What you need to know about Rhodes' first black female deputy vice chancellor Dr Monnapula-Mapesela

Rhodes University has welcomed its first black woman deputy vice chancellor, Dr Mabokang Monnapula-Mapesela.

She was appointed on Monday and is taking over from Dr Chrissie Boughey who retired at the end of June.

Here's what you need to know about Dr Monnapula-Mapesela.

Academia

Dr Monnapula-Mapesela holds a doctorate in Higher Education. She also served as the senior director of the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching.

Before this post, she served as the Senior Director and Dean of Academic Development and Support at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein, Free State, for 10 years.

Her academic experience has also taken her to the United States, where she served as a visiting Professor in the Executive Directorate in Education Administration Programme at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, New York.

Interests

She has been in academia for 19 years, working in previously white universities. Her interests are higher education policy, transformation, and teaching and learning.

She has supervised and mentored many postgraduate students, mainly women, as well as presented scholarly papers at conferences - nationally and internationally - and has published more than 25 research papers and chapters in scholarly books.

New role

In her role as the deputy vice chancellor at Rhodes, Dr Monnapula-Mapesela will have direct line management responsibility for the deans and the director of marketing and communications.

She will also be required to lead the planning process, and play a significant role in aligning the efforts of the professional services with the delivery of the university’s mandate.