Meet Dietrich von Staden (95), his wife, Sannie (93), and their daughter, Liebeth Turbati (63) – all graduates of the University of Pretoria (UP).

Dietrich graduated with a BSc Agriculture in Horticultural Science (1949) and was swiftly offered a post as Research Officer in the Department of Horticultural Science at UP. “I also co-opted into an extensive research project concerned mainly with the development of superior citrus cultivars for the South African citrus industry,” he said. “This project enabled me to participate in several international conferences of the International Society of Citriculture.”  

He also obtained an MSc. “Apart from my involvement in citrus research, I was also responsible for a long-term research project on the fertiliser requirement for bananas under South African conditions. This project formed the basis of my dissertation for my MSc degree in 1965.”

In the late 1960s, Dietrich initiated a course in Ornamental Horticulture at UP to complement the course in Fruit and Vegetable Science. “Subsequently, with the establishment of the BL degree course in Landscape Architecture at UP in 1973, I adapted some of the Ornamental Horticulture courses to meet the requirements for the Landscape Architecture degree. I was thus closely associated with the training of students in landscape architecture, with special reference to horticulture and horticultural ecology.”

Sannie, who obtained a degree in social work in 1949, says it was a privilege to study at UP and to be trained at an outstanding, world-class university. “That is why we sent our children and grandchildren to UP,” she said. She believes that the role of alumni is one of public relations, funding and support of programmes related to one’s specialised field of training. “It is also an opportunity to socialise at meetings where stimulating talks and programmes are presented.”

Their daughter, Liebeth, holds a BPolSci (1979) and currently works as a senior associate at international strategic advisory firm McLarty Associates in Washington, DC. “As a pioneer in the field of private sector diplomacy, we help our clients – mainly large US corporations – to navigate strategic and operational challenges in every part of the world.”

After graduating from UP, Liebeth joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and served in Denmark, Peru and Canada. “I also lived in Italy and, in the late 1990s, relocated to the US. As an immigrant it was not always easy to establish oneself in a new career, especially in a highly competitive city such as Washington, DC, but the US is known as the ‘land of opportunity’.”

She related some of her memories of UP. “The 1976 student uprising in Soweto profoundly influenced the way many of us thought about apartheid policies and the increasing international isolationism South Africa was facing,” she recalled. “Mike Hough was a senior lecturer in Political Science at the time and encouraged open debate and critical thinking in his classroom. I have great memories of very lively debates on South Africa’s future in an evolving geopolitical landscape.”

She also recalls meeting a variety of people from abroad who studied at UP for a semester or did postgraduate degrees there. “The outpouring of appreciation for UP and the whole community by these international students made me feel proud of my alma mater.”