Division for Global Education held International FD Seminar "UC Davis: Incorporating the SDGs in Teaching and Research" (2021/03/02)

 On Tuesday, March 2 (Tuesday), an international FD webinar entitled "UC Davis: Incorporating the SDGs in Teaching and Research" was held online with invited guest speaker Dr. Jolynn Shoemaker from the University of California, Davis, one of our international partner institutions.
 As an attorney, Dr. Shoemaker spent almost 20 years in Washington DC working on foreign policy and national security issues, and is currently in charge of international strategy as the Director of Global Engagements in Global Affairs at UC Davis.
 UC Davis's Global Affairs Mission is to engage, thrive and lead in an interconnected world. Diversity, equity, and inclusiveness are campus internationalization and global engagement priorities. Since these concepts are shared with the principles of SDGs, the Global Affairs Office plays a central role in prompting SDGs initiatives as common framework to solve challenges and engages in various activities both on and off the UC Davis campus. Dr. Shoemaker stressed that SDGs are important for universities because they educate the next generation of global leaders, have expertise across the entire SDG agenda, are engines for innovation, and can facilitate collaboration rather than competition.
 Following a general explanation of UC Davis's strategies, Dr. Shoemaker introduced specific activities being undertaken. Through her stimulating examples seminar participants gained insight into efforts such as planning and holding forums and events to raise awareness of SDGs on campus, launching a grant project for research activities related to SDGs for faculty and students, trial implementation of a online Global Classroom to study with students from foreign universities, and creating an innovation hub in collaboration with City of Sacramento, where UC Davis is located.
 Following the presentation, Dr. Shoemaker inquired about SDGs initiatives at NAIST and NAIST faculty introduced the plans to pursue human resource development as a "creator of a sustainable society" through education and research on the theme of "bioeconomy" at the Digital Green Innovation Center, established in January this year, and attempts to have students consider SDGs individually, making pitches in their PBL classes.
 During the Q & A session, participants actively exchanged views on how to obtain support from faculty for new activities, such as SDGs initiatives, and how to encourage students to participate in SDGs related activities.
 Approximately 30 faculty and students participated in the seminar. Participants commented that UC Davis's approach to SDGs was very informative, and the seminar was an excellent opportunity for raising awareness of SDGs within the NAIST community.

Presentation by Dr. Jolynn Shoemaker