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#WomenofSPU – Prof Mary Jean Baxen

As National Women’s Month draws to a close, we invite you to a Virtual Seminar on Gender and Transformation in Higher Learning presented by Professor Mary Jean Baxen, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at Sol Plaatje University. 

Today she also shares with us her remarkable journey of how she became a champion of transformation using her education, expertise and voice. This is her story.

My professional journey as an academic started at the University of Cape Town (UCT) almost 25 years ago. It has taken me to many institutions across the country, culminating in my appointment as the first Deputy Vice Chancellor: Academic at Sol Plaatje University; a position I took up in July 2018. I also happen to be the first female in an executive position at the University. I am a full professor whose research interests lie in teacher education, with specific emphasis on early childhood education, social identity, gender, sexuality and HIV and AIDS.

I assist the Vice Chancellor and Principal in performing his duties in terms of the Act and the SPU statute, at strategic, leadership, management, and operational levels. More specifically, I oversee and am responsible for the leadership and management of the core academic functions of the University. This entails responsibility for Schools, the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Programme Development, the Library, Student Affairs and Research. Such a wide-ranging portfolio is unusual for a DVC in that in more established universities, these are spread across at least three portfolios. It is understandable though that in a newly established university, an executive would be tasked to oversee a number of portfolios that in due time will migrate as the university grows and increases its capacity. This notwithstanding and in my experience thus far, oversight across such a wide spectrum of portfolios has enabled me to provide leadership, guidance, and focussed attention towards the provision of synergistic and integrated structures, policies, programmes (and concomitant practices) for student and staff development and support, all with the view to creating opportunities for access, inclusion, and success.

In the main, I contribute to policy development, committee work, people management, budget, financial and health and safety, quality enhancement and assurance, resource management for teaching and learning, and support and development for staff and students. This brief description in no way captures the complexities and eventfulness of this office! Include in this mix, an open-door policy where staff and student are always welcome despite a protective eye by my dear PA! My days never cease to be full of surprises, ineventualities, and of course planned and unscheduled meetings!

I recognised from an early age that one’s current circumstances do not and indeed should not, determine ones present or future. Not having had the opportunity to complete primary school themselves, both my parents were categorical about the need to complete school and were keenly aware of the catalytic role education plays as a conduit towards independence, freedom and the life one chooses to live. Excellence, accountability, responsibility, choice and consequences were drilled into us as children, with mediocrity not an option in anything one did in our household; big or small.

Caring for others and serving in whatever capacity was a characteristic feature in our growing up as children. What I have learnt for sure is that living to serve enriches one’s life in unimaginable ways; feeding the inner being immeasurably. The desire to serve and care for others was also propelled by the injustices into which I was born, paving the way for a life in pursuit of equity, social justice, equality. This drove my plan towards becoming a medical doctor. While this plan did not come to fruition, I became a doctor of philosophy instead, completing my PhD at UCT.

I started my professional career as a Foundation Phase Teacher. I recall my first Grade 1 class in Wentworth, Durban and a little sweet girl called Angelique. She had the most beautiful eyes that looked at me with such eagerness and anticipation! I was hooked and knew that this is what would become my lifework! I experienced the transformative power of education … from watching a child learn to read to sitting on the podium when a PhD I supervised pranced across the stage in a red gown. As a novice teacher, I had quickly learnt to distinguish teaching from facilitation, realising the power of the latter. I recognised that the most powerful way to empower is to create the conditions for success and experience individuals take up that space and grow. Such re-cognition and knowingness shaped my approach to education long before I became an academic. It continues to influence my approach as a leader and academic. Creating conducive spaces for knowledge development and production still excites and motivates me, even though I do this from a different vantage point as a leader. The power of presence, active participation and taking responsibility for self and others changes circumstances and in so doing, touches lives.

I took up leadership positions in the schooling system from my early twenties and have served in various capacities within the higher education sector in South Africa. I have held research associate and/or visiting scholar positions in a number of international universities. As a scholar, I collaborated with various national and international scholars as principal investigator, leading large groups of scholars and postgraduate students. I have been an active member of the higher education community in South Africa as a member of a number of editorial boards, advisory committees, and review panels.  

Scholarship exists concerning challenges women face in aspiring to hold leadership positions. The glass ceiling effect is a reality faced by women, with those in higher education no exception. Much too has been written about the role of women in the workplace and the perspectives they bring to bear in situations. Diversity (of perspectives, ways of knowing and doing) brings richness to a situation and therefore, female participation in leadership should be welcomed rather than discouraged. Women’s bodies should not be marked, with our gender not symbolic or a representation of our intellectual abilities and capabilities.

Becoming an academic or leader in higher education can take many forms and can derive from different pathways. Mine was from a dusty road in White River, Mpumalanga to Kimberley, the city of diamonds. I am humbled by the lessons I continue to learn as a member of this dynamic community … MySPU! I remain inspired by how we traverse unchartered paths as a young university, taking lessons from but not being determined by our past. Phambili women of SPU, phambili!

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