THE Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once wrote: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”
Like so many other teachers, I cringe at this statement. Let us set aside the incredible skills, knowledge, art, and expertise that are in and of themselves found within the speciality of teaching. What Shaw was taking a swipe at was the failed artist who turned to teaching, having not made their mark in their discipline.
Universities often face a challenge akin to this, but it is a broader swipe. A commonly heard criticism is that universities are ivory towers, trapped in their own worlds and somehow separate from the real world.
I remember having a lively conversation with someone who said he was tired of hearing academics talking about business issues on the radio. He wanted to hear more from people in the business world. By this, he meant people running businesses rather than teaching and researching about them. I found this to be too simplistic a position.
Universities are indeed places where people are blessed with the time, resources, and expectations to think deeply about the world’s great questions and significant challenges. But it is also true that universities are full of those who do.
The academy is a vibrant mix of people from all walks of life. Of course, we have those we call career academics or researchers. They study their degrees, secure academic posts to pursue discoveries and pass on what they have learned to students, fellow academics, and beneficiaries beyond universities.
We have people from various industrial backgrounds who have made their mark in businesses as artists, engineers, or broadcast journalists, attaining success in their respective fields and joining universities to impart this wisdom.
A book-sharing session conducted by Shivani and another UNM Educator, Sheena Baharudin, during the 2022 George Town Literary Festival.
Then we have those who still balance academic and professional lives with great results.
Take Shivani Sivagurunathan, the head of our School of English at the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM). Shivani is a highly skilled teacher who engages students in and outside the classroom with fantastic learning experiences.
In her classes, students are creatively stretched; they develop critical thinking skills and go on to produce outstanding work in their fields. As one of our university leaders, Shivani leads her department to attain collective success in teaching and learning, research and external impact. She supports her colleagues with their own personal and professional development.
On top of this, Shivani continues producing incredible fiction works to critical acclaim. In the past year, her beautiful and arresting novel Yalpanam was published by Penguin.
This was closely followed by a collection of poems entitled Being Born, published by Maya Press. To top it off, 2022 saw the publication of her thrilling two novellas by Clarity Publishing – What has happened to Harry Pillai: Two Novellas.
Her stories are set on the fictional Coal Island full of Malaysian colours, senses, and rhythms, the perfect contexts and backdrops for her characters and their complex, dramatic stories. It is hard to do justice to the wonderment of these creative outputs, each of them giving such a reward to the reader that I can only urge you to go out and read them.
Shivani is, therefore, the exemplar of what we might call the pracademic – a practitioner and academic rolled into one. Through her teaching, she inspires the next generation of creative writers to make their mark on the world. Still, whilst doing so, she continues to produce exemplary works that advance Malaysian literature.
One of Shivani’s latest works launched late last year titled ‘What has happened to Harry Pillai: Two Novellas’.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have eminent academics from our Faculty of Science and Engineering, all of whom I have written about before in these columns and who continue to engage with the outside world in projects that will contribute to a more sustainable and liveable future.
Take Associate Prof Dr Teo Fang Yenn, who works tirelessly to bridge the academy with the broader community, policymakers, and industry to tackle some of our most pressing challenges in water management.
He and his colleagues partnered with Unesco Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme to deliver a pioneering Water Awareness Programme in November 2022. They worked with young people to identify and take action on local and global water concerns, focusing the programme on the Semenyih River close to our campus location.
The students are preparing a simple filtration system by using available materials – for example sand, gravel and biochar among others – to treat the contaminated water.
So, Shaw was wrong. Instead of adopting his phrase, I prefer the adage ‘see one, do one, teach one’. Through our talented and inspiring academics and their engagements with the world outside of academia, we enable students to observe (see), take part (do), and go on to enable others (teach). I’m sure the writers who were taught under Shivani would agree, as would those putting energy into saving our rivers.
For more information, visit nottingham.edu.my or be part of our community by following us on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn @uonmalaysia.
Assoc Prof Dr Jason Pandya-Wood is the dean of the UNM Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
