{"id":12179,"date":"2020-08-28T09:33:06","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T07:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/women-of-spu-prof-msimanga-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-08-30T13:01:56","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T11:01:56","slug":"women-of-spu-simone-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/women-of-spu-simone-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"#WomenofSPU – Ms Simon\u00e9 Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Women at Sol Plaatje University (SPU), including staff, students and alumni, have established themselves as pioneers, progressive leaders and change agents within the University and the community of Kimberley.<\/p>

From having the first female Deputy Vice-Chancellor, first female Chief Financial Officer, first female Head of School and the first female SRC president, gender and transformation in SPU has made remarkable strands.<\/p>

To commemorate National Women\u2019s Month, we feature a collection of narratives to provide insight into the remarkable undertakings of some of the women who were the first in their respective positions and how they became champions of transformation using their education, expertise and voices.<\/p>

Today we celebrate<\/em> Ms Simon\u00e9 Williams, School Registrar for the School of Humanities, as she takes us on her remarkable journey. This is her story.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

1. Tell us about your work<\/strong><\/p>

My late mother, who raised me as a single parent, instilled in me the value of education and with her continued support and motivation, I pursued my career into academia. My appointment as a School Registrar at SPU, at the age of 32, was a career milestone alongside the completion of my MBA.<\/p>

As School Registrar I operate in a very dynamic and changing environment that is at a critical juncture between data stewardship, systems, leadership, policy implementation, and most importantly, students and the broader community.<\/p>

I manage and oversee several key functions pertinent to administration and governance.<\/p>

2. Why or how did you become interested in this specific area of work?<\/strong><\/p>

I read somewhere that no one plans to be a Registrar. This was not the case with me.<\/p>

When I entered the field of higher education, I had my eye on a career path that would ultimately lead to being a University Registrar. I started my career as an Admin Assistant at the University of Free State and with consistent hard work and self-improvement, I worked my way up the ladder as a Senior Principal Officer at the University of Limpopo to my current role as a School Registrar.<\/p>

I am a fervent believer that education is the basis of hope for advancing our society for future generations \u2013 something I experienced first-hand while watching my late mother successfully juggling work, parenting and tirelessly dedicating herself to bring about social change and improve the quality of life to members of our community in Oudtshoorn.<\/p>

She was an exemplary role model for female leadership and her philosophy in life was to always focus on improving your livelihood and fighting the extremes of poverty and economic inequality through education.<\/p>

It is this passion of improving the lives of our youth and society as a whole, through education, that ultimately catapulted me into the field of higher education.<\/p>

3. Why do you think this is such an important area of work for South African women?<\/strong><\/p>

As women, we are intuitively detail oriented, whilst still being able to see the bigger picture. We bring to the table our proficiency in multitasking, problem solving and a more participative and transformational style of leadership.<\/p>

4. What would you consider the greatest impact of your work on women in the country?<\/strong><\/p>

School Registrar\u2019s serve as a bridge between the wants and needs of our students and as an overall hub to both faculty staff, students and the community. We are the face of the University, and we set the tone of the experiences for our students and the world of academia.<\/p>

In addition, our role reflects the possibilities that exists for women who have been marginalized in key decision-making positions. The primary goal is to inspire and motivate other women to reach their potential.<\/p>

5. What would your message be for the next generation of women School Registrars?<\/strong><\/p>

I was raised by a single parent with a low income salary. After the passing of my mother I was left to take on the enormous task of caring for my younger sibling. My story is a narrative that resonates with so many underprivileged black South Africans. So my advice to the next generation of School Registrars is; remember when an opportunity presents itself, it is often disguised as a challenge. Accept it!<\/p>

Be courageous and confident enough to take the lead and make your mark. While everyone is thinking about today\u2019s problems, be the person who thinks of creative solutions for tomorrow.<\/p>

Learning is the most constant variable in life, so exploit on the opportunities to continuously improve your qualifications and skills. If there aren\u2019t opportunities, create them. Stay abreast with social and academic developments in the world, the African continent and South Africa, and how it impacts the field of Higher Education.<\/p>

My advice to young females standing at the crossroads is, study!<\/p>

Do you have natural talent in arts and music? Study!\u00a0<\/p>

Do you have what it takes to be the next Caster Semenya on the athletics field? Study!<\/p>

Regardless of the raw, natural talent someone has, I would always encourage them to pursue a qualification and further their studies because education is the key that will open more opportunities.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women at Sol Plaatje University (SPU), including staff, students and alumni, have established themselves as pioneers, progressive leaders and change agents within the University and the community of Kimberley. From having the first female Deputy Vice-Chancellor, first female Chief Financial Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,4],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-12179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanities-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n#WomenofSPU - Ms Simon\u00e9 Williams - Sol Plaatje University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As we continue to celebrate women\u2019s month, we feature Simon\u00e9 Williams as one of our #WomenofSPU as she shares with us her remarkable story.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/women-of-spu-simone-williams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"#WomenofSPU - Ms Simon\u00e9 Williams - Sol Plaatje University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As we continue to celebrate women\u2019s month, we feature Simon\u00e9 Williams as one of our #WomenofSPU as she shares with us her remarkable story.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/women-of-spu-simone-williams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sol Plaatje University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/solplaatjeuniv\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-28T07:33:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-30T11:01:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/women-of-spu-simone.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mosima Mehlape\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@solplaatje\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solplaatje\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mosima Mehlape\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/women-of-spu-simone-williams\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/women-of-spu-simone-williams\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mosima Mehlape\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/df5eb8a93d73225156fb2ec5c1714f08\"},\"headline\":\"#WomenofSPU – Ms Simon\u00e9 Williams\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-28T07:33:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-30T11:01:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/women-of-spu-simone-williams\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":845,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/women-of-spu-simone-williams\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/women-of-spu-simone.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Humanities news\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/women-of-spu-simone-williams\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/women-of-spu-simone-williams\\\/\",\"name\":\"#WomenofSPU - 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