In May this year our rector, Prof Wim de Villiers sent an invitation to host an early-rise breakfast for twenty-five staff. He requested us to nominate a person who contributes to making a positive impact on campus.
Our department secretary Mrs Gillian Cortereal was nominated, and she had the privilege of meeting and engaging with Prof de Villiers and eleven other nominees at Die Stal, Coetzenburg, on 8 August. This was just a day before we celebrated women and the enormous impact women make in building a nurturing society. The rector did the same to make the nominees feel celebrated.
Gillian started at the Engineering Faculty in 2012 as a secretary in the newly formed Solar Thermal Research Group (STERG). Developing and starting the group meant a rapid learning of the University’s policies, structures, administrative and legal rules, and regulations. Her previous work experience was in corporate banking, so she was familiar with corporate policies. As a seasoned corporate administrator, she fast became acquainted with her job and the university. In 2017, she was appointed as a secretary in the Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering Department.
While she had previously been involved and saw the reform of banking and business in post 1994 democratic South Africa through her work with Banking, Services SETA and trade unions, the glaring reality was that Higher Education by 2012 had not yet fully opened to the possibilities of transformation. She enquired how to get involved and together with a handful of colleagues set out to address the immediate pressures. New generations of students brought about expectations of change which old systems could no longer support. The group documented and wrote a framework to address problems and shared ways to make improvements in their immediate environments. Having representation, staff and students gained confidence which gave rise to the institution’s inauguration of transformation in 2017.
Gillian represented Support staff on the Employment Equity Advisory Committee, a statutory committee formed in 2018. All previous policies were revised and aligned with the Constitutional laws and the Basic Conditions of Employment.
As policies improved, so did the workplace. People started to understand their rights in the workplace but also their duties towards work and each other. They were now supported by policies which were fair, Management in support of transformation, an Equality Unit and Transformation Office.
Gillian is still an active member of her faculty and department’s transformation committees. It is her contribution that got recognized and for which she was nominated to attend the rector’s breakfast.
Transformation work for her is an act of love, a purpose and for which she followed life’s pebbles that led her to where she is today. She says that we should constantly be improving. Transformation should remain a buzz word, be part of how we think and, in our problem solving. For social cohesion, we should always try our best to find the solution that benefits everyone
equally. For research, a diverse range of participants gives a better representation which gives unique authenticity to findings. Attention to each other’s needs creates an inclusive culture.
