Faculty of EMS hosts virtual year-end celebration

Posted on December 07, 2020

The Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences – which celebrates its centenary this year – hosted its first-ever virtual year-end function on 1 December 2020 to celebrate the various Faculty successes achieved during this challenging year.
 
Kicking off the session, Prof Elsabé Loots, Dean of the Faculty, commended staff for all their efforts in ensuring the successful completion of the academic year. “The resilience and adaptability of our staff this year really pulled us through,” she said, before noting that the Faculty’s centenary celebration plans had to be adapted substantially in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Among some of the innovative ways of continuing the celebrations virtually was the hosting of virtual EMS Talk events and profiling the Faculty’s alumni, an initiative which will continue into the new year.
 
Prof Johan Oberholser, Deputy Dean for Teaching and Learning, applauded the Faculty’s academic staff for the remarkable ease with which they adapted to teaching fully online. He noted that the Faculty’s efforts to upskill staff through virtual training sessions were well-received. “EMS staff are really committed to their teaching and they are also quite happy to take a challenge head on.”
 
The top academic achievers in the Faculty were announced, with Teaching and Learning Awards given to the following lecturers who introduced innovative teaching, maintained high module pass rates and were assessed to be good lecturers, based on objective evaluation on their teaching and classroom practice:
  • Elize Kirsten from the Department of Financial Management, with an interdisciplinary project (EMS and Engineering) at honours level.
  • Rolien Kunz and Marina Kirstein from the Department of Auditing, who used the Zooting Engagement tool extensively to engage students and assist them to construct their own knowledge.
  • Dr Theresa Pidduck, Nadia Bauer and Juanita Venter from the Department of Taxation, who made use of the I-Peer tool to enhance group work and give recognition for group work.
 
There were nine categories for the Research Awards and the following were the winners in each of the respective categories:
  • The Department of Marketing Management was the winner in the category of ‘Most Improved Research Outputs by a Department’
  • First Journal Article Publication Award: Dr Eleni Yitbarek (Department of Economics)
  • Best Junior Researcher in Management Sciences: Dr Tinashe Chuchu (Department of Marketing Management)
  • Best Junior Researcher in Financial Sciences: Prof Astrid Schmulian (Department of Accounting)
  • Best Junior Researcher in Economic Sciences: Dr Matthew Clance (Department of Economics)
  • Best Senior Researcher in Management Sciences: Prof Jenny Hoobler (Department of Human Resource Management). Prof Hoobler’s quality research was also honoured by the University with an Exceptional Academic Achiever Award.
  • Best Senior Researcher in Financial Sciences: Prof Stephen Coetzee (Department of Accounting)
  • Best Senior Researcher in Economic Sciences: Prof Roula Inglesi-Lotz (Department of Economics)
  • Researcher of the Year: Prof Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics). Prof Gupta has received this award for the past six consecutive years.
Also participating in the virtual celebration event was Prof Karin Barac, Deputy Dean for Research and Postgraduate Studies, who remarked: “The COVID-19 health pandemic and its consequences have provided research opportunities which are already generating new knowledge that could have an impact on society. In 2021 we will rely on all EMS researchers to make use of these opportunities and to become the best researchers that they can be.”
 
Watch the recording of the year-end event below:
 
- Author Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences

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