she is retiring?

“I will probably be taking a part-time contract in the School of Computing, so hope to stay in touch.  But I look forward to having some more time for family, hobbies and the garden.  As I mentioned, we have four children and now there are four grandchildren.  We seem to be a bunch of academics (!!); my husband was a Prof in architecture at TUKS until his retirement a few years ago, and this year, a son and daughter started work as UNISA academics.  So I am leaving two parts of me behind!  I also need really a holiday, and we are hoping to have some breakaways in 2013”.

CSET will definitely miss Prof Ruth de Villiers and according to one of her colleague from the School of Computing , Prof Judy van Biljon  “ Ruth has been one of the most energetic and hard-working members of the School. She often worked pre-hours, office hours and after hours, in office, from home and even on holiday. And it is was not only quantity, but work of very high quality. We are going to miss Ruth as a permanent staff member, but we are planning to appoint her on contract in a more limited capacity to help with supervision and mentoring in the School.”

As Professor Gugu Moche , Executive Dean of CSET noted, ‘It has  always been pleasure to interact with Professor De Villiers and we are proud as a College to have engaged with her on many issues. We respect her for having contributed significantly to the Unisa School of Computing over a considerable length of time and on behalf of CSET management we wish her all the best in this new chapter of her life.”

On behalf of Niche Online, we wish to thank her for all her contributions and we wish her all the best in her future endeavours!

CSET Support staff

CSET support staff were encouraged and, through individualised coaching, were able to discover their strengths and how they, as individuals, could contribute to the success of the College. Not only did they get to know each other better, but they also came to arrive at a better understanding of each other’s job descriptions and of how they could help each other improve in their respective jobs.
Staff learned from each other how to ‘be the best’ in their various departments and job positions. Questions and suggestions were posed and offered with a view to clarifying the duties of each department. The Dean, Prof Moche, played her part in all this by answering questions about her office openly and in detail.

In her talk with the staff, Prof Moche encouraged staff to adopt a culture of communication and collaboration. ‘If we work together, we can have a strengthened college and thus have a successful CSET,” she said.’

When it was time to get on to the dance floor, not one member of staff was found sitting down and, late into the night, CSET staff danced together to all different types of music, from Kwaito to rock.  At the end of the day, staff took the opportunity and the initiative of making a pledge to the College and themselves, and this pledge will be enlarged and framed.

CSET Support staff

In our conversation with some of the staff members, this is what they had to say about their experience of the day:

Kgaugelo Ndala, Department of Physics Secretary: ‘I have learned so much from the support staff day; the value of the various sessions is insurmountable.  It will not only edify me on a professional level, but also on a personal level.  The pledge that I made constantly reminds me to have integrity, which was defined as doing something you promised you would do when you said you would do it. I pledged to inspire at least one student a day: this is not always easy but, because of my integrity, I need to do this every day.‘
Mr Maswika Molepo, CSET Information Coordinator: ‘I realised that everyone has a role to play and that it must all start from ourselves to make the situation better  than if we complain. I was inspired as I was reminded that I am worth something in our work environment and I can become the change I want to see.’�
At the end of the day, staff were ‘armed and ready for success’. Now let us see what they do with all the information that has been given to them.

Duxi Mafolo