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Vice-Chancellors of foremost UK and USA universities among recipients of SU honorary degrees
Author: Corporate Communication / Korporatiewe Kommunikasie (Martin Viljoen)
Published: 17/10/2018

Current and former vice-chancellors of three leading universities in the UK and the USA are among the latest group of recipients of honorary degrees from Stellenbosch University. The world's premier postcolonial literary theorist, the president of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), a world-renowned mathematical scientist, an outstanding South African jurist in the field of human rights and constitutional law and one of South Africa's leading winemakers, will also be honoured in this way.

The recipients are:

  • Prof Homi K Bhabha, a literary theorist from Harvard in the USA;
  • Prof Dame Glynis Marie Breakwell, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath whose contribution to social psychology is globally significant;
  • Mr Jan Boland Coetzee, one of South Africa's leading winemakers, leader in the technical, social and management development of the South African wine industry and former Springbok rugby player;
  • Dr Shirely Ann Jackson, President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the USA, a member of President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and first African American woman to obtain a doctorate in physics in the USA;
  • Mr Lesetja Kganyago, President of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and Chair of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (the primary advisory body to the International Monetary Fund board of governors);
  • Prof John Latham, Vice-Chancellor of Coventry University and higher education leader of note;
  • Prof Lloyd N. Trefethen, a world-renowned mathematical scientist from Oxford, who is helping to cultivate a new generation of mathematical scientists on the African continent;
  • Justice Zak Yacoob, an outstanding South African jurist in the field of human rights and constitutional law

Breakwell, Bhabha, Kganyago and Yacoob will receive the degrees at the December 2018 Graduation Ceremony, while Coetzee, Jackson, Latham and Trefethen will be honoured at March 2019 ceremony.

“We would like to honour the recipients for their significant contributions to humanity. They embody SU's mission to enrich and transform communities – in our country, elsewhere on our continent and worldwide. They are an inspiration to us," said Prof Wim de Villiers, SU Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

SU confers honorary doctorates to acknowledge excellence in a variety of fields as well as to identify the individuals concerned as role models for the University community.

The December graduation ceremonies take place from 10 to 14 December, while the March 2019 ceremonies are held from 1 to 5 April.