NIEU-BETHESDA NEWS — Jacqui Akhurst has been a part-time resident of Nieu-Bethesda for the past two decades.
Recently, she and her husband, John, found themselves living permanently in the village, with Jacqui commuting to Grahamstown where she works at Rhodes University. Chatting around a table last weekend, it emerged that this humble, modest woman is actually a Professor of Psychology and has an illustrious academic history.
Before her university lecturing career, Professor Akhurst taught in primary and secondary schools in KwaZulu-Natal; and following professional psychology training, she worked as a School Psychologist. She lectured at the University of Natal and is an Honorary Professor at its successor, the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
After moving to the UK in 2004, she worked for two years in the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Psychology at the University of York, then moving to York St John University as a Senior Lecturer. Here Professor Akhurst achieved a Principal Lectureship in Psychology through personal promotion and became Professor of Community Psychology. On relocation to Rhodes University in April 2015, she was willing to accept a post as Associate Professor due to her commitment to returning to South Africa, to contribute to community psychology and community engagement in this country.
Following her appointment at Rhodes, Professor Akhurst has valued the opportunity to contribute to both undergraduate and postgraduate students’ learning. She believes that her previous experience of leading a Master’s programme in Educational Psychology for eight years at the former University of Natal and her subsequent international experiences in supporting the teaching of psychology, as well as research supervision and extensive examination of PhDs, Masters by Research and coursework Masters programmes in the UK and South Africa, have enabled her to contribute to students’ learning across the whole spectrum and to support colleagues’ developing expertise.
Professor Akhurst’s personal promotion to Professor at Rhodes University followed a stringent process in which she needed to demonstrate excellence in various categories of performance. She was rated as 'outstanding' in promoting Teaching and Learning, based upon a comprehensive online teaching portfolio; and 'very good' in both the Research (productivity and quality) and in promoting and supporting Community Engagement.
Her research focusses on community-based interventions, often utilising Action Research and Activity Theory. She is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa in both Counselling and Educational Psychology.
Professor Akhurst will be giving an inaugural lecture in Grahamstown in the next year or so, an event that is the 'pinnacle' of an academic career.
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