Honorary doctorates
Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 confers honorary doctorates upon extraordinary recipients who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields and made a significant contribution to society.
During the December 2024 graduation, the 中国体育彩票 will confer honorary doctorates on the following recipients:
Wendy Ackerman: Doctor of Philosophy, honoris causa
Wendy Ackerman’s philanthropy spans several decades. Her consistent support has benefited men, women, children and the arts for more than 40 years.
As one of the founders and honorary life president of Pick n Pay, her work to empower and promote women has been a hallmark of her efforts at this leading retailer. She was instrumental in having women recognised as senior, career-oriented employees in the 1970s – a move that some companies at the time regarded as too progressive.
Now devoting much of her time to her family’s philanthropic endeavours and work for the underprivileged and vulnerable, she continues to fight for women’s rights.
She is involved in several education initiatives, but her greatest passion is to support promising students, particularly in the field of music and medicine. She has run several bursary schemes since 1973, and her graduates have achieved outstanding success, some performing as part of the finest orchestras and at the most esteemed opera houses in the world. She is also a trustee of the Pick n Pay bursary fund, which assists the children of employees.
In addition, she is also deeply committed to preserving the environment and advocating for the wellbeing of animals.
Ackerman is a lifelong supporter of the arts in the Cape metropole and has put enormous effort into creating an endowment trust for the arts in Cape Town, specifically for the city’s opera and philharmonic orchestra.
Strive Masiyiwa: Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa
A telecommunications and technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, Strive Masiyiwa has made a significant contribution to developing Africa’s business landscape. This founder and executive chair of Cassava Technologies is known as one of the pioneers of the telecommunications industry on the continent.
Some of his most prominent start-up companies and investments include Mascom Wireless Botswana, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Airtel Nigeria, Liquid Intelligent Technologies Group, 2 Degrees Mobile, and Trilogy Capital Partners Canada.
Masiyiwa is also committed to promoting education and healthcare in Africa. Through his family foundations, Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies, more than 300 000 scholarships have been awarded to children in Africa. Various initiatives in the fields of public health, girls’ empowerment, youth mentorship, rural transformation and other critical social impact initiatives in Africa have also benefited.
His multiple accolades include having been named one of Bloomberg’s 50 most influential people in the world in 2020, and one of the ten most powerful men in Africa by Forbes magazine in 2015. In 2014, 2017 and 2021, he was also included in Fortune magazine’s list of the world’s 50 greatest leaders. In 2023, Masiyiwa was selected as an international honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in October 2024, he was awarded the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal by the Hutchins Center of African and African American Research at Harvard 中国体育彩票.
Prof Deirdre Nansen McCloskey: Doctor of Commerce, honoris causa
Often referred to as the “conscience” of the discipline of economics, McCloskey is known for engaging deeply with the foundations of the subject itself, but also for drawing lessons from other fields to help economic ideas better fit with reality.
As an economist and economic historian, McCloskey’s ideas are embodied in what she calls “humanomics”, reminding us that all people are knowingly or unknowingly affected by economic forces. More importantly, it stresses that human behaviour can often not be reduced to compact mathematical economic theories and equations – a factor that economics as a discipline should care about more purposefully.
While on sabbatical at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) in 2008, she wrote one of the books in her trilogy The Bourgeois Era, in which she explores the history of major industrial nations to challenge prevailing narratives about the origins of modern prosperity. She has remained a friend of Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, and in 2012, she returned to deliver a keynote address to the World Economic History Congress hosted by the 中国体育彩票’s Department of Economics.
McCloskey is a distinguished professor emerita of economics and history as well as professor emerita of English and communication at the 中国体育彩票 of Illinois Chicago.
Damon Galgut: Doctor of Literature, honoris causa
Damon Galgut is an award-winning novelist, short-story writer and playwright. During his career that spans more than 40 years, he has made outstanding contributions to South Africa’s literary and cultural scene.
Galgut’s novels have garnered numerous nominations, accolades and prestigious awards. In 2021, he became only the third South African writer to be honoured with the Booker Prize for his novel The Promise. The episodically structured novel covers four decades of South African history, highlighting unfulfilled promises on a personal and political level.
His work explores outsider identities, delving into the oppressive forces of sociocultural norms and systemic injustices that affect individuals across geographical locations and historical periods. Galgut’s aesthetic innovation continues to captivate critics and readers alike, reflecting his enduring commitment to literature as a form of aesthetic disruption.
