HOW DO YOU DEFINE A GOOD GRADUATE? Is it their academic prowess, or is it their ability to apply what they have learnt in the real world? Will they be good citizens, making ethical choices, no matter their profession? Is it a combination? The latest session of the Wits Fund Indaba (video link below) had us thinking about these questions, and our own roles in creating paths for the next generation.

Students, staff, and friends of Wits took to the streets of Braamfontein for the annual Wits Parade Day.

On 30 August 2024, the Wits Parade, adorned in the University’s blue and gold, featured a vibrant, colorful display of attendants, dressed in blue and gold, from Wits’ residences and societies, Departments, Faculties, Schools, including the Kudos Kudu mascot, stilt walkers, the Wits Brass Band, a float, and the cheerleading squad.

WATCH WITS FUND INDABA – Dr Donal Skinner (Wits BSc Hons): “From Honors to Honors – How High Impact Wits Experiences Took An Alumnus Around the World”

Dr Donal Skinner, “a highly motivating speaker” delivered the Wits Fund Indaba September presentation. Participants described the talk as an “inspiring life story”, “thought-provoking”, with “amazing visuals” were some of the feedback from the participants. And let’s not forget the “Edblo sleep laboratory / Guinea Pig in a PhD love story”!

IMAGINING A PATHWAY OUT OF CLIMATE – WITS HOSTS WORLD RENOWNED GLOBAL THINKER AMITAV GHOSH

World-renowned author, global thinker, and environmental advocate Amitav Ghosh delivered the 2024 Pro Vice-Chancellor’s lecture at Wits on 11 September 2024. His was a powerful warning of climate reductionism and the perils of ignoring context, community, the locally appropriate and even the loss of wonder in navigating the crisis of our time.

Ghosh is a multi-award winning author who was born in Kolkata, India and now spends his time between India and the United States. He studied social anthropology at Oxford and is the author of 20 fiction and non-fiction books including The Circle of Reason, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Shadow Lines, Sea of Poppies, and Gun Island, as well as The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable and The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis. His latest book is Smoke and Ashes and this year he added to his list of accolades and prizes, the prestigious Erasmus Prize. His essays appear regularly in major publications and journals around the world.

Read more here.

Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg (Wits MA 1996) has been shortlisted for the 2024 Wolfson History Prize.

Over the past 52 years, the annual Wolfson History Prize has championed the finest history writing by authors and historians. The 2024 winner will be announced on Monday, 2 December 2024.

Steinberg tells the tale of the unique marriage of Winnie and Nelson turning the course of South African history through this political biography. It has been described as a “modern epic in which trauma doesn’t affect just the couple, but an entire nation – a Shakespearean drama in which bonds of love and commitment mingle with timeless questions of revolution.”

Steinberg is a Visiting Professor at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. A former Rhodes scholar, Steinberg has a doctorate in political theory from Oxford University where he currently teaches. He also teaches at Yale University.

Read more here.

WATCH: WITS’ LATEST NEWS IN SIXTY SECONDS

In this episode, Wits University is launching the Wits Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery Institute (MIND) in November to advance AI research through interdisciplinary collaboration. The Frankenwald Estate has been transferred to the Bankenveld District City Development Company, with R200 million allocated for the academic project and a long-term student endowment. Wits also hosted the inaugural Innovathon in Social Entrepreneurship, where two winning teams were awarded R20,000 to bring eco-friendly innovations to life. The Wits Disability Rights Unit and Afretec hosted 66 representatives at a workshop to promote inclusivity in higher education. Finally, staff kicked off the annual Staff Wellness Week with a fun day of sports and challenges to promote wellbeing.
Read the full stories here.