I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as the Head of Department of the Department of Environmental Science for the next 3 years. I was a PhD student in this department between 2009 and 2011, and heading it is a huge privilege and speaks volumes about the support I have received over the years and the service I must render to others. In other words, it is not possible to do it all alone.
I would like to thank my predecessor, Prof James Gambiza for leading the department during the past 3 years, especially doing so during the COVID-19 difficulties and uncertainties in the second half of his tenure. My desire is to support the department on its growth trajectory, cognizant of the varied challenges, including COVID-19, we are still grappling with.
My hope is for the department’s activities to be shaped by intellectual thought and collaborations. My beliefs on the value of intellectual thought and meaningful collaborations are informed by the concept of slow scholarship, which speaks to among other things being receptive to new ideas, attentive and careful, creativity, cultivating a positive working environment, and creating dialogues between academic and support staff and our students. I take pride in the fact that the Department of Environmental Science is a leader in being responsive to transformation imperatives as they relate to research, teaching and learning. I would like us to continuously reflect on the department’s fitness for purpose in the context of a rapidly diversifying student body and barriers to student success. This can help inform our practices, particularly, how we can better listen to and support marginalized groups of students and identify barriers to epistemic access and success. I think to maintain our status as a leading Environmental Science Department in the country, we should continually cultivate an environment where everyone feels welcome, valued and is granted equal opportunities to grow and flourish.
Undoubtedly, the next few months will be challenging, and we may not be able to enjoy staff-student interactions in the lecture theatres, and corridors, at field trips or at the Friday teas that our department and university is known for. However, despite these challenges there is no barrier to reimagining creative ways for staying socially connected. We can build on our varied experiences to design strategies that can allow academic and social activities to continue while minimizing the chances of COVID-19 transmission.