Professor Fayth Ruffin’s careers span across the public, private, non-governmental and higher education sectors. She holds a Juris Doctorate (law) degree as well as a PhD in Global Affairs. Prof Ruffin joined UKZN pursuant to a critical skills visa in 2011. She retired as an Honorary Full Professor in 2020 and now serves as an interim director for the UTLO. Prior to joining UKZN, Prof Ruffin was an attorney and public manager/administrator in the USA. Her diverse interests revolve around multi-inter-transdisciplinary research drawing upon community-enabled teaching and learning together with research-led community engagement for knowledge co-production. Prof Ruffin’s expertise is centred on curricula design, delivery and transformation through cognitive justice in a digital age. She advances plural epistemologies as a matter of epistemic freedom.
Prof Ruffin supervises masters and doctoral students and is the holder of teaching and research awards. These include the 2018 UKZN Distinguished Teacher’s Award and the national 2019 HELTASA/CHE Teaching Excellence Award. She is a volunteer team member for the National University Teaching Awards (re)conceptualisation and implementation. Prof Ruffin has published widely. Her forthcoming 2024 book is entitled ‘Navigating manifestation: A wounded healer’s guide to spiritual consciousness’ which highlights the role of cognitive justice in higher education. Keynote addresses and conference papers have been delivered across four continents and ten countries. Prof’s workshops for postgraduate students and academics at various universities are driven by supervision pedagogies and promotion of our authentic selves whilst practicing the non-dualism of the personal and professional.
Undergraduate education: Africana Studies, University of Cincinnati in Ohio, USA.
Legal education: Juris Doctorate Degree, Antioch School of Law, Washington, DC (now University of District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law), USA.
Doctoral education: PhD in Global Affairs, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Campus at Newark, USA.
Research methodology; curricula design, delivery and transformation; public governance; global affairs; epistemic freedom; and indigenous knowledge systems.
