Dear SPU Community
It is with great sadness that I inform you that Professor Audrey Msimanga, former Head of the School of Education, passed on yesterday.
On behalf of Sol Plaatje University (SPU), I extend our sincere condolences to Professor Msimanga’s family, friends, colleagues, and students. This is a devastating loss.
Professor Msimanga served as the Head of School of Education, at SPU, from 2019 until early 2021, when she took up the position of Head of the School of Education at WITS University. Prior to joining SPU, she was the Academic Head of Postgraduate Studies at the WITS School of Education.
Professor Msimanga started out as a high school science teacher, then moved into biodiversity research after which she joined higher education as a Biology Lecturer and then came full circle as a teacher educator.
She held a PhD in Science Education and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from WITS University, which was preceded by a MSc in Zoology from the University of Kwazulu-Natal. She obtained both her BSc Honours in Biological Sciences and a BSc in Botany and Zoology from the University of Zimbabwe.
Professor Msimanga was the Chair of Research Capacity Building Committee of the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education. She also served as the Associate Editor of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, as well as on various other research and academic bodies.
She grew up in a community where very few women had an education and held the strong belief that if you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation. Professor Msimanga made a great contribution to the education of both men and women and her passing will leave a void in many lives.
Details about her funeral and the memorial services at both WITS and SPU will be communicated when those details are available.
I wish you all strength during this difficult and sad time.
Kind regards
Professor Andrew M Crouch
Vice-Chancellor and Principal
