Introduction to University Social Responsibility

A leader in the global engaged university movement, Professor Hollister supports universities in their efforts to move beyond the ivory tower. As founding dean of Tisch College of Civic Life (2000-2011), he led the creation
and development of Tufts University’s uniquely comprehensive and university-wide program to prepare students in all fields for lifetimes of active citizenship and social responsibility. In 2005, he co-led the organization of the
conference in Talloires, France, of university heads from around the world that launched the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities. He then guided the growth and development of the Network, and from 2011-2016 served as its Executive Director. Professor Hollister serves as Senior Advisor to the University Social Responsibility Network.

Dr. Palacio is a Program-Specific Senior Lecturer at iSO-KU. His main responsibilities relate to the design and development of university-wide policy on internationalization, promotion of internal synergies among the different organizations within the University, and support for iSO-KU's efforts to maintain an inclusive university. He is in charge of overseeing the University's activities in Southeast Asia. His responsibilities also relate to the promotion of University Social Responsibility.

Nikan Sadehvandi has earned her Ph.D. degree from the Graduate School of Education at Kyoto University. She has been serving as a research associate at the Center for the Promotion of Excellence in Higher Education at Kyoto University (CPEHE) since 2017 and has been involved in the educational design and development of a few MOOCs on KyotoUx. Her research has explored MOOC pedagogy and more specifically improving peer assessment process and outcome in MOOC.

Grace Ngai graduated from Brown University and Johns Hopkins University in the United States. Since starting her career at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, she has successfully pioneered a number of teaching initiatives, one of the most prominent being service-learning. She brings students on service projects in Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, Cambodia, and Rwanda.

Together with her team, she proposed one of the first service-learning subjects at PolyU, and she has been instrumental in the effort to support and promote PolyU’s service-learning initiative. She was the founding coordinator of the Sub-committee on Service-Learning Subjects, which oversees the approval and offering of all service-learning subjects, and the co-facilitator of the Community of Practice in Service-learning. Through numerous teaching & learning development projects, they have initiated workshops, seminars, and research salons on topics in offering, assessing, and conducting scholarly work in service-learning.

From 6 subjects and 200 students in 2012, as of 2018, PolyU has over 60 regularly-offered subjects which cater to over 4,000 students every year. As a result of her work, her team was the recipient of the Hong Kong University Grants Committee Teaching Award in 2016.

倪恩恩博士毕业于美国的Brown University和Johns Hopkins University。自任教于香港理工大学以来，倪博士多次成功开展创新的教学活动，其中以服务学习最为显著。她曾带领学生在香港、中国内地、柬埔寨和卢旺达等地进行服务项目。理大首批服务学习课程之一，就是由倪博士联同她的教学团队建议开设；自此，她本人在理大的服务学习计划中也发挥了重要的支持和促进作用。她是负责审批理大所有相关课程的服务学习科目小组委员会（Sub-committee on Service-Learning Subjects）的创始人及召集人，其后出任为服务学习同侪交流圈（Community of Practice in Service-learning）的联合推动人。在理大的教学发展基金支持下，她和她的团队就服务学习课程的设立、学生评估和学术研究等主题举办了一连串的工作坊、研讨会和研究沙龙。2012年，理大的服务学习科目只有6个，修读的学生也只有200名；到2018年，已发展至有60多个定期开设的科目，每年修读的学生也增加至4,000多名。倪博士领导的教学团队，更在2016年获颁大学教育资助委员会教学奖，以嘉许他们对服务学习教育的贡献。

Dr Julian Skyrme is Director of Social Responsibility at The University of Manchester. Social responsibility is one of the University's three core goals and ensures that Manchester's learning, research, engagement and operational activities make a positive difference to society. He has first-class honours, master’s and doctoral degrees in social sciences from The University of Manchester and spent his early career as a teacher and Assistant Vice-Principal in a large urban sixth form college. Julian advises on the Strategic Education Partnership and Homeless Partnership Boards for Manchester City Council. He is a Board member of Loreto Sixth Form College and trustee of MACC, Manchester‘s support organisation for the third sector. He’s also a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, occasional musician, everyday cyclist and father to two young children.

Professor McLaws represents Prof Eileen Baldry, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Division of EDI, on the USR Network. Prof McLaws is an Epidemiologist specialising in hospital infection and infectious diseases control. She is the Water-Health Leader for UNSW Global Water Institute and is currently Deputy President of the Academic Board.

Martina Jordaan is the Head: Community engagement research and postgraduate students at the Mamelodi campus of the University of Pretoria. She was previously a senior lecturer at the Faculty Engineering, Built Environment and IT at the University of Pretoria, responsible for the compulsory Community Engagement Module. She was also head of the Education Museum in Pretoria and thereafter responsible for the development of pre-schools in the informal settlements next to Pretoria as well as skills development of staff of various schools in Pretoria. Her current research focuses on community engagement and service-learning in higher education.

Joanne Curry is Vice-President of Simon Fraser University and institutional lead for community engagement and relationships with governments at all levels. Involved in provincial and national university initiatives to collaborate on building social infrastructure to support our communities.