​

Applications are invited from persons who wish to undertake invigilation duties  during the US examinations from 20 May to 27  June 2014.   Minimum qualification is Matric, but preference will be given to US staff members holding a degree and post graduate students.   We regret that undergraduate students do not qualify.   Lecturing staff should obtain permission from their Deans but are not required to apply for leave.   Remuneration is R60,00 per hour. Application forms are available at the Information Desk, Admin A.   Closing date for applications is 16:00 on 03 April 2014. Contact  Neels Fourie at 0218089111 for further enquiry. Invigilators will be remunerated on 30 July for their service. Submission of an application does not guarantee appointment.

Applications commence on Monday 17 March 2014.

PowerPoint and dynamic presentation skills have become an integral part of any successful business. The majority of employers in both the private and the public sector expect their employees to be able to compile at least a basic PowerPoint presentation and lead a dynamic and powerful presentation as part of their work responsibilities. Unfortunately not all employees are equipped to manage the content of a PowerPoint presentation effectively, and therefore often do not meet their company or audience's expectations.

The 2 day workshop is designed enable participants to compile and present dynamic and powerful presentations using PowerPoint as a presentation tool. The following will be covered:

Day 1: PowerPoint as a presentation tool

• Creating a professional layout and using animation, font and colour responsibly
• The principles of effective communication
• Creating powerful presentations
• Managing the content of PowerPoint slides

Day 2: Presentation skills

• Professional presentation skills
• Tips to ensure a seamless delivery
• Cultivating confidence: From posture to projection
• Conveying your message competently

The SU Skills Fund enables a limited number of SU staff members to attend this workshop free of charge. However should a staff member sponsored by the Skills Development Fund not attend the workshop, the complete registration fee will be charged to that member's environment.

Register via Sun-e-HR. Call Audrey Poole on 021 808 2167 or e-mail her at taalsentrum@sun.ac.za should you need assistance with registration.

The workshop takes place on 3-4 April, and the closing date for registration is 27 March 2013

How often have you frowned at a contract because the clauses seem ambiguous or unclear? Or looked at a brochure that seemed too good to be true? Section 22 of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) stipulates that communication with a consumer must be written in Plain Language and this influences the way we market our goods and services, and the way we draft contracts.  If you break out in a sweat wondering how you are going to comply with the CPA in this regard, this workshop is for you!

The workshop is aimed at professionals who write the content of documents such as notices, contracts, terms and conditions and marketing material. These documents need to be more client-centred in order to comply with the CPA.

The following will be covered in the workshop:

Day 1: Introduction to the CPA and the role it plays in plain language

• Application of the CPA
• Legal application for marketing
• Contracting under the CPA and implications of non-compliance

Day 2: Practicalities of writing in plain language

• What is Plain Language?
• A look at the do's and don'ts of writing
• Redrafting your own documents in Plain Language

The SU Skills Fund enables a limited number of SU staff members to attend this workshop free of charge. However should a staff member sponsored by the Skills Development Fund not attend the workshop, the complete registration fee will be charged to that member's environment.

Register via Sun-e-HR. Call Audrey Poole on 021 808 2167 or e-mail her at taalsentrum@sun.ac.za should you need assistance with registration.

The workshop takes place on 9-10 April, and the closing date for registration is 2 April 2014

Applications are invited from persons who wish to undertake invigilation duties  during the US examinations from 20 May to 27  June 2014.

Minimum qualification is Matric, but preference will be given to US staff members holding a degree and post graduate students.  We regret that undergraduate students do not qualify.   Lecturing staff should obtain permission from their Deans but are not required to apply for leave.   

Remuneration is R60,00 per hour. Application forms are available at the Information Desk, Admin A.  Closing date for applications is 16:00 on 03 April 2014. Contact  Neels Fourie at 0218089111 for further enquiry. Invigilators will be remunerated on 30 July for their service. Submission of an application does not guarantee appointment.

• Applications commence on Monday, 17 March 2014.
  

​Maties Dance Society (MDS) will present the popular Dancing in Style competition for a third time in 2014 after a successful and memorable competition last year.

The format of this event is based on the well-known TV show Strictly Come Dancing or Dancing with the Stars, where a participant is trained by an instructor in Ballroom and Latin American dances for a few weeks and then competes against the other stars.

For Dancing in Style our stars are staff and students of Stellenbosch University! Eight SU personnel and students will be taking part in this year's competition.

MDS will host a gala event on Saturday 12 April 2014 where the stars will get the chance to show what they have learnt and compete for the title of winner of Dancing in Style 2014.

Tickets cost R80 per person and this includes snack foods and refreshments. Dress code is smart, as this is meant to be a night of fun and elegance. Contact Sam at smitchell.mds@gmail.com for tickets.

Human Resources is running a programme for line managers – "Managing Team Resilience"  – from 9 to 11 April 2014 and several spaces are still available.

The programme is relevant to all line managers who would like to be able to effectively identify and manage staff in distress in order to improve their quality of life and to minimize the potential impact on productivity.

For more information on this programme as well as how to enrol, please see attached document.​

Closing date for entries is 1 April 2014

​A postdoctoral position is available at the MRC Unit on Anxiety & Stress Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Stellenbosch University (SU).  The position involves work on a collaborative psychiatric genetics and brain imaging project between this Unit, the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, and the Cape Universities Brain Imaging Centre (CUBIC).

The project entails an imaging-genetics-environment paradigm in which the impact of (the interaction between) selected genes in the glutamatergic system (e.g. GRIN2B and SLC1A1), and BDNF and SAPAP3 - which may have an impact on white matter integrity and/or interact with this system - and childhood trauma, on white matter volume in regions of interest in healthy controls, and patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or hair-pulling disorder (trichotillomania, or HPD), will be investigated.  Ultimately, this project will render the opportunity for the candidate to collaborate with experts in psychodiagnostic interviewing, genetics and neuroimaging, and related statistics, on a project aiming to relate imaging findings not only to genes and their expression, but also to environmental influences, which may be related to such processes, and to further our understanding of the brain.

Depending on his/her academic background and experience, the candidate will perform the activities related to all aspects of the study (i.e. clinical / genetics / brain imaging).

The Faculty of Health Sciences is situated 20 minutes’ drive from central Cape Town and 30 minutes from Stellenbosch campus.  Tygerberg and its surrounding areas offer excellent quality of life and easy access to the city and the countryside.  This area is well-known for its beautiful mountains, beaches, and winelands.

Applicants should have a PhD-degree and a strong background in psychology / psychiatry / molecular biology / brain imaging.  Previous experience of patient assessment and/or genotyping and gene expression in humans and/or brain imaging is essential. 

For more information, please contact Prof Christine Lochner on 021 – 938 9179 / email: cl2@sun.ac.za  or Prof Dan Stein on 021 – 404 2164 / Dan.Stein@uct.ac.za.

To apply, send a covering letter, a CV containing details of previous courses and associated grades and the email addresses of 3 referees to the above addresses.

​Stellenbosch University’s permanent non-academic staff have the opportunity to elect a representative to Council for the period 6 April 2014 to 5 April 2016. The term of office of the current representative, Mr Glen de Jongh, ends on 5 April 2014.

The election process consists of two phases: submission of nominations and voting. You are invited to nominate candidates. Attached please find a nomination form which should be signed by the nominee and supported by five permanent non-academic staff members. The nominee’s information and staff photo will be published on the election website. Please supply the name of the candidate, his/her designation and department or unit.

Completed nomination forms can be delivered by hand to The Registrar’s Office, room A2020 in the Admin A building, or sent by email to: raadslidverkies@sun.ac.za.  The form may also be sent by fax: 086 606 7946. The closing date for nominations is 26 March 2014.

By 28 March the details of the nominees will be available on the website and all eligible voters will receive an email containing the ballot paper. If only one nomination is received, that nominee will be appointed to Council.

All managers are requested to ensure that staff members who do not have email access, receive a printed copy of this email and the nomination form.​​​

​

GENERAL INFORMATION

MASINCOKOLE NGEMPILO NGESIXHOSA/ Let's Chat Health in isiXhosa / Kom ons Gesels Gesondheid in isiXhosa is a nine-week course (two sixty-minute periods a week) offered to University staff in various medical fields.

PREREQUISITE

No prior knowledge of isiXhosa is required, only enthusiasm and a desire to communicate with isiXhosa monolingual patients.

TEACHING METHOD

A communicative, interactive, task- and needs-orientated methodology based on suggestopaedic language learning (learning in an authentic setting) principles. The method includes oral and speaking tasks at a lower beginner level, group-work, and individual and group interaction with the lecturer(s). It comprises a communicative approach so that isiXhosa is learned in a fun and an exciting manner, yet always with a specific application of language and culture in mind.

EVALUATION METHOD

Students are continuous assessed on the basis of course attendance, participation and a basic, informal oral assessment.

Exciting, professionally designed, job-specific study material is provided on the first day of class attendance. The book and DVD are free of charge to students. To the outside people interested in purchasing the book and the DVD, they can buy it in book stores nation-wide. The book is free; language learning, however, will cost you time and desire to learn.

AIMS

The course's primary goals are:

• To partner in manifesting the Stellenbosch University's Pedagogy of Hope philosophy by bringing its students and allumni in the medical field closer to understanding a patient who might look and sound stranger to them than one should expect from people sharing the same citizenship.
• To sensitise participants to intercultural communication differences in the field of medical treatment and assistance.
• To provide participants with the knowledge and skills that will help him or her interact clearly and empathetically with monolingual isiXhosa speaking patients, semi-bilingual isiXhosa speaking medical assistants or health workers, and indeed ordinary people from the amaXhosa language and culture whom the medical practitioner intentionally or co-incidentally might encounter in the execution of his or her routine professional task.
• To assist the isiXhosa speaking medical or health professional in finding an accurate phrase in English or Afrikaans for a particular isiXhosa phrase or idea.
  
  CONTENT
  
  Classes focus on the following themes for communication purposes:

• isiXhosa and amaXhosa - General aspects of the people and their language, and particular aspects thereof in a medical context
• Greeting protocol in a medical consultation setting
• Making first acquaintance and introducing oneself in a medical consultation setting
• Extracting and recording biographical data about a particular patient
• Putting your patient at ease
• Conversing with diverse patients (child, male, female) with a general medical/health concern
• Instructing, asking and requesting a patient to elicit simple, yet clear responses or answers to assist in diagnosing discomfort, illness or disease
• Instructing and requesting a patient in such a manner that he or she reacts accurately or appropriately to assist in diagnosing discomfort, illness or disease
• Establishing a medical profile/history of past and current illnesses and diseases of a particular patient and his/her family
• Describing basic parts of the human body in isiXhosa
• Conversing with a patient with a dental concern
• Conversing with a patient with an ophthalmological concern
• Talking about HIV/AIDS in isiXhosa

OUTCOMES

At the end of this nine-week course, students should have a basic isiXhosa medical vocabulary for a variety of health related uses. The students should be able to demonstrate the following skills at a lower beginner level:

(a)    Listening skills: Listen to and understand basic sounds of isiXhosa, simple descriptions in isiXhosa, simple instructions in isiXhosa, basic questions in isiXhosa, and show understanding of the identification and description of patients and health related matters, such as prescriptions and medication.

(b)   Speaking and oral interaction: Pronounce basic sounds of isiXhosa, give simple descriptions in isiXhosa, simple instructions in isiXhosa, ask basic questions in isiXhosa, and provide an oral description of patient-related aspects and health related matters, such as prescriptions and medication.

(c)    Reading: Read and understand basic sounds of isiXhosa, simple descriptions in isiXhosa, simple instructions in isiXhosa, basic questions in isiXhosa, and references to patients and health related matters, such as prescriptions and medication.

DAYS AND TIMES OF PRESENTATIONS: [Please note: Mondays & Wednesday only]

REGISTRATION: http://apps.sun.ac.za/SCD/ApplicationForm.aspx?offeringid=24ab72a8-62ae-e311-94c2-0050568000ff

Classes are kept small to ensure individual attention and to optimise learning. To avoid disappointment, please register as soon as possible.

Please contact Grant Ngidi for any enquiries about the course.

Telephone: 021 808 9097

E-mail: glngidi@sun.ac.za

Register/update your Community Interaction projects for 2014! 

SU staff members in all faculties and support service divisions are requested to register new (or unregistered) projects for 2014 and/or confirm previously registered projects which continue to be active in 2014. The annual registration deadline is 31 October.  

New (or previously unregistered) Projects: Registration in this regard means that project owners are requested to fill in all the information pertaining to the project on the database and submit it for approval.  

Existing Projects: These are projects that were registered in 2013 and will continue in 2014. Registration in this regard means that project owners will adapt the existing record only where necessary, and confirm the information that remains the same. 

Please remember to submit your project for approval to your Head of Department and Dean on the database. Once your project has been approved, you will receive an email confirming the approval of your project. 

Registration and approval is only valid for the calendar year to ensure an accurate institutional record of all Community Interaction projects which can be used for management, monitoring, evaluation, coordination and funding purposes.

How to access the database:
http://admin.sun.ac.za/CIDB

• Go to the University Home Page
• Click on "Community Interaction"
• Click on "Community Interaction Projects"
• Use the submenu to go to "Community Interaction Project Database"
• The list of all Community Interaction projects will appear

• Login at the top of the screen (with your network username and password) to register or update your project. 

Should you encounter any problems with the registration of your CI project, please contact Joanne Williams @ jhenry@sun.ac.za or 021 808 2977. Appointments can be made with Joanne should you require personal assistance with the registration process. 

Please note that registered community interaction projects also enjoy the benefit of the services of the Stellenbosch Foundation in terms of funding support for their projects. Please contact Sonia Schoeman @ sonia@sun.ac.za / 021 808 2830 or Nicoline Coetzer @ nicoline@sun.ac.za / 021 808 9160 in this regard.

​​At a special meeting this week the SU Council voiced its support for the Institutional Plan 2014-2018 and its implementation. The Plan serves as the framework for the practical execution of the Institutional Intent and Strategy 2013-2018 (ITS) that was approved by the SU Council in April last year as the over-arching direction and positioning of SU over the next five years.

As part of the consultation process the Rector requested this meeting to get advice and input from Council for the Institutional Plan as the operational framework of the ITS. Overall, council members were quite impressed with the Plan, which includes measurable goals to deliver a SU that is inclusive, innovative and future-oriented in the future.

Faculty plans and the final set of strategic management directives have not yet been finalised, but deans have indicated thatthey could easily formulate strategic goals within the broader Institutional Plan. These plans will be finalised at the Rector's Academic Forum in July.

The Institutional Plan was described by the chairman Mr George Steyn as being not a policy document but rather a living document that has to be reviewed continuously and be adapted according to the demands of the day and the priorities of SU.

The Rector Prof Russel Botman thanked the SU Council for its valuable input and support of SU's operational plan to "maintain and improve on its academic and research excellence, to broaden access to SU and to expand its impact on society even further". 

Prof Botman indicated that he will present a budget for the financing of the Plan as well as a request for financial support from Council for the implementation of key facets of the Plan at Council's next scheduled meeting.

​Prof Eugene Cloete will serve as Acting Rector from Friday 28 March 2014 to Friday 4 April 2014. 

In this time the Rector, Prof Russel Botman will visit the Klein Karoo and Overberg to strengthen ties with partners of Stellenbosch University (SU). 

He will chat to alumni and friends of SU in Oudtshoorn about SU's Vision 2030. He will also meet with school principals about HOPE@Maties' activities in the Eden and Central Karoo District of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED).

SU's HOPE@Maties programme prepares high school learners to meet the admission requirements for university study and support them to develop the skills they need to complete their studies successfully.

The Rector will also open a new HOPE@Maties centre in Genadendal where more than 80 Grade 12 learners will be attending a holiday school.

The Botanical Garden will be closed this upcoming Easter Friday 18 April. It will be open as usual on other holidays.

​Stellenbosch Municipality has informed the University that a power outage is scheduled for Sunday 6 April 2014 from 08:00 to 17:00. 

This is a municipal outage for maintenance on the Stellenbosch Main Substation. This outage will affect the following areas: Technopark, Paradyskloof, Brandwacht, Dalsig, Welgelegen, Die Boord, Onder Papegaaiberg, Central business area, Mostertsdrift, Karindal, Rozendal, Uniepark, La Colline, Universiteitsoord, Idas Valley, Arbeidsrus and the entire Stellenbosch University campus.

Areas not likely to be affected are Plankenbrug, Tennantville, Welgevonden, Cloetesville and Kayamandi.​

SU employees are requested to switch off all sensitive equipment, lights and aircon units on Friday when they leave the office. For safety reasons all doors and windows must also be locked.

MENTOR TRAINING PROGRAMME: 8-9 May 2014 with a follow-up on 22 August 2014.

The programme is aimed at all staff members who are passionate about the career development of others and who are willing to act as a mentor to others

The outcomes of this programme are:

• To understand the roles mentors play and able to differentiate between managing, coaching and mentoring
  
• To apply mentoring skills such as questioning, listening, reflecting and providing feedback
  
• To be able to identify the process for mentoring mentees in their context
  
• Participants gain an understanding for developing themselves and others 
  

Click here to find a brochure with more information.

​Election of council member by permanent non-academic staff:

On 19 March, permanent non-academic staff members of Stellenbosch University were notified via email that they have the opportunity to elect a representative to Council for the period 6 April 2014 to 5 April 2016. The term of office of the current representative, Mr Glen de Jongh, ends on 5 April 2014.

Ten nominations were received. The nominees' names, job titles, divisions as well as a photos are published here. 

Please vote for your preferred candidate. Deadline is 9 April 12:00.

​The Communication and Liaison division requires the services of a temporary journalist/copy writer for a period of three months while one of its team members will be on maternity leave. The term will be from 1 May until 31 July 2014. The incumbent will become part of the division's media team and write for campus media: web news areas, articles for Kampusnuus and Matieland. The incumbent will be expected to attend campus events after hours, to translate articles and upload them to the web news areas. The division's journalists/writers also assist with gathering information and with writing copy/translating copy for brochures, the website and other marketing materials.

Requirements: degree in Journalism/Corporate Communication; experience in a news environment; writing skills in Afrikaans and English; ability to translate from Afrikaans into English and visa versa; high level of accurate reporting and precision.

Recommendation: knowledge of electronic media.  

Send CV with two examples (preferably one Afrikaans and one English) of your writing or website links to Susan van der Merwe at svdmerwe@sun.ac.za.

Enquiries: 021 808-4634.

Closing date for applications: 17 April 2014

​​The April edition of BibNews is now available. Please click here to read about our highlights of 2013, new electronic resources, workshops new staff and other interesting news about the Library.

A new toll-free number has been established where any unethical practices at Stellenbosch University can be reported. The ethics line is operated by the University's internal and forensic auditors Deloitte.

In an article in the April 2014 issue of the printed version of Kampusnuus, the phone number was incorrect.

The correct contact details for the ethic line are as follow:

Toll-free phone number: 0800 204 549

Toll-free fax number: 0800 00 77 88

Email address: sun@ethics-line.com

Postal address: Deloitte Tip-offs Anonymous, KZN 138, Umhlanga Rocks, 4320.

Online at: https://www.tip-offs.com/MakeReport1.aspx?c=za

Read the complete article with the correct information in Kampusnuus online version.