New Deputy Vice-Chancellor: People Development and Culture appointed
- Wits University
Professor Garth Stevens will oversee Human Resources, Transformation and Employment Equity, the Disability Rights Unit and other related units.
Professor Stevens' appointment was approved by Council late last week following it being tabled at the Senate and the University Forum.
He will occupy this reconfigured post as Deputy-Vice Chancellor: People Development and Culture. The post seeks to address the current and future challenges related to people development and institutional culture at the University. He will also aim to address the intersection between technology, transformation, diversity and inclusion within the South African higher education context.
He will oversee Human Resources, Transformation and Employment Equity, the Disability Rights Unit and other units which fall within the broader equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice portfolios. You are welcome to read his statement of intent and view his full curriculum vitae on the intranet. He will take up the post from 1 January 2023 for a period of five years.
Professor Stevens currently serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, a position that he has held for almost four years. He has previously held the positions of Acting Dean, Deputy Dean, Co-Assistant Dean (Graduate Studies), and Assistant Dean (Research) in the Faculty. Prior to joining Wits in 2006, he lectured at the University of the Western Cape in the Psychology Department, conducted research at the University of South Africa’s Institute for Social and Health Sciences, and worked as a researcher on the Medical Research Council-UNISA’s co-directed Crime, Violence and Injury Lead Programme.
A clinical psychologist by training, Garth is also a Professor of Psychology and is the Past- President of the Psychological Society of South Africa. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and held a B-rating from the National Research Foundation in his last review period.
His enduring research interests include foci on race, racism and related social asymmetries, historical/collective trauma and memory, and critical studies of violence. He was the co-lead researcher on the Apartheid Archive Project, examining experiences of racism during apartheid and their continuing effects in contemporary South Africa. Professor Stevens is also the co-lead researcher on the Violent States, States of Violence Project, which re-engages a theorisation of violence in the contemporary world.
"On behalf of the Senior Executive Team, we wish Professor Stevens success in his new position, and look forward to working with him in this role. The search process for a new Dean of the Faculty of Humanities will be initiated soon," says Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal.