Two Presidents respond to What Could A University Be: Revolutionary Ideas for the Future, by Robert Gibbs
Two Presidents respond to What Could A University Be: Revolutionary Ideas for the Future, by Robert Gibbs.
This new book imagines a university where all students in all levels and across all faculties, including professional schools are learning how to do research.
Gibbs proposes a widely applicable model that reverses the traditional top-down flow by teaching students how to conduct research and become knowledge creators rather than passive recipients. Instead of replicating themselves through their graduate students, professors multiply knowledge by teaching others how to teach and how to inquire. This future university embraces discord and different perspectives on what knowledge is and turns the current model inside out by suggesting that universities draw from and exchange with society around them. Gibbs situates the responsibilities of higher education in a world of widely distributed, sometimes distorted, information and rapidly changing technology.
David Naylor, President Emeritus of U of T, and Rhonda MacEwen, President of Victoria University will share their reflections on the future of research universities in relation to this book.
Panel 5:30-6:45pm
Reception (Upper library) 6:45-8:00pm
What Could a University Be? will change how readers understand teaching, research, the kinds of thinking students should learn, and the role of the university in solving the many challenges of our time.
This timely and inspiring book offers new insights for university leaders around the world, especially mid-level academic managers, and for faculty, especially in the teaching stream. It is also essential reading for students who want to understand the true purpose of their education, and for the parents who send them to university.
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Speakers
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David NaylorDr. David Naylor is a distinguished physician, scholar, and leader in Canadian health and higher education. A Rhodes Scholar and former President of the University of Toronto, he previously served as Dean of Medicine and founded the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Dr. Naylor has chaired major national panels, including the Advisory Committee on SARS and Public Health and the federal Advisory Panel on Healthcare Innovation. An Officer of the Order of Canada, his groundbreaking “Naylor Report” on research and innovation continues to shape Canada’s health and science policy.
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Rhonda N. McEwen
Dr. Rhonda N. McEwen is President and Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University in the University of Toronto, where she leads its academic and administrative operations. Appointed in 2022 as the University’s 14th president, she previously served as Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean at U of T Mississauga and as Director of the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information & Technology. A respected scholar and former Special Advisor on Anti-Racism and Equity, Dr. McEwen’s research explores technology and human interaction, including mobile communication, virtual reality, and social robotics. She holds an MBA, an MSc in Telecommunications, and a PhD in Information from U of T.
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Robert Gibbs
Robert Gibbs is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Toronto and the inaugural Director of the Jackman Humanities Institute. A leading scholar of ethics, law, and modern Jewish thought, he has authored numerous works, including Correlations in Rosenzweig and Levinas and Why Ethics? Signs of Responsibilities. His current research, including his forthcoming book What Could A University Be, explores the purpose and future of higher education. A former member of advisory boards for SSHRC, CIFAR, and the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, he has lectured widely, including the J.V. Clyne Lectures at UBC.
