Wits alumni in the news
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Be inspired by the amazing Witsies in the May round-up of appointments, achievements, awards and ideas
Commerce, Law and Management
Xolani Mancotywa (BCom 2009) tells the Sowetan about being a sommelier.
The Financial Mail chats to new FirstRand CEO Alan Pullinger (BCom 1990, BCom Hons 1991, MCom 1996).
Tshimologong Precinct CEO Lesley Donna Williams spoke to 702’s Bruce Whitfield.
AnaStellar Brands founders Anastasia Dobson-du Toit (BPharm 2004, MBA 2012) and Michelle Dateling (MBA 2012) talk to Entrepreneur Magazine about their business venture.
Business Live got to know Consilium CEO Samki Koti (BCom 2000) a Iittle better.
Zanelle Mngadi (PhD 2012, MBA 2014, LLB 2018) supported her daughter Ni?a Hammond (LLB 2018) through her studies to an exceptional degree.
James Britten (BCom 2005, BCom Hons 2006, MCom 2011), Daniel Page and David McClelland (BCom 2011, BCom Hons 2011, MCom 2014) developed two exchange-traded funds which were launched on the JSE.
Andy Schmulow (BA 1993, BA Hons 1994, LLB 1998) was an adviser to the South African Treasury on the “twin peaks” financial regulatory system.
Nkareng Mpobane (BCom 2004), deputy CIO at Ashburton Investments, answered some quick questions for Business Live.
Lucia Hlongwane (BProc 1995, LLB 1997), EY’s Africa Tax Leader, talks about her working life.
Engineering and the Built Environment
Michael Magner (BArch 1996) and Edward Brooks (BArch 1996) started Activate Architecture 20 years ago – a story told to Leading Architecture & Design.
Quantity surveyor Nonku Ntshona (PGDipPD 2007, MScBuild 2013) tells Business Live about her work.
Chemical engineer Professor Diane Hildebrandt (BSc Eng 1981, MSc Eng 1984, PhD 1990) is one of South Africa’s “Science Legends”.
Adam Rosman (BSc Eng 2011) tells Forbes Africa about his work designing custom drones.
Professor Estelle Trengove notes the challenge of rising student numbers in electrical engineering and how Wits is helping them to succeed.
Peter Rich (BArch 1972, MArch 1991) has been invited to the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
Health Sciences
Times Live relates how Dr David Moore (MBBCh 1996, MMed 2009), Dr Kerrigan McCarthy (MBBCh 1995, Dip Tropical Med & Hygiene 1998) and Dr Juno Thomas (MBBCh 1997, Dip Trop Med & H 2001) were involved in identifying the recent listeriosis outbreak.
Dr Shamshaad Ally (MBBCh 1999) has joined Bluewater Health in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.
Dr Alan Widgerow (MBBCh 1980, MMed 1991) was named 2018 Mentor of the Year by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science at UC Irvine.
GoodThingsGuy profiles breast cancer expert Dr Carol-Ann Benn (MBBCh 1991).
Professor Judith Bruce (DipNursEd 1981, MSc Nur 1992, PhD 2003) spoke to Channel Africa about girls’ education, nursing and more.
Dr Juan Deseta (MBBCh 2005) tells the Herald in Port Elizabeth about a new procedure for cataract surgery.
Fin24 meets Dr Konji Sebati, chair of the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association SA, who has a Wits Diploma in Health Services Management (1990).
Humanities
Gerard Bester (BADA 1992), director of the Hillbrow Theatre Project, recalls performing his third-year exam work at the first Dance Umbrella.
Creative Feel looks at the life and work of visual and performance artist Steven Cohen (BA 1985).
Maths educator and former Wits Convocation President Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng (BEd 1993, MEd 1996, PhD 2002) is now the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.
Dr Lis Lange (PhD 1998) is UCT’s new Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning.
Professor Linda Chisholm (PhD 1989) re-examines mission school education in her latest book, reviewed by Business Live.
Business Live reviews Nechama Brodie’s (BADA 2000) first novel, Knucklebone, a detective story set in Johannesburg. She is also the co-author of former prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach’s memoir, Rule of Law.
Themba Mkhoma (BA Hons 2015, MA 2017) uses theatre for healing and rehabilitation.
Several Witsie authors are on the long list of the Sunday Times Literary Awards. They include Tammy Baikie, Fred Khumalo, Barbara Boswell and Rehana Rossouw.
Wits University Press has published Professor Jacklyn Cock’s Writing the Ancestral River.
Martin Plaut (BA Hons 1977) is the co-author of a biography of Robert Mugabe.
Sculptor Chris Soal (BAFA 2018) has won the 2018 PPC Imaginarium Award.
Dr Shakira Choonara (BHSc 2010, BA Hons 2012, MA 2013, PhD 2017) was a guest on SAFM. She spoke about being a demographer and what her accolades mean to her.
Artist Penny Siopis, formerly on Wits’ staff, is exhibiting at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa.
Carolyn Steyn (BADA 1982) continues her great work of keeping South Africans warm with 67 Blankets for Mandela Day.
Jeppe Boys’ High School’s new principal is Dale Jackson (BCom 1995, BAcc 1996). Jeppe teacher Tammy Bechus (BA 1995, LLB 1998, PDipEd 2002) explains why it’s important to acknowledge white privilege.
Did you know that Sotheby’s South Africa was once located where the Wits Art Museum is now? Creative Feel shares some auction history and Braamfontein heritage.
Nthikeng Mohlele (BADA 2000) has a new novel out, Michael K.
Science
Actuarial scientist and digital artist Michael Jordan (BSc 2013, BSc Hons 2014) talks about his work to Life Retreat.
Environmental scientist and PhD candidate Ndoni Mcunu writes in The Conversation about why there are so few black women in science.
Dingane Hlaluku (BSc 2015, BSc Hons 2016, MSc 2018) is one of the Wits students working on upgrading the ATLAS particle detectors in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Switzerland.
Palesa Sibeko (BSc 2004) doesn’t fit into any simple categories, as Business Live found out.
Dr Gaokgatlhe Tawane (BSc 2006, BSc Hons 2007, PhD 2012) writes about what it’s like to look after fossils for a living. Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib spoke to school learners some time ago about the importance of studying palaeosciences.
Mysterious footprints, an eccentric fossil collector, a new species … read all about it on Business Live.
Professor Vishwas Satgar (PhD 2009) explains his approach to climate change.
How do dung beetles find their way around when the night sky is outshone by city lights? A Wits experiment reveals the answer…
And more…
Graduation fashion is a thing… see what caught Marie Claire’s eye.
Wits recently held a ceremony to recognise NRF-rated researchers.
Rev Jesse Jackson spoke at Wits recently: listen to his address here.