News
CEHD's Joan DeJaeghere named UNESCO Chair
Joan DeJaeghere, PhD, professor in the College of Education and Human Development's Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, has been awarded a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Research Chair titled Education, Gender Equity, and Wellbeing. Karen Brown, PhD, senior researcher and former director of the University’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC), was named co-chair.
Joan DeJaeghere
A UNESCO Chair is part of a network of universities globally that supports UNESCO’s work in education, the natural and social sciences, culture, and communications, to help address pressing challenges. Chairs also bring together partners in academia, civil society, local communities, and policy-makers in dialogue for project implementation. The UMN chair will focus on two of UNESCO's priority areas: Africa and gender equality. A launch event that will engage University faculty, staff, and students as well as external partners is planned for October 8-10, and details of the events will be shared at a later date.
UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations to promote world peace and security through international cooperation in education, the arts, sciences, and culture. A UNESCO Chair is a four-year partnership between UMN and UNESCO, with possibilities for renewal. This UNESCO Chair is also a partnership between CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore; University of the Western Cape, and University of the Free State, South Africa.
The work of the UNESCO Chair includes sponsoring public seminars with distinguished speakers, hosting monthly research workshops with graduate students and faculty across UMN and its partner institutions, creating research papers, and participating in UNESCO events and symposiums.