Prof Grosser

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Prof Mary Grosser will keep in touch

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During Prof Mary Grosser’s

stint at the NWU she served first

as a member, then a board

member, vice-president and eventually president of the International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology.

Although Prof Mary Grosser from the School of Education Sciences and the Optentia research focus area on the Vaal Triangle Campus emigrated to Germany, she is not lost to local students.

During a recent award ceremony held to celebrate Optentia’s fifth birthday, she was appointed as an extraordinary professor at Optentia for the next three years. She will still be supervising master’s and PhD students within the research focus area and will visit her home country often.

Mary has been the leader of the research subprogramme called Holistic Learner Development in Diverse Contexts, which she helped establish.

During the awards ceremony, Mary was honoured for her contribution to the focus area. Prof Ian Rothmann, director of Optentia, paid tribute to her work at the university by quoting philanthropist Melinda Gates who said: “The best investment any of us can ever make is in the lives of others.”

Mary says she is thankful that she could truly live her passion for cognitive development and cognitive education in her research and teaching-learning. She believes that although the study field does not attract a great deal of interest, she has been able to motivate a core group of colleagues and postgraduate students to share her passion.

She says she will always cherish the memories of support and loyalty from colleagues who worked with her in Cognitive Development and Cognitive Education. Their support made a huge difference to her.

Prof Mirna Nel will take over the leadership of the subprogamme, with Dr Magda Kloppers assisting her with specific research projects.