Dr Janice McMillan seconded to position of Acting Coordinator Social Responsiveness
Janice is a member of the Senate Social Responsiveness Committee and was part of the initial social responsiveness survey that took place at UCT in 2003. Along with former Director of Institutional Planning Judy Favish and other colleagues in the IPD, she played a role in the creation of a policy framework in 2008 which seeks to provide enabling conditions for staff to be in involved in socially responsive initiatives.
In the wake of Judy’s retirement Janice was approached to help capacitate and assist in scoping out the longer term social responsiveness project at the university. Together with Sonwabo Ngcelwane, Janice has been tasked with giving meaning to the university strategic plan Goal 5, which refers to engaged scholarship by placing it at the forefront and enhancing the scope, quality and impact of these developments and social justice.
Thinking about how her new role relates to her work at CHED and CILT Janice hopes that her secondment can create a bigger space for teaching forms of social responsiveness. “This will involve supporting colleagues doing service learning, community engaged learning and thinking about working with community partners more. I’m excited to get the teaching stuff going.”
Regarding her secondment she shared that, “It is a huge privilege to be asked to step up to the institutional level and I feel that I need to do good. I need to make it work because many colleagues have invested so much in the social responsiveness project. In CILT, this has also happened through the Global Citizenship Programme. I want to do this work because I want social responsiveness to succeed - universities need to be contributing to the public good - and I am pleased to be able to make a contribution here. There are many really good colleagues doing amazing work on campus and I look forward to working with many of them through this secondment. I am also excited because I love doing this work.
Story: Aamirah Sonday
Photo: Robyn Walker