Professor Pamela Maseko

Executive Dean the Faculty of Humanities

Prof Maseko is a distinguished scholar who provides strategic academic leadership across a diverse portfolio of disciplines in the arts, social sciences and governance studies. She has more than three decades of experience in South Africa’s university sector and has contributed significantly to the development and transformation of the Humanities nationally, championing the revitalisation of the Humanities, inter- and transdisciplinary scholarship and the development of emerging academics.

Biography

She is committed to advancing a socially responsive Humanities education that pursues an ambitious intellectual agenda grounded in Africa-centred knowledge production and responsive to the challenges, needs and aspirations of society.

Prof Maseko plays an influential role in shaping higher education policy and governance in South Africa and serves as President of the South African Humanities Deans’ Association. She served as a founding board member of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, a Council member of the Council on Higher Education and a member of the Higher Education Quality Committee. She also served on the Ministerial Oversight Committee on Transformation in South African Public Universities.

Her postgraduate qualifications include a Master’s degree, PhD, and Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education from Rhodes University. She is widely recognised for her scholarship in historical sociolinguistics, language policy and planning, and language and learning in higher education.

Prior to joining Nelson Mandela University, Prof Maseko held senior academic and leadership roles at several institutions, including the University of Cape Town, Rhodes University, the University of the Western Cape, and North-West University, where she also served as Executive Dean of Humanities.