The Head of Department for Information Technology at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), Dr Progress Mtshali has been appointed as the Acting Director of Information Technology Support Services (ITSS) at DUT effective from 01 January 2019 for an interim period.
Dr Mtshali is a highly experienced academic and professional with a wealth of international experience, having studied and worked in the United States for over thirty-four years.
He holds a B.S. ChE (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering) from the State University of New York at Buffalo, an A.S. (Computer Technology) from Midlands Technical College in Columbia, South Carolina in United States, a M.S. and Ph.D. (Information Systems) from Nova South-eastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the United States.
The Newcastle-born Dr Mtshali has worked for IT companies such as Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Duck Creek Technologies, and Accenture Software as a software developer, principal software architect, and technical researcher. These were enterprise companies where he worked with developers, development operations, and other departments. He has also worked in academia as a senior lecturer, and also worked with instructional designers that developed and deployed course’s content on LMS systems.
His speciality includes IoT, computer networking, data analytics, database management, cryptography, compiler theory, computer programming, computational number theory and machine learning.
Commenting on his appointment Dr Mtshali said he hopes to contribute towards improving the efficiency of ITSS systems at DUT in line with the demands of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and he also aims to create synergies between the IT department and ITSS for the broader benefit of the University community.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement, Professor Sibusiso Moyo welcomed the appointment of Dr Mtshali and expressed confidence in his leadership and direction in this important area. “I believe that the ITSS team will give him the support that he requires for DUT to improve its efficiency in our ITSS support endeavour,” she said.
“Dr Mtshali brings a wealth of experience from both the University and Industrial environment, here in South Africa and from the USA – which will help DUT move to the next level,” added Prof Moyo.
Pictured: Dr Progress Mtshali
Nduduzo Ndlovu
