Academic Governance and Faculty

Nhlanhla Thwala

Provost

Nhlanhla Thwala started his career in 1986 as a high school teacher in his native Eswatini after completing a BA in History and English plus a Diploma in Education. In 1990 he completed an MA in Linguistics at Syracuse University. In 1994 he completed a PhD in formal Linguistics from the University of California in Los Angeles.
His post PhD career started in Indiana University, Bloomington where he was a Visiting Scholar and Coordinator of the African Language Program. He then spent 16 years at Wits University, Johannesburg in various capacities including serving as the founding Head of the School of Literature, Language and Media, Director of the Wits Language School, Researcher at SOAS while on Sabbatical at Wits. In 2014 he left Wits and first joined Advtech (one the largest JSE listed private education companies in South Africa) as Head of the Institute of Independent Education (IIE). He then joined Pearson South Africa as Managing Director of CTI Education Group (a higher education company acquired by Pearson in 2013). In that time he also served as the Academic Director of Pearson Institute of Higher Education. He also had Summer Teaching roles at Yale University, Boston University, and Ohio State University. In 1998 he started at Wits as Lecturer and rose to Senior Lecturer in 1999 before his appointment as Head of the School of Literature Language and Media in 2001.

Gaidi Faraj

Head of College

Dr. Gaidi Faraj brings a rich blend of experience in education and private sector business on the African continent. Dr. Faraj has over 10 years of senior level experience of managing large scale projects and navigating regulatory frameworks in Tanzania and broader East Africa. Dr. Faraj holds a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s degree in Teaching from Troy State University in Montgomery, Alabama. He is currently a research fellow at Harvard University and was a 2017 UMASS Amherst W.E.B. DuBois fellow.

Dr. Fay Hodza

Academic Director

Dr. Fay Hodza is a transformative higher education leader and educator who joins ALU with over twenty years of academic experience.

He is a human and community development expert with research interests in gender and sexuality, systemic community engagement, higher education, drug policy reform, human security, and sustainable development in Southern Africa. He also has interests in the political economy of the oil and gas industry in the SADC region. Fay believes that deeper regional socio-political and economic integration is inextricably linked to sustainable peace, stability and the overall development of the SADC region and the African continent at large.