Tawana Kupe is a Zimbabwean-South African academic. He is the vice-chancellor of the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Prior to this appointment he held several senior positions at the

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

where he also founded the Media Studies Department. He also lectured at

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

. Before Rhodes, he worked in various academic capacities at the

University of Zimbabwe The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University o ...

Life

Professor Kupe served as the executive dean of the Wits Faculty of Humanities for six years, between January 2007 and December 2012, after serving as the head of the then Wits School of Literature and Language Studies, and the founding Head of the Media Studies Department. Prior to joining Wits, Professor Kupe lectured at Rhodes University between 1999 and 2001. He joined Rhodes from the University of Zimbabwe, where he worked in various academic capacities from 1988, including as chairperson of the Department of English, Media and Communication Studies. He was installed as vice-chancellor in November 2018, replacing

Cheryl de la Rey Professor Cheryl Merle de la Rey is a South African academic who, since 2019, has been vice-chancellor of University of Canterbury in New Zealand. She was formerly Vice-Chancellor of the University of Pretoria in South Africa and has a disting ...

. Professor Kupe holds a BA Honours degree and Masters in English from the University of Zimbabwe, as well as a DPhil in Media Studies from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in Norway. In December 2019, Professor Kupe was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in Humanities by

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

(MSU).

Current positions

* Vice-Chancellor – University of Pretoria, South Africa (2018- ) *Chairperson for Africa – Australia-Africa Universities Network (AAUN), (2019-)

Former positions

* Vice-Principal – University of the Witwatersrand

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kupe, Tawana Vice-Chancellors of the University of Pretoria University of Pretoria faculty University of Zimbabwe alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)