Russel Botman was the

vice chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

between 2006 and 2014.

Biography

Russel Botman was born in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

. He earned his

bachelor of arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree, masters of theology degree, and then his

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

from the

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...

. In 2000, Botman joined

as a professor of

practical theology Practical theology is an academic discipline that examines and reflects on religious practices in order to understand the theology enacted in those practices and in order to consider how theological theory and theological practices can be more full ...

and

missiology Missiology is the academic study of the Christian mission history and methodology, which began to be developed as an academic discipline in the 19th century. History Missiology as an academic discipline appeared only in the 19th century. It was ...

. In 2002, he became the vice rector of the university. Four years later, in 2006, he became the rector of the university. In 2014, he died at the age of 60 and was replaced by

Leopoldt van Huyssteen Leopoldt van Huyssteen was the acting Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, South Africa, following the unexpected death of the previous office bearer Prof Russel Botman on 28 June 2014. Prof Wim de Villiers was appointed to the po ...

as the rector.

References

2014 deaths Academic staff of Stellenbosch University {{SouthAfrica-academic-bio-stub