Research Co-ordinator in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), Dr Dianna Moodley was recently announced as a Top 3 finalist in the Higher Education Resource Services – South Africa (HERS-SA) Higher Education Women Leaders Awards. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held in Cape Town on Thursday, 07 September 2023.
Dr Moodley’s role at DUT includes; strategic leadership, management, supervision and decision-making in all research-related academic and administrative matters within the Faculty of Arts and Design.
She has been recognised amongst extraordinary women leaders making a positive impact within and outside their universities. This prestigious annual event recognises the achievement of women from across South Africa, who lead, inspire and motivate others to be more and to do more.
The category, Women in Academic Administration, honours a woman who has excelled in a leadership position over a period of time in the academic administration space. The nominee is rated on innovative intervention/practices that enhance institutional performance, peer-mentoring evidence and community engagement activities.
Giving a brief background on herself, Dr Moodley indicated that her specialisation is in interrogating attitudes related to Language Policy implementation in South African Higher Education. Having spent almost ten years in the USA, she networks extensively with leading researchers in discovering what motivational factors affect language acquisition and usage in education worldwide.
Her quest is to discover what ‘language’ works best to optimise student academic performance in Higher Education. She holds an impressive publishing portfolio, having presented her most accomplished work at Harvard and Yale Universities in the USA. Some of her work has been commissioned by the Council on Higher Education Studies and included in the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN’s) Language Policy Strategic Implementation Plan. She has led several language initiatives on advancing isiZulu as a medium of instruction in Higher Education. She has steered multiple innovative digital research projects and has successfully directed major annual international events to advance technology, innovation, creativity, digitalisation and entrepreneurship.
“It feels absolutely incredible to see our work being recognised in such a tangible way. This award solidifies my passion and inspires me to work harder to enable the people I serve. My hope is that this award will serve as the helm of my responsibility to positively impact the next generation,” shared Dr Moodley.
Amongst her accolades, in 2022, she obtained the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for “excellent initiative in building a culture of divergent thinking and entrepreneurship at DUT” and Dr Moodley received the Institutional Award for Best Creative Output; and obtained an international award for the Best In-person Paper Presentation at the 33rd Barcelona International Conference on Education, Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts.
Speaking about what motivates her to strive for excellence, Dr Moodley said it was making meaningful contributions in the workplace and in society, while standing up and taking her position, and realising the natural negotiating potential of women as a valuable tool in a forever changing society.
The Executive Dean: Faculty of Arts and Design, Professor Runette Kruger was excited to hear of Dr Moodley’s accolade and wished her well for the awards ceremony.
Pictured: Dr Dianna Moodley.
Simangele Zuma
