A Report of the University of Missouri South Africa Education Program
Committee UM-Columbia UM-Kansas City UM-Rolla UM-St. Louis
This Issues Index:
Professor Cecil Abrahams was installed as the seventh vice-chancellor of the University of the Western Cape in Bellville on April 12, 1996. In his address at the installation, President Nelson Mandela said, "In every sphere of society, UWC students and staff from every section of our population are to be found. It is indeed an institution that has attracted and produced men and women of highest quality."
UWC held a gala celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the UM/UWC exchange program on July 31, 1996, at the University Centre. Dr. David Pierce, US Consul General, delivered the keynote address. Prof. Cecil Abrahams, Rector of UWC, spoke in response to the Consul General’s remarks. UM Vice President for Outreach and University Extension Ron Turner attended and delivered an address at the dinner. Prof. Jimmy Ellis, chair of the SIR committee, made a slide presentation on the first ten years of the linkage. Prof. Joel Glassman (UMSL), Prof. Lois Pierce (UMSL), Prof. Bill Bondeson (UMC), Linda Cupp (UMC), and Prof. Daniel Okunbor (UMR) also attended.
UM celebrated the 10th anniversary of the linkage on September 3, 1996, with a dinner at the Memorial Union at UM-Columbia. The evening featured a keynote address by South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S., His Excellency Franklin A. Sonn, former rector of Peninsula Technikon in Bellville, South Africa. Fred Hall, Jr., president of the UM Board of Curators, read letters of congratulations from President Nelson R. Mandela and Archbishop Desmond M.Tutu. Formal remarks also were delivered by Cecil Abrahams, Rector of UWC; Mel George, Interim President of UM; UM Vice President Ron Turner; and Professor Joel Glassman, chair of the UMSAEP committee.
Guests included Ms. Bella Harrison, South African Consul General, Chicago; members of the Board of Curators Malaika Horne and Mary Gillespie; former members of the Board of Curators Jeanne Epple and Bert Bates; UM President Emeritus Brice Ratchford and Betty Ratchford; Mrs. Mel (Meta) George; Mrs. Henry (Peggy) Mitchell (UMKC); former UWC SIR committee chair Owen van den Berg; Professor Jimmy Ellis, Chair, Senate International Relations Committee, UWC; Interim President Donald Mullet and Mildred Mullet, Lincoln University; past and present members of the UMSAEP committee; and past UM participants in the UM/UWC exchange.
Eunice French and Gordon Seyffert left the UMSAEP committee in 1996. Eunice retired from her post as director of International Student Programs at UM-Rolla. Her replacement on the UMSAEP committee is Jeanie Smallwood. Gordon resigned from the committee to assume new duties in Academic Affairs at UM-Kansas City. Prof. Joe Hughey replaced Gordon on the committee.
Professor Cecil Abrahams, UWC vice-chancellor and rector, and UWC Professor Jimmy Ellis, Chair, SIR committee, met with the UMSAEP committee on September 6, 1996, at UM-St.Louis, to select 1997 faculty exchange participants. The UWC executive team and UMSAEP committee jointly decided to support the following exchanges in 1997:
UWC Faculaty Scheduled to Visit Missouri
UM Faculaty Scheduled to Visit UWC
UM visitors to UWC in 1996 included: Bill Bondeson, UMC, Medical Ethics; Lois Pierce, UMSL, Social Work; Daniel Okunbor, UMR, Computer Science; Ron Turner, UM; Joel Glassman, UMSL, UMSAEP Committee chair; Michael Prewitt, UMC, Health Related Professions; Delia Cook, UMKC, History; Elaine Lawless, UMC, English; and Joan Rapp, UMSL, Library Science.
UWC visitors to UM in 1996 included: Basil Julies, Physics; Patricia Makhubela, Library and Information Science; Selwyn Mapolie, Chemistry; Professor Cecil Abrahams, UWC Rector; Jimmy Ellis, Chair, SIR committee; Michael Norman, Computer Science; Shirley Walters, Adult and Continuing Education and Outreach, and Chris van Staden, Accountancy.
| 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | Total | |
| UM Visits | 4 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 102 |
| UWC Visits | 4 | 10 | 11 | 18 | 17 | 25 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 136 |
| Total | 8 | 16 | 18 | 32 | 28 | 37 | 20 | 24 | 24 | 14 | 16 | 238 |
"...the exchange is a marvelous opportunity for everyone privileged to participate in it. The value to UWC seems to be both institutional and individual (for participants), whereas to UM it appears to be largely individual, with indirect benefits to the institution. But the individual and indirect benefits to UM are so great that I believe UM could give the institutional needs of UWC an even higher priority in program planning.
"I was quite unprepared for the degree of optimism, sense of unity, and commitment to the reconstruction and development of the country conveyed by virtually everyone I met, at UWC and elsewhere, regardless of race, ethnicity, or class."
"The opportunity to visit the University of Missouri was a wonderful experience to come to understand the value of this relationship to both universities. Talking with different faculty members and administrators...gave me a different perspective on and insight into several priorities for our mutual relationship, and for UWC in particular. Chief among these are the programmatic ways in which the linkage can be extended beyond individuals involved, establishing the administrative exchange and the benefit UWC can derive from it, utilising the untapped resources, human and otherwise, that we have developed through the linkage with UM in the U.S. and elsewhere..."
"Social work in the United States is faced with many of the same problems experienced in South Africa--limited resources, increasing violence, the need for new models of community organization. I am always amazed by how often I am able to use practice models observed there in my work here. The program has helped change the way I view social work, particularly the way we work in and through communities, and has helped me become better focused in my research."
"The findings flowing from my research activity have been, from my point of view, unexpectedly rich and exciting. While only scratching the surface of what has been done in the USA in the areas of employee participation, organisational restructuring, managerial innovation and related matters, it has given me significant new ideas to incorporate into my own teaching and research."
In April, 1996, UM President George Russell approved funding for a new UM initiative in South Africa, intended to support projects initiated by UM faculty members with partners at appropriate organizations and institutions in South Africa. The RFP stated that projects "may be initiated in collaboration with historically disadvantaged tertiary education institutions (including UWC), South African government agencies, nongovernmental organizations in South Africa, or other appropriate South African partners." The initiative is sponsored by the UMSAEP committee.
In October, UMSAEP approved "new initiative" awards to the following UM faculty and staff members:
Please note the following sources of information related to South Africa on the World Wide Web:
African National Congress HomePage: http://www.anc.org.za
ANC Publications: http://www.anc.org.za/lists/ancpubs.html
South African Home Page: http://rodie.animal.uiuc.edu/documents/rsa.html
The Internet Solution: http://www.IS.co.za
The South Africa Initiative Office (U. of Michigan): http://www.umich.edu/~saioum
If you have items that you would like to see included in this newsletter, please send them to:
Dr. Ron Turner
Vice President for University Outreach/Extension
321 University Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
Ph. 573-882-2011
Fax 573=882=2721
This newsletter is intended to facilitate communication among those who are interested in the UM/South Africa education program. If you have ideas or suggestions for topics or questions related to any aspect of the program, please let us know.