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https://www.todayonline.com/singapo...ons-faculty-quits-join-new-zealand-university
Head of NUS’ communications faculty quits to join New Zealand university
Professor Mohan Dutta told TODAY he had submitted his resignation letter to NUS President Tan Eng Chye on March 13, and is currently serving three-month notice. Photo: NUS
Published 24 March, 2018
Updated 24 March, 2018
SINGAPORE — The head of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Communications and New Media (CNM) has quit the university, after about six years at the helm.
Professor Mohan Dutta told TODAY he had submitted his resignation letter to NUS President Tan Eng Chye on March 13, and is currently serving three-month notice. He will be joining Massey University in New Zealand as the Dean’s Chair Professor of Communication.
He added that, after completing his second term as head of CNM, his “main priority now will be to carry forward the work of the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (Care) as its Director”.
“I have enjoyed the opportunity to lead CNM in its mission to teach and study the role of communication in creating social impact,” said Prof Dutta, who joined NUS as Professor of Communication in July 2012. “It’s a unique department in Asia and globally that takes seriously the idea that communication ought to make a difference in lives of peoples and communities we live amidst.”
He added: “In the next phase of the evolution of Care, I am looking forward to locating its social change communication work at Massey University in New Zealand... in a climate that is explicitly committed to social justice, democracy, voice, and academic freedom.”
In a statement from NUS on Friday (March 23), the university said that Prof Dutta had “last year indicated his intention to leave NUS for a position at another university”.
“We thank Prof Dutta for his leadership of the Department of CNM, and the efforts he made to grow the Department and Care at NUS. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” said NUS.
Prof Dutta was in the news earlier this month, after his invitation to Singaporean media professor Cherian George – who is based in Hong Kong – to give a talk at NUS was delayed due to administrative “oversight”.
The date of the lecture, titled Rethinking Censorship In An Age Of Authoritarian Resilience, was fixed for March 9. However, the NUS faculty of arts & social sciences received approval for the event only on the day itself.
In a blog post, Prof George wrote that “Prof Dutta asked for a rain check... due to the delay in securing approval, and there was no longer time to make travel arrangements and publicise the lecture even if approval was suddenly granted”.
“In my time as an academic, I have given talks on campuses in around 25 countries. This is the first time that an invitation to speak has been, in effect, voided,” Prof George wrote.
“It is the kind of hitch that I am mentally prepared for if I need to deal with universities in the People’s Republic of China. I wasn’t expecting it from my own country.”
In response to media queries last week, NUS said it regretted that its “internal administrative process took longer than expected due to an oversight, leading to this unfortunate incident”.
The event has been rescheduled for March 28, and Prof George has accepted the invitation.
Commenting on the episode, Prof Dutta told TODAY that “academic freedom, the freedom to express opinions without fear from censorship or discipline, is a universal concept that forms the foundation of the modern university”.
He added: “I am very much looking forward to hosting Professor Cherian George... His public scholarship, embedded in systematic observations of communicative spaces and practices in Singapore and reaching out to the everyday reader through its lucid prose, offers a rare critical anchor for dialogue on the challenges to and opportunities for communicative freedoms.”
Head of NUS’ communications faculty quits to join New Zealand university
Professor Mohan Dutta told TODAY he had submitted his resignation letter to NUS President Tan Eng Chye on March 13, and is currently serving three-month notice. Photo: NUS
Published 24 March, 2018
Updated 24 March, 2018
SINGAPORE — The head of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Communications and New Media (CNM) has quit the university, after about six years at the helm.
Professor Mohan Dutta told TODAY he had submitted his resignation letter to NUS President Tan Eng Chye on March 13, and is currently serving three-month notice. He will be joining Massey University in New Zealand as the Dean’s Chair Professor of Communication.
He added that, after completing his second term as head of CNM, his “main priority now will be to carry forward the work of the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (Care) as its Director”.
“I have enjoyed the opportunity to lead CNM in its mission to teach and study the role of communication in creating social impact,” said Prof Dutta, who joined NUS as Professor of Communication in July 2012. “It’s a unique department in Asia and globally that takes seriously the idea that communication ought to make a difference in lives of peoples and communities we live amidst.”
He added: “In the next phase of the evolution of Care, I am looking forward to locating its social change communication work at Massey University in New Zealand... in a climate that is explicitly committed to social justice, democracy, voice, and academic freedom.”
In a statement from NUS on Friday (March 23), the university said that Prof Dutta had “last year indicated his intention to leave NUS for a position at another university”.
“We thank Prof Dutta for his leadership of the Department of CNM, and the efforts he made to grow the Department and Care at NUS. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” said NUS.
Prof Dutta was in the news earlier this month, after his invitation to Singaporean media professor Cherian George – who is based in Hong Kong – to give a talk at NUS was delayed due to administrative “oversight”.
The date of the lecture, titled Rethinking Censorship In An Age Of Authoritarian Resilience, was fixed for March 9. However, the NUS faculty of arts & social sciences received approval for the event only on the day itself.
In a blog post, Prof George wrote that “Prof Dutta asked for a rain check... due to the delay in securing approval, and there was no longer time to make travel arrangements and publicise the lecture even if approval was suddenly granted”.
“In my time as an academic, I have given talks on campuses in around 25 countries. This is the first time that an invitation to speak has been, in effect, voided,” Prof George wrote.
“It is the kind of hitch that I am mentally prepared for if I need to deal with universities in the People’s Republic of China. I wasn’t expecting it from my own country.”
In response to media queries last week, NUS said it regretted that its “internal administrative process took longer than expected due to an oversight, leading to this unfortunate incident”.
The event has been rescheduled for March 28, and Prof George has accepted the invitation.
Commenting on the episode, Prof Dutta told TODAY that “academic freedom, the freedom to express opinions without fear from censorship or discipline, is a universal concept that forms the foundation of the modern university”.
He added: “I am very much looking forward to hosting Professor Cherian George... His public scholarship, embedded in systematic observations of communicative spaces and practices in Singapore and reaching out to the everyday reader through its lucid prose, offers a rare critical anchor for dialogue on the challenges to and opportunities for communicative freedoms.”
