Dr Cheryl de la Rey is the guest speaker at the Humanities Graduation Ceremony scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 31 March 2009.

Dr Cheryl de la Rey serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Higher Education. She took up this position in May 2008 after serving as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Psychology at the University of Cape Town. Prior to this, she held the post of Executive Director: Research Promotion at the National Research Foundation.

Dr de la Rey completed her Bachelor of Arts, Honours and Masters degrees at the University of Natal (now Kwazulu-Natal) and her PhD at UCT. She has published books and several journal articles in psychology.

Over the years, Dr De la Rey has chaired several education and research-related policy committees. She currently serves on the Council of the Botswana University of Science and Technology, the National Advisory Council on Innovation, the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and the National Science, Engineering and Technology for Women Committee. She is registered psychologist; a fellow of the Psychological Association of South Africa and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. She also holds a Visiting Professorship at Wits University.