Bult - University of the Free State

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Many a formidable woman has graced, and continues to grace, our planet. Women like Charlotte Maxeke, the first black woman in South Africa to obtain a degree. Mary Fitzgerald, the first woman on the City Council of Johannesburg. Miriam Makeba. Helen Suzman. Your granny. My mom. Ladies we call our best friends. Everyone leaves a legacy. Sisterhood is alive and well, and at Kovsies they are empowering women. Appreciating them. Developing their potential. By Cindé Mostert. fusion The leading edge The University of the Free State the School of Management, now ten years old, is proud to present a programme called Creating leadership and personal capacity in women*, which was developed by thinking fusion on request of Danie Jacobs of the Centre for Business Dynamics. They also developed Leadership in the connection economy, as well as Leading: A programme for executives. All three programmes are registered on NQF Level 6 with a value of 42 credits that are recognised for the B. Degree in Business Leadership offered at Kovsies, or any other relevant qualification at other tertiary institutions. Danie requested Dr René Uys and Harry van der Merwe of thinking fusion, to write a programme that not only aids women (managers) to develop fully as leaders, but a programme that also adapts the leadership culture of the organisation to meet the demands of the connection economy. “René and Harry wrote phenomenal programmes,” Danie explains, barely able to contain his enthusiasm. “One must realise,” they say, “that these are programmes for people in management positions. And more specifically, it is leadership programmes. Leadership involves behaviour, which needs to be acquired. Accordingly, the programme is presented for 16 days spread over a period of seven months. People *Programme image actually have the opportunity to practise and apply what they have learnt.” René is of the opinion that organisations take a major decision when they choose to present one of the programmes. Not only in financial terms, but also because the newly learnt skills of the leaders, will most certainly have an impact on the existing leadership culture of the organisation. “A positive impact, certainly! But change is inevitable.” Large organisations like Sasol, FNB, Momentum, FET Colleges, Vodacom, Kumba Iron Ore, SA Post Office, Free State Department of Education and Sita have to date realised the value of these programmes. René explains, “The philosophy behind the programmes is to develop the individual as well as the organisation. That’s why we work with groups of 20-30 from one organisation. We also apply the specific organisation’s values, culture and strategy instead of case studies to optimise learning and applicability.” “We want to make a change in our own country. We want to empower people to cope with and master their circumstances.” According to Danie, these programmes were the first of its kind in South Africa and have given Kovsies a national footprint. Suddenly the business sector realises that we have a great deal to offer.” Personeel 40 Bult 41
Personeel Staff Photos: Hannes Pieterse Maryke excels in the genetic improvement of crops By Lacea Loader Last year was probably one of the best years in the career of Prof. Maryke Labuschagne, head of the division Plant Breeding at our university. Not only did she win three national awards for her research, but she also obtained over R1 million in research funding from local and overseas funders. She is one of the leading researchers in her field in the country. The focus of her research team is the improvement of crop quality in South Africa and Africa, specifically in wheat, cassava, sweet potato, cocoyam and maize. “Half of my students are conducting research on cassava because it is the second most important staple food in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Prof. Labuschagne said. In 2008 she received the National Science and Technology Forum Award for research capacity building in the last five to ten years that resulted from the training, under her supervision, of a large number of especially black post-graduate students from South Africa and Africa. She was winner of the Cereal Science and Technology, South Africa, prize for research and development and received prize money and an award. And, at the end of 2008 the Agricultural Writers’ Association of South Africa also elected her as National Agriculturist of the Year 2008. She received this award for her research on gluten protein in wheat that was conducted with scientists from Sweden and Hungary. Prof. Labuschagne’s achievements are proof that teaching and research are of an exceptional high standard at our university. “To be recognised for this research is a great honour and privilege – it also provided exposure to my field of study,” she said. Although she has done research with several universities overseas, her focus is now on Africa because there is such an opportunity for research on the continent. “My research team focuses on the genetic improvement of crops that can provide better nutrition to people. This can also help small-scale farmers of Africa,” she said. Her passion is her students. “I am supervisor to twelve Ph.D. and seven master’s students. Most of them are part-time and are from countries such as Kenia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Ghana, Malawi, Ethiopia and Namibia,” said Prof. Labuschagne. Her division has excellent networks with large institutions such as CIMMYT, the international maize and wheat centre based in Kenya and Zimbabwe, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) based in Nigeria, Malawi and Kenya and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in Kenya. Most of the students are also funded by these companies. Being their mentor, Prof. Labuschagne visits them regularly to look at their field experiments. Klas van 1980 wys landbou hoe Agttien jaar nadat hulle saam in die eerstejaarchemieklas gesit het, het Maryke Labuschagne en Alfonso Visser verlede jaar met die toppryse van die Landbouskrywersvereniging weggestap. Die Landbouskrywers SA, Ou Mutual, Mutual & Federal en Nedbank maak jaarliks toekennings aan top- Suid- Afrikaanse boere en landboukundiges. Prof. Maryke Labuschagne, is as Suid-Afrika se Landboukundige van die jaar bekroon, terwyl mnr. Alfonso Visser, ’n boer van Hartswater, die SA Boer van die Jaar is. Hy het die grade B.Sc.Agric. (1986) en B.Sc.Agric. Hons. (1987) aan die universiteit behaal en She works with the South African Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and collaborates with them to train plant breeders. Other cooperative agreements include research on cassava with the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. Some of her students from Africa do their practical training at CIAT. She is has a C grading from the National Research Foundation and has published almost a hundred scientific publications, delivered about fifty papers at national conferences and more than forty at international conferences. in 2004 ook hier ’n kursus in finansiële beplanning en bestuur (landbou) bygewoon. Prof. Labuschagne en mnr. Visser het gedurende die 1980’s saam eerstejaarchemieklasse bygewoon. Albei is deur mnr. Charl van Rooyen, ook ’n oud- Kovsie wat verlede jaar sy magister in Volhoubare Landbou aan die UV behaal het, benoem. Hy is assistent-redakteur van Landbouweekblad in Pretoria, sekretaris van Landbouskrywers SA en uitvoerende bestuurslid van die Internasionale Federasie van Landboujoernaliste. – Bydrae deur Charl van Rooyen. Prof. Maryke Labuschagne en mnr. Alfonso Visser (links) met hul toekennings. Saam met hulle is mnr. Marlon de Jager van Aberdeen wat as Opkomende Boer van die Jaar aangewys is. Heel regs is Mnr. Charl van Rooyen van Landbouweekblad. 42 Bult 43
Page 1 and 2: Bult Nuus Redakteur / Editor: Leati
Page 3 and 4: Nuus News Jonathan Jansen wants to
Page 5 and 6: Nuus News Na maande van oortuiging
Page 7 and 8: Nuus News It is a cursed evil to an
Page 9 and 10: Foto: Prof. Jan-Albert van den Berg
Page 11 and 12: Nuus News Regter Hefer roep tere he
Page 13 and 14: Nuus News Boyden central to astrono
Page 15 and 16: Nuus Dr Luis Schwalbach, vetenarian
Page 17 and 18: Navorsing Research Die kokkerot in
Page 19: Navorsing Research Nicolene Cloete
Page 23 and 24: Personeel Staff Letticia at home in
Page 25 and 26: Personeel Johan Meyer praises the b
Page 27 and 28: Students Graduates should do youth
Page 29 and 30: Studente Kompetisie lok steeds room
Page 31 and 32: Studente Students Die ‘groot appe
Page 33 and 34: Alumni Veritas word dertig Huis Ver
Page 35 and 36: Alumni Alumni Hulle bly vir ons kos
Page 37 and 38: Alumni Therese wil nog magic maak D
Page 39: Alumni Johan and prof. Helena van Z

Bult - University of the Free State

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