A gift to last a lifetime
Over the years, alumni have expressed gratitude for lecturers who made an impact on their lives. These are some highlights and memorable moments
Pippa Hudson (BA 1996, BA Hons 1997) | seasoned radio host at Cape Talk
“I remember what a privilege it was to be taught by some brilliant lecturers who made their subjects come alive: David Medalie, Tim Couzens, Ann Smith, Geoff Hughes, Prof Anthony Woodward. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the encouragement of Prof John van Zyl, who made me believe in my own potential, and nudged me in the direction of radio, which has become my life-long passion.”
--------------------
Motswedi Modiba (BMus 2021) | global ambassador for Brand SA
“Chantell Willie-Peters was my vocal coach – she really changed my life and helped me make sense of my voice, moulded it. She has this ability to know how to bring the best out of you with so much grace. Her late husband, Andre, was also a lecturer and I am so grateful for them because they changed my life. I went through a lot while I was at Wits and knowing that there were lecturers who really supported me. They put in a good word, wrote referrals and spent hours and hours training me. Being able to study at Manhattan School of Music is because of them. They planted the idea and motivated me. David Couzens as well – was an accompanist from when I started until the end. These people were in the thick of it when I was really training my voice. I am eternally grateful for them. I think anyone who comes across their paths, will have a beautiful story to tell.”
--------------------
Mila Harding (BA 2019, LLB 2021, PGDipLaw 2022) | judicial law clerk at the Constitutional Court of South Africa
“My most influential lecturer was Dr Emile Zitzke, who taught me a course on delict and later was my supervisor for my final year research essay. Dr Zitzke inspired me to think of the law in an analytically richer and more optimistic way. He also helped me develop academic and professional confidence by encouraging me to publish my research essay and apply to international master’s programmes.”
--------------------
Dr Simonne Horwitz (BA 2000, BA Hons 2001) | associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan
“Emeritus Professor Peter Delius was my mentor in the History Department and he encouraged me to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship. I pledged that if I received it and became an academic, I would dedicate my career to making a difference to the lives of my students.”
--------------------
Peter Sullivan (MA 2024) | former editor of The Star newspaper
“Professor Brian Penrose was simply wonderful. So caring, so careful to be encouraging when pointing out mistakes, cautious in criticism, suggesting alternative views, yet pedantic about every comma and full stop. Professor Lucy Allais was patient and extraordinarily helpful…It still amazes me that the teaching staff could be so caring.”
--------------------
Tshepiso (BA FA 2017) | jewellery designer and metalsmith
“Wits has played a massive part in my journey, I have an incredibly solid foundation in conceptualising and creating because of every lecturer in the department. Professor David Andrew who was my tutor in my third year of fine art was very no nonsense (he probably still is) and pushed me to push myself, which I’m eternally grateful for.”
--------------------
Rob Still (BCom 1978, CTA 1980) | owner of De Rustica Olive Estate
“As was the norm in those days, I did a BAcc degree in 1978/9 part time while working as an articled clerk. Lectures were in the evenings and Saturday mornings. 
It was serious business and Wits commerce was probably the best in South Africa. For us all, I think, the stand-out person was the Head of Accountancy, Professor Margaret [Ma] Steele. She was a force – highly competent and tough. None of us missed her lectures! My fellow students graduating in 1979 have succeeded in diverse industries globally.”
--------------------
Zeenat Sujee (LLB 2007, PDip Law 2015, LLM 2019) | head of the Education Rights Programme and advice office manager at SECTION27
“The lecturer who spurred my interest in human rights law was Abeda Bhamjee, a lawyer and lecturer at the Wits Law Clinic. I worked under her supervision, and she provided me with the guidance and exposure to High Court applications as well as Refugee Appeal Board hearings. Her passion and determination to ensure justice for all clients that filled the clinic on Monday afternoons, was inspirational. She taught with patience and provided the practical and theoretical guidance that law students require.”
--------------------
Motheo Brodie (LLB 2018) | activist and candidate attorney at SECTION27
“One of my favourite lecturers during my time at Wits was Professor James Grant. I did criminal law in 2014, which also happened to be the year of the Oscar Pistorius trial. Even though I did not pursue criminal law, I remember being very intrigued by the field and Professor Grant's lectures were always very lively with rigorous debates during the lectures.”
--------------------
David Berchowitz (BSc Eng 1975, MEng 1978, PhD 1986) | innovator and chief technology officer of Stirling Ultracold
“I had the enormous good fortune to have Prof Costa Rallis be my advisor. He was a giant among those who have influenced my way of thinking.”
--------------------
Hugh Fraser (BArch 1987) | architect and tour guide
“Professor Pancho Guedes was brilliant, a polymath and maverick who had travelled around Europe taking photographs of buildings, which he would show us. I absolutely loved him, and he had a profound influence on me.”
--------------------
David Raal (BSc Eng 1952) | Emeritus professor
“I was inspired by our professors in chemistry. Prof H Stevens, who received an OBE for his work on mustard gas in the Great War, and Dr Otto Backeberg, admired and inspirational teacher of organic chemistry. I also revered Professor Arthur Bleksley in applied mathematics.”
--------------------
Professor Saul Teukolsky (BSc 1969, BSc Hons 1970) | Professor Emeritus of Physics at Caltech and Cornell University
“I have very warm memories of Wits. I had caring lecturers like Eddie Price and Prof Frank Nabarro, the head of the Physics Department.”
--------------------
Dr Michael Hathorn (MSc Eng 1943, MBBCh 1950) | centenarian and medical activist
“My experiences at Wits, both as an engineering student, and later as a medical student after the war, made a big difference to what my life would otherwise have been. One of the best lecturers I remember was Professor Gordon B Lauf, who taught us mine surveying. One of the requirements of mining students was to spend time over the holidays working in a gold mine. It also made me realise the vast difference in the way that white and black miners were treated. The white miners were covered by legislation whereby they received free treatment and financial compensation if they developed silicosis or tuberculosis, due to working underground. Black miners were on yearly contracts, which were renewed if they were healthy; if not, they were left with no treatment or compensation. It was this which decided me not to continue with mining after the war.”
--------------------
Professors Richard and Morris Viljoen | distinguished geologists
In their recent memoir, Reading the Rocks, they write that Professor Traugott Gevers showed a film of a field trip to the Nyamulagira Volcano in the Virunga Mountains in the Congo in the late 1930s during in their first lecture at Wits:
“An enraged bull elephant charged Gevers’ vehicle in one of the game parks, and he was able to film the entire episode up to the point where the elephant made contact with the vehicle, in the process causing a severe fracture to the professor’s leg.” Prof Gevers never recovered from the incident and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. He invited senior students to his house, presenting entertaining slide shows, accompanied by good wine and classical music. He had a significant influence as mentor on both brothers throughout their careers until his death in 1991 at the age of 91. Other influential lectures included Professor Boris Balinsky for his lasting impression on the relatively new subjects of DNA and RNA. In geography there was Prof Stanley Jackson, while Dr Dennis Flair, Thelma Mullens and Prof Gordon Lauf taught surveying.
--------------------
Bart Dorrestein (BSc Eng 1971) | founder and CEO of the Legacy Group
“One of the overriding things that I came away from university with was something Prof Jeremiah Jennings. He told the class that many of us would not go on to work as civil engineers or apply what he taught in soil mechanics. But one thing he would leave with us, which would stand us in good stead for the rest of our lives, was the concept of ‘engineering judgement’. We would learn to judge a situation and if we made the wrong decision something would collapse or fall down.”
--------------------
Professor Patrick Deane (BA 1978, BA Hons 1979) | former Vice Chancellor of Queen’s University in Canada.
Two figures remain etched in his memory from 1976: Professor Philip Tobias and Vice chancellor Prof GR Bozzoli at a protest meeting on the library lawns.
“At the time, I had very little understanding of what their actions really meant for themselves, their families and most important – for our country. Today I have a better understanding of what was at stake on that occasion, and I realise that my career has largely been about seeking to serve the pursuit of a just society through educational leadership.”
Share your influential lecturer with the Alumni Relations Office: alumni@wits.ac.za