The Transformation Committee works to build an inclusive institutional culture across the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences — in our research, curricula, processes, appointments, staff and student life.
In plain terms: we look at how the Faculty actually works day to day, we ask who it works well for and who it doesn't, and we seek to enable change when and where it is needed.
Our mandate
We are an advisory committee. We report to the Faculty Board and advise the Dean and Vice-Deans on policy, process and practice. We do not investigate complaints or take disciplinary action.
Reporting discrimination, harassment or victimisation
The Equality Unit is the right place to start — not this committee. It handles unfair discrimination, harassment and victimisation for both staff and students.
Raise a concernIdeas about transformation in the Faculty
If you have ideas about how we theorise, realise or enable transformation in the Faculty, that is squarely our work.
Bring an itemOur four working areas
People
The lived experience of staff and students in this Faculty — belonging, representation, and whether people can do their work without carrying an unfair extra load.
Learn morePlaces
Our buildings, venues, names and spaces, and whether they signal openness, imagination, community, redress and access — or the opposite.
Learn morePolicies, processes and programmes
Transformation as lived practice rather than paperwork: how faculty policy is written, implemented and felt.
Learn moreEmployment equity
Employment equity as a constitutional imperative and a restitutive practice, embedded in the recruitment, appointment and career progression of FASS staff from priority groups, in line with faculty and institutional plans.
Learn moreBring an item to the committee
Any staff member or student in the Faculty can put an item to the committee.
Email the committee chair
Write to cvent@sun.ac.za with a short description of the issue and what you would like the committee to consider.
Speak to a member
See Committee members for the current membership.
This year's priorities and projects
Insert the committee's current priorities and projects for the year.
Committee members
| Name | Position | Department or unit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Carina Venter Chairperson | Senior Lecturer | Music | cvent@sun.ac.za |
| Prof Vasti Roodt Dean | Dean of the Faculty | Dean's Office (Philosophy) | vroodt@sun.ac.za |
| Prof Stella Viljoen Vice-Dean | Vice-Dean: Research; Associate Professor | Visual Arts | stella@sun.ac.za |
| Ms Thukela Bekwa C2 representative | Administrative Officer | Dean's Office, Postgraduate Examinations | fasspeo@sun.ac.za |
| Mr Andisa Dlakavu HR representative | Human Resource Practitioner | Dean's Office | andisa@sun.ac.za |
| Dr Jean Farmer Transformation Office | Programme Manager: Staff Support, Monitoring & Evaluation | Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation | jeanlee@sun.ac.za |
| Mr Brandall Swartz BASC representative | [details to confirm] BASC is the BA Student Committee. Student representative — no staff-directory entry, so programme and contact address need confirming. | ||
| Dr Bernard Dubbeld | Associate Professor | Sociology and Social Anthropology | dubbeld@sun.ac.za |
| Dr Thembani Dube | Senior Lecturer | History | tdube01@sun.ac.za |
| Dr Chet Fransch | Lecturer | History | fransch@sun.ac.za |
| Dr Claire Lester | Lecturer | Sociology and Social Anthropology | clairel@sun.ac.za |
| Prof Éric Levéel | Associate Professor (French) | Modern Foreign Languages | eleveel@sun.ac.za |
| Dr Bo Lyu | Lecturer (Chinese) | Modern Foreign Languages | bo@sun.ac.za |
| Ms Tumi Motsisi | Junior Lecturer | Drama | [e-mail to confirm] |
| Ms Mariam Salie | Lecturer | Psychology | mariamsalie@sun.ac.za |
| Prof Nadia Sanger | Associate Professor | English Studies | nsanger@sun.ac.za |
| Dr Lauren van der Rede | Lecturer | English Studies | lvdr@sun.ac.za |
Titles, positions and departments verified against SU departmental pages, the SU Researcher Profiles index and the 2026 Faculty Yearbook. The Faculty's committee is one of the sixteen Faculty and Responsibility Centre Transformation Committees mandated by the SU Institutional Transformation Committee — see the ITC page.
Spotlighting FASS research that thinks about transformation
Add articles, media pieces and other outputs from the Faculty that engage transformation as an object of study.
Upcoming events
Add the committee's calendar, or a list of upcoming events and dialogues.
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