The Head of the Civil Engineering Department at the Midlands Centre of DUT, Mr Tom Mckune, made the University extremely proud when he was honoured with the prestigious 2013 South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) Award for Meritorious Service.

The recognition was given to Mckune at the SAICE House in Midrand on 15April 2014 during the SAICE Council meeting. The award is an institutional award exclusively determined by the President of the SAICE. The honour is bestowed on an individual who has rendered significant service to the institution or to the Civil Engineering profession over a number of years.

According to SAICE, the President’s Award for Meritorious Service is adjudicated by the immediate past President in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer of the Institution, then the immediate past President makes a final decision and prepares the citation.

“The first time this award was bestowed was in 1997 to Adrian Olof Bergh. Mckune is the first person from the Durban University of Technology to be given this prestigious award,” said Rebekka Wellmans, Researcher at SAICE. The award is not made annually as it is dependent on whether the President believes a member is deserving or not.

Mckune is also part of the National Curriculation Committee for Civil Engineering and is Facilitator of the Civil Engineering Heads Forum. He has been instrumental in establishing the Pietermaritzburg Midlands Department in 1996 (with only 16 students) and building it up to a fully-fledged department, which currently boasts 680. He is responsible for introducing the Exceed teaching model in the Department, resulting in national recognition for the quality of students being produced. Mckune has also initiated the Civil Engineering Research Interest group (now a fully constituted department research committee DRC) to facilitate staff qualification improvement and post graduate studies.

When asked about his success in the field of Civil Engineering, Mckune said he has been in the profession since 1973 (since 1990 as an academic) and eats, sleep and dreams Civil Engineering.

“The award came as a big surprise. I have never expected anything from my institution and have been happy to serve. I have been a Vice President of SAICE for 10 years, and have chaired the Education and Training panel for almost 15 years. To be recognised by my peers makes me feel very proud and determined to continue to contribute to this profession,” he said.

He said the field of Civil Engineering in South Africa needs to be relooked in terms of selection criterias and shortage of academics teaching in this field. According to Mckune, who is busy writing a report for the DHET skills shortage task team, Senior Certificate symbols are no longer an accurate indicator of student abilities when they are applying for study into this field. He said consideration should be given to reintroduce the equivalent of Higher/Standard Grade for Mathematics in preference to Maths Literacy.

Mckune has two sons and a daughter, with both his sons being qualified civil engineers and his wife runs an engineering recruitment business. He hopes to continue his dream and passion of instilling the love of this career choice in students in this dynamic field for many more years to come.

Noxolo Memela