The University of the Witwatersrand,Johannesburg,commonly known as Wits University or Wits,is a multi-campus public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg,South Africa. The university has its roots in the mining industry,as do Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand in general. Founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines in Kimberley,it is the third oldest South African university in continuous operation.
The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington,D.C.,on February 19,1864. The Knights of Pythias is the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded by Justus H. Rathbone,who had been inspired by a play by the Irish poet John Banim about the legend of Damon and Pythias. This legend illustrates the ideals of loyalty,honor,and friendship that are the center of the order. It was segregated and African Americans were excluded. They formed their own Colored Knights of Pythias.
The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) is a non-profit consortium of 24 research-intensive universities founded in 2000. It provides financial and infrastructural support to member universities to support international research collaboration and academic mobility.
Sir John Peebles Arbuthnott,PPRSE,FRCPSG,FMedSci,FRCPath was a Scottish microbiologist who was Principal of the University of Strathclyde. He succeeded Lord Wilson of Tillyorn as President of The Royal Society of Edinburgh in October 2011 and was succeeded by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell in October 2014.
Colin James Bundy is a South African historian,former principal of Green Templeton College,Oxford and former director of SOAS University of London. Bundy was an influential member of a generation of historians who substantially revised understanding of South African history. In particular,he wrote on South Africa's rural past from a predominantly Marxist perspective,but also deploying Africanist and underdevelopment theories. Since the mid-1990s,however,Bundy has held a series of posts in university administration. Bundy is also a trustee of the Canon Collins Educational &Legal Assistance Trust.
JoséAnibal Laureano Colón is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler and manager. He is better known by his ring name,Chicky Starr. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Council (WWC) and International Wrestling Association (IWA) of Puerto Rico. Starr won the WWC Universal Championship when he defeated Carlito in San Lorenzo,Puerto Rico in early 2003. Laureano has led stables including The Chicky Starr Sports Club and the Starr Corporation.
Adam Mahomed Habib is a South African academic administrator serving as Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies,University of London since 1 January 2021. He served as Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg,South Africa,between 1 June 2013,when the term of his predecessor Loyiso Nongxa ended,and 1 January 2021. He is also a former deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg.
The School of Biological Sciences is one of the academic units of the University of California,Irvine (UCI). The school is divided into four departments:developmental and cell biology,ecology and evolutionary biology,molecular biology and biochemistry,and neurobiology and behavior. With over 3,700 students it is in the top four largest schools in the university. It is consistently ranked in the top one hundred in U.S. News &World Report’s yearly list of best graduate schools.
Max Price is a former vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa. He succeeded Njabulo Ndebele and held this position for 10 years from 19 August 2008 until 30 June 2018.
Rosina Mamokgethi Phakeng is a South African professor of mathematics education who in 2018 became a vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT). She has been the vice principal of research and innovation,at the University of South Africa and acting executive dean of the College of Science,Engineering and Technology at UNISA. In 2018 she was an invited speaker at the International Congresses of Mathematicians. In February 2023 it was announced that she would leave her position as vice-chancellor of UCT and take early retirement. She was succeeded by Professor Daya Reddy on 13 March 2023
Loyiso Nongxa is a South African mathematician,the current Chairperson of the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) and a former Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand,Johannesburg (Wits).
Attilio Fontana is an Italian politician from Varese,Lombardy. He has served as President of Lombardy since 2018 leading a centre-right coalition.
#FeesMustFall was a student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa. The goals of the movement were to stop increases in student fees as well as to increase government funding of universities. Protests started at the University of Witwatersrand and spread to the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University before rapidly spreading to other universities across the country. Although initially enjoying significant public support the protest movement started to lose public sympathy when the protests started turning violent.
Gregory Brian Mancz is an American football center for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Toledo,where he was a four-year starter at several positions along the offensive line. He earned various All-American and All-MAC honors during his college career. His senior season in 2014,he won the Vern Smith Leadership Award,which is given to the best player in the MAC. Mancz went undrafted in the 2015 NFL Draft and signed with the Texans shortly thereafter. Due to a season-ending injury to Nick Martin,Mancz was the Texans' starting center for the entire 2016 season.
Sakhela Buhlungu is a South African sociology professor and university administrator. He is the current vice chancellor of University of Fort Hare and the former dean of humanities at University of Cape Town. Buhlungu's work focuses on the labour and other social movements. He has also taught at the University of the Witwatersrand,the University of Johannesburg,and the University of Pretoria. At Fort Hare,his efforts to combat corruption lead to threats that culminated in a January 2023 assassination attempt that killed his bodyguard. Before academia,Buhlungu worked as a teacher and was the assistant general secretary of the Paper,Printing and Allied Workers' Union.
Vuyani Pambo is a South African politician and former student activist. He has represented the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the National Assembly since May 2019 and serves as the head of the EFF presidency. He rose to political prominence as a leader of the Fees Must Fall movement at the University of the Witwatersrand,where he was the head of the EFF Student Command. A member of the EFF Central Command since December 2019,he also served as the party's national spokesperson between February 2020 and February 2022.
Zeblon Zenzele Vilakazi has been Vice Chancellor of the Wits University in Johannesburg,South Africa since 1 January 2021. Professor Vilakazi is a nuclear physicist. Prior to his promotion,he was Vice-Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Postgraduate Studies. He speaks French,German,Russian,Xhosa,Zulu,Siswati,Sesotho,Afrikaans and English.
