Mashudu Davhana-Maselesele, Ph.D.

Professor Mashudu Davhana-Maselesele was born at Balanganani village at Ha-Davhana being the third born child of the late Vhamusanda Vho DMK Davhana and Mrs Nyambeni Rhodah Davhana (nee‘ Nengovhela). She trained as a nurse and midwife at the then Venda Nursing College and served as a Professional nurse at Donald Fraser hospital. She obtained BA(Cur) Nursing Education and Community Health Nursing Science; Honours BA(Cur) in Nursing Education and Masters in Nursing Education all at UNISA. She completed her Doctoral degree in Programme Development at the University of Johannesburg. She was awarded a scholarship through Fogarty Funding to pursue her Postdoctoral studies at the University of California (Los Angeles) USA in collaboration with University of Limpopo. Her Post Doctoral studies focused on trauma research with special emphasis on Gender Based Violence. She also did Postgraduate Diploma in International Research Ethics in Southern Africa (IRENSA) at UCT.

Her academic career started at the University of Venda between 1998 and 2007, where she progressed from Junior Lecturer to Senior Lecturer, teaching nursing programmes from undergraduate to postgraduate levels. Subsequently, she spent a decade at North-West University (NWU), holding key academic leadership positions, namely; Executive Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Vice Rector for Teaching/Learning and Research, and Campus Rector of Mafikeng. She later moved to the Eastern Cape Province where she served as Rector of the Mthatha Campus at Walter Sisulu University for two years before becoming Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic Affairs and Research for two years.

During her tenure at NWU, she played a pivotal role in raising funds for capacity development, establishing research collaborations, and creating doctoral sandwich programmes for young academics. Her research primarily focuses on Gender-Based Violence and vicarious trauma among caregivers, particularly in the context of HIV and AIDS. As a passionate advocate of Problem-Based Learning, she has conducted training on the use of PBL as a teaching strategy in collaboration with Mc Master University (Canada). She has supervised and co-supervised 24 Masters and Doctoral candidates and published articles in accredited journals nationally and internationally. She also mentored Post-Doctoral Fellows in collaboration with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Presently, she is actively involved in a 5-year project for Sustainable Academic Capacity Building for Excellence through Research and Training (SACERT) Programme developing research capacity amongst young academics pursuing their doctoral studies in South Africa, collaborating with the following institutions: UCLA (USA), NWU, SU, UCT, UL, UNIVEN,WSU and HSRC.

She served as Editor-in-Chief of CURATIONIS, an accredited journal, and was a member of the South African Nursing Council (SANC) for a decade. She has been involved in programme development and reviews nationwide through participation in the Council on Higher Education (CHE) activities.

She now serves as Deputy Vice Chancellor: Teaching and Learning (DVC: T/L) at the University of Mpumalanga.