VANDERBIJLPARK. – Professor Margaret Linington is the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the Vaal University of Technology (VUT). She is also the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching, Learning and Student Support Services (DVC: TLSSS).
She stepped into her role as DVC: TLSSS on 1 April 2020, less than a week after South Africa went into stage 5 lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
“That was a real challenge. Starting at a new job and suddenly we are operating 100% online,” says Prof. Maggi. Fortunately, she thrives on challenges.
“The pandemic has forced us out of our comfort zones and has opened up opportunities on how we can use technology more efficiently in teaching students,” she says.
Her personal philosophy is to always try to make a difference. She is practical and down to earth with a no-nonsense approach to life.
Although she lives more than 100km from Vanderbijlpark on a smallholding in Benoni, she doesn’t drive a fancy car.
“A car is just something that has to take me from one place to another. I would rather use the money to do something good,” she declares.
Maggi was born in Cape Town, but when she was only two months old the family moved to London.
Her father, Ed Linington, was a journalist and later editor of the SA Press Association (Sapa). In 1962 he became the head of Sapa’s London bureau.
She spent the first 8 years of her life in London. When the family returned, Maggi was sent to Rosebank Convent where she matriculated.
She wanted to study nature conservation. “I liked the outdoors and didn’t want to be stuck in an office all day,” she explains and laughs as her current job (which she loves) keeps her behind a desk most of the day.
Unfortunately, the government of the day didn’t give bursaries for nature conservation to women. She went on to study BSc (Agric) at the University of Stellenbosch and BSc (Agric) Honours specialising in Animal Physiology/Biochemistry and Biochemistry, respectively from the University of Stellenbosch and PhD Physiology from the University of Witwatersrand.
In 1985 she was appointed as a researcher at the Animal Production Institute of the Agriculture Research Council in Pretoria.
Agriculture was white male-dominated at that stage, but she managed to leave her mark. “In 1996 I decided a change is as good as a holiday and I took up a new challenge as Principal Natural Scientist at Medunsa University.”
Two years later she was appointed by Vista University as Chair of the Department of Agricultural Science and in 2004 she became the first Director of the new School of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Maggie was appointed as Executive Dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences in 2006.
While she has a passion for her work, she still loves the outdoors and plays golf regularly. “It helps to walk around in the open. It’s my way of getting fresh air into my brain,’ she says.
Maggi firmly believes in spending quality time with her family.
She and her spouse, Carolyn Share, have two anniversary dates, the first being their church wedding date of 3 October 1997 and the other their legal marriage date of 30 June 2007. The couple has three adopted children, two girls, and a boy.
