NMMU awards honour efforts (published September 2014)
University lecturers and researchers were honoured recently for for their achievements in their academic fields of research and teaching, the creative and performing arts, innovation and engagement.
Nearly 40 lecturers were given accolades at the awards ceremony held at the Boardwalk International Convention centre.
Alumni live by NMMU values (published September 2014)
Givng back to the community (UBUNTU) is what these current students and alumni are doing at Ethembeni Interim Home in Motherwell. The Home consisting of 21 pensioners from disadvantaged backgrounds is forming part of an outreach project whereby the students lent a helping hand in developing the home.
Fully supported by the Financial and Accounting Service Sector (FASSET) and Mandela Bay Accountancy Training (Mbat), students were instructed to draw up reports indicating the financial support they need. Among the alumni assisting were Sanelisiwe Mbalane, Lonwabo Mbanya, Asanda Siko, Lwando Dingiswayo, Emmanuel Shaidi, Thembelihle Siboza, Vuyelwethu Losina, Nesiswa Makubalo, Unathi Tyani and Nolokholo Mbam.
Former SAS president wins 2014 Golden Key Community Service Award (published September)
Congratulations to 4th year BPsych student and the President of the NMMU Chapter of the Golden Key International Honour Society as well as former Student Alumni President, Curwyn Malaping, who has been selected as a recipient of the 2014 Golden Key Community Service Award, including prize money of US $1,000. Only two awards are made annually to Golden Key members from around the world, with more than 70 students applying for the award of this year.
The Award recognises members for outstanding and impactful community service. Over the past four years, Curwyn has volunteered for 12 organisations, accumulating over 1400 hours of community service. Part of the criteria for the award was that an individual had volunteered a minimum of 100 hours in their life.
Zoology Alumni excel (published September 2014)
Congratulations to NMMU Zoology students (from left) Liaan Minnie (Best PhD Presentation), Tiffany Bell (Best MSc Presentation) and Amarein Gerber (Best Student Poster) who excelled at the recent Annual Symposium of the South African Wildlife Management Association, and collectively won all the awards for student presentations.
Amarein is an Honours student and her winning poster (Can black-backed jackal regulate invasive warthog through neonatal predation?) is in the background. Liaan’s talk was on “Reproductive flexibility contributes to the resilience of black-backed jackal populations in the face of anthropogenic mortality”, while Tiffany’s was on “Understanding the drivers of bat (Chiroptera) activity patterns relevant to wind turbines: conflicts between growing energy demands, supply of renewable energy and bat conservation.