Prof Dwolatzky appointed JCSE director
28 May 2007
Professor Barry Dwolatzky has been appointed Director of the JCSE. Dwolatzky was previously Academic Director of the JCSE and was Professor of Software Engineering in the Wits school of Electrical and Informational Engineering. His appointment to the newly created position of Director will however see Dwolatzky seconded to the JCSE on a three year contract.
Dwolatzky replaces interim CEO Professor Rex van Olst, who has left the JCSE to pursue a Wits based project with the Department of Transport.
Prof Barry Dwolatzky has been at Wits since 1989, returning to the university he graduated and received a doctorate from after working in Britain on software-related research at the Universities of Manchester (UMIST), London ( Imperial College) and the GEC-Marconi Research Centre for 10 years.
Dwolatzky’s driving passion is to promote the growth and development of the South African software industry. He set up the Information Engineering option in Electrical Engineering at Wits and developed a course-based Masters programme in Software Engineering, which was registered as a Learnership within the SA Government’s skills development framework. He also played a key role in the founding of the JCSE in 2005.
The Head of the Wits School of Electrical & Information Engineering, Prof Ian Jandrell, says Dwolatzky’s considerable experience in the software engineering environment will not be lost to Wits. The JCSE is located within Wits and he will remain actively involved in the university’s academic ICT programmes.
“Prof Dwolatzky has worked hard to develop important links between Wits University, government and the ICT sector. The JCSE has become the focus of these partnerships, and we at Wits are excited to see how these relationships develop to support the growth of the South African software development industry,” Jandrell says.
Dr. Pete Janse van Vuuren, of First National Bank and member of the JCSE Board, says Dwolatzky has to date made a significant contribution to the JCSE by pioneering various initiatives such as the JCSE’s CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) programme.
“Prof Dwolatzky has forged strong relationships within the industry and government, opening the way for companies like FNB to participate in various programmes including being one of the pilot organisations on the JCSE’s CMMI process improvement programme, sending employees on its master classes and so on,” Janse van Vuuren says.
Dwolatzky says his first task as Director will be the CMMI awareness campaign, which is being launched with the City of Johannesburg (CoJ). In addition, he will be focussing on creating momentum and growth in each of the JCSEs other projects.
“CMMI will be a big focus for the JCSE this year with the CMMI awareness campaign leading up to an event in September. However, I will also be looking at ways to stimulate participation in the JCSE’s three labs (IBM Linux competency Centre, the Microsoft .Net lab and the Wits Convergence Lab), its courses and the Pre-incubator,” he says.
Furthermore Dwolatzky will look to establish the JCSE as a hub of software development in Braamfontein, furthering the JCSE’s goal of supporting the CoJ’s “Joburg 2030 Vision”, which sees Johannesburg as the hub of Africa’s software development sector.