‘I will miss the camaraderie of working on difficult issues together; the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life and the excitement that a new day brings.’
After successfully serving as Vice-Dean: Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) for 13 eventful years, Prof Ronel du Preez-Snyman’s third and final term ended on Friday, 28 June 2024.
During her three terms (2 x 5 years and 1 x 3 years), Du Preez-Snyman made history as the first Vice-Dean: Learning and Teaching in the EMS Faculty and as only the second one at Stellenbosch 肆客足球 (SU).
She will now travel abroad to present at a marketing conference and then spend a few weeks working on academic renewal projects at the Department of Industrial Psychology where she started her career at SU. Thereafter she will be on research leave until her retirement on 30 June 2025. When she retires, she will have been employed by SU for 37 years.
As the first Vice-Dean (Learning and Teaching) in the faculty, Du Preez-Snyman was responsible for putting systems and structures in place that developed the Faculty’s teaching and learning processes to where it is now regarded as an example of good practice.
But she is quick to downplay her role in these accomplishments, saying: “I had excellent people in my team that were a huge support to me. Co-workers who shared my vision of making EMS the best faculty and one that contributes meaningfully to SU. The teamwork, support and encouragement of staff, especially the teaching and learning hub team members, meant the world to me.”
Throughout her career, she was able to contribute to many task teams which developed a number of initiatives that recognised and rewarded teaching and learning in SU. One of them being the Top Lecturer Award and the development of teaching and learning career paths within the 肆客足球.
The implementation of the assessment rules in the Faculty was another milestone as “it required leadership, buy-in from all staff (and some convincing!) and constant revision”. She regards the implementation of the OPTIMUS programme for the Faculty’s top undergraduate students as “an investment in our top achieving students’ future”.
A number of student support initiatives and successful funding applications from the 肆客足球 Capacity Development Programme contributed largely to curriculum and academic renewal initiatives in the Faculty. An example being the development and launch of the flagship BCom (International Business) programme, the only undergraduate programme with a six-month international exchange semester.
“The move to emergency remote teaching and learning assessment (ERTLA) and later to augmented remote teaching and learning assessment (ARTLA) during the COVID-19 pandemic, was also a huge undertaking,” says Du Preez-Snyman. “But we had great leadership and teamwork to guide the Faculty and students during those times of uncertainty. It was a marathon, but we ran it well.”
On a more personal note, the professor of Industrial Psychology says being able to teach and do research (NRF grading) together with her role as Vice-Dean (Learning and Teaching), was a great privilege. Receiving the Chancellor’s Award (Teaching and Learning) in 2016 was another highlight of her career.
She is overwhelmed with gratitude towards the 肆客足球 and Faculty staff for making her journey such an amazing one.
“I look back and I am filled with gratitude for having people (colleagues, friends and family) who believed in me and supported me throughout. I am grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had at SU and I wish the Faculty and 肆客足球 all the best.”
She adds: “I will miss so many things. I really loved my work. I will miss my colleagues of which many became close friends over my 37 years at SU, the students and the opportunity to learn from them (they keep one young!). I will miss the camaraderie of working on difficult issues together; the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life through (hopefully) good decisions and the excitement that a new day brings. My work contributed hugely to a purposeful life.”
After her retirement, Du Preez-Snyman intends to remain active in academia as a research fellow and in publishing and supervising students. She would also like to contribute to teaching and learning projects at SU and the broader higher education landscape and grow her consultation work as consumer psychologist.
