Stephen & Sandra Glass Annual Humanities Lecture

The Transformation of the University in Post-Apartheid South Africa and the Challenges of an African University

Professor Njabulo S. Ndebele
Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Cape Town

Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 4:15 p.m.
Broad Performance Space, Broad Center, Pitzer College
Reception to follow

Professor Njabulo S. Ndebele is a key figure in South African higher education.

Professor Ndebele began his term of office as vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town in July 2000, following tenure as resident scholar at the Ford Foundation’s headquarters in New York. He joined the Foundation in September 1998 after a five-year term of office as vice-chancellor and principal of the University of the North in Sovenga, Northern Province, South Africa.

He has a BA from the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (now the National University of Lesotho); a master’s degree from Cambridge University and a PhD from the University of Denver. Professor Ndebele is the recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Denver, Wesleyan University, Chicago State University, Soka University (Japan), Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam), University of Natal (now the University of Kwazulu-Natal), University College London (UK) and Cambridge University (UK). He is also a fellow of the University of Cape Town.

Professor Ndebele is the author of Fools and Other Stories, which won the Noma Award for best book published in Africa in 1983, The Cry of Winnie Mandela, Bonolo and the Peach Tree, and the highly influential critical essays South African Literature and Culture: Rediscovery of the Ordinary. His poetry has appeared in many anthologies. His opinion as a public intellectual is constantly sought and he regularly offers public comment on topical issues facing South Africa in its ongoing transition.

Professor Ndebele has served as president of the Congress of South African Writers; chair of the jury for the 100 Best Books in Africa in the Twentieth Century Project; chair of the Human Sciences Research Council; current chair of the Southern African Regional Universities Association, and president of the Association of African Universities. He is also on the board of trustees of the Nelson Mandela and Mandela-Rhodes Foundations.

The Stephen and Sandra Glass Annual Humanities Lecture celebrates the grand contributions of Steve and Sandra to The Claremont Colleges. Each year Pitzer College showcases an international figure in the humanities to augment the cultural life of The Claremont Colleges community.

Pitzer alumna Nancy Rose Bushnell ’69 majored in humanities and Spanish when the College was newly established. Thirty-five years later, Nancy and her husband, David, chose to recognize the Glass dedication to students by establishing this endowment in their honor. Nancy credits Steve and Sandra as the magnets that drew her back to Pitzer College.

The Stephen and Sandra Glass Annual Lecture Series provides a regularly scheduled, cultural presentation for Pitzer College and the surrounding campuses while simultaneously honoring the extensive efforts of the Glasses. The Lecture Series parallels the inspiration and enlightenment that Stephen and Sandra have provided for The Claremont Colleges community for decades.

Stephen Glass
“In the classroom, he opened up new worlds in a mesmerizing way while teaching us to question ideas and information in print. He was incredibly demanding for which I am very grateful today,” recalls Nancy Bushnell ’69. Stephen Glass, John A. McCarthy Professor of Classics is a member of the College’s founding faculty. For four decades, Professor Glass has revived the language and culture of ancient Greece and Rome for twenty-first century students through eloquent lectures. He continues to instruct on and research the archaeology of Greece and the Aegean, with focus on architecture, Athenian topography, ancient athletic monuments, ancient sculpture, religion, and mythology. In addition to the Classics, Professor Glass shares his oenophilic passion with students through a wine seminar.

Sandra Glass
Dr. Sandra Glass held a variety of positions in administration, advancement and academics for The Claremont Colleges and for the W.M. Keck Foundation of L.A. She served as the associate vice president for development at the Claremont University Center, and director of development and assistant to the president at Pomona College. Dr. Glass instructed in the English departments at Pomona, Scripps and Pitzer Colleges. Her academic specialty is medieval English literature with emphasis in Anglo-Saxon studies. She currently advises private and corporate foundations, universities, colleges and non-profit organizations in the areas of philanthropy and education.

Previous Glass Speaker:
T.C. Boyle (2005)

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