Faculty of Science
Thriving to carve community relations in the Faculty of Science
want us to be at the forefront of technology. I also want for the faculty to be at the forefront with regard to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well. Our research has to resonate with SDGs,” said Prof Moteetee. She said looking into the impact of 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution) was also a vision she had for the faculty. “We need to take it one level up and explore the societal impact of 4IR – and also look at how our research is helpful to the man on the street. Most importantly, we want to create a student- friendly environment especially for undergraduates,” she said. One of the reasons students don’t complete their studies on time, said Prof Moteetee, is that they struggle with funding. “Our students struggle with funding a lot so many of them will drop out or not complete on time. My intention at the faculty is to set up a fund where researchers can contribute and help our needy but highly performing students as well,” she concluded.
“I climbed the ranks and was promoted from technical lecturer to senior lecturer, associate professor and full professor. I was Head of Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology from January 2017 until January 2021. In February of the same year, I joined the Postgraduate School here at UJ as a Senior Director. On 1 August, I was appointed as the Executive Dean,” she said. On whether Plant Biotechnology is complex, she said looking from the outside, people might think Plant Science was difficult when it was not. “On the contrary, most people think it’s boring to study plants but once you start engaging students and showing them that all foods come from plants, they become quite excited and see that from a research perspective, one can venture into many research areas such as medicinal plants, food plants and more,” she said. On her plans for the Faculty of Science, Prof Moteetee said one of her visions was to create a student- friendly environment. “UJ is on a trajectory now. So the Faculty of Science will help contribute towards this trajectory. We can’t slow down now. In terms of research, we want to be at the cutting edge of research, and I
Passionate, rigorous and goal orientated. These are words that come to mind when you think of Professor Annah Moteetee, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science at UJ. She was educated at the National University of Lesotho where she obtained her first degree, a BSc, specialising in Biology and Chemistry. Upon completion she was recruited to join the Department of Biology in the same university to teach Plant Taxonomy, and was appointed as a teaching assistant. She then had an opportunity to further her studies in the UK where she studied at the University of London (Queen Mary College) through a British Council Scholarship. “I returned to the National University of Lesotho and was promoted to lecturer upon obtaining a master’s qualification,” she said. After six years of lecturing, she decided to further her studies again and enrolled for a doctorate degree at the then Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained the PhD in 2004. The following year, she joined the Faculty of Science as a technical lecturer, teaching what was then the foundation phase in Biology.
“...looking from the outside, people might think Plant Science was difficult when it was not. “
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