Cape Town - Emeritus Professor Daya Reddy has been appointed as UCT’s interim vice-chancellor.
Reddy will assume duty on March 14 and is expected to hold this position until a new vice-chancellor is appointed.
The professor has been with UCT for about 42 years and returns after he bid farewell to the institution in 2021.
He served on three occasions as an acting deputy vice-chancellor and three terms on the university’s Council as a member elected by the senate.
The vice-chancellor position became vacant on March 3 after Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng left office following a messy battle with Council which led to an exit settlement agreement.
Deputy vice-chancellor for Research and Internationalisation, Professor Sue Harrison, was appointed to act as the vice-chancellor.
A special meeting was held on March 6 with the name of the interim vice-chancellor being high on the agenda following consultations with the senate and after seeking the advice of the Institutional Forum.
UCT chairperson of Council Babalwa Ngonyama said: “Professor Reddy has served in various management and leadership positions at UCT: as a head of department, as dean of the Faculty of Science for seven years, and from 1999 to 2021 as director of the Centre for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics.”
Ngonyama said Reddy also has extensive governance and leadership experience nationally and internationally.
“We thank Professor Reddy for availing himself for this role and we warmly welcome him back to UCT. I am sure we will all offer him our support during his interim tenure.”
Cape Times