Prelims

Half Title Page

The Purpose-Driven University

Title Page

The Purpose-Driven University: Transforming Lives and Creating Impact Through Higher Education

By

Debbie Haski-Leventhal

Macquarie University, Australia

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

© 2020 Debbie Haski-Leventhal

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83867-284-3 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83867-283-6 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83867-285-0 (Epub)

Dedication

To Emily and Ella, my beautiful girls, who make the journey towards purpose even more purposeful

To the thousands of students whom I have had the privilege to teach and learn from

To all the change-makers in universities who strive to ignite this movement

And

To the little boy whom I tutored all these years ago and who made me understand what a meaningful life can look like

About the Author

Debbie Haski-Leventhal is a Professor of Management at Macquarie Business School, and an expert in corporate social responsibility (CSR), responsible management education and volunteerism. Together with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education, she conducts studies on business students around the world and their attitudes towards responsible management. In 2011, Debbie co-wrote the United Nations State of the World Volunteerism Report. She has published over 100 papers, and her work was frequently covered by the media, including the New York Times and the Financial Review. She is the author of Strategic CSR: Tools and Theories for Responsible Management (SAGE, 2018) and the editor-in-chief of Society and Business Review (Emerald). She is a TED speaker and a public speaker on CSR and purpose.

Acknowledgements

This book was such a pleasure to write. I have been thinking, feeling and dreaming about The Purpose-Driven University in the last three years, and it is elevating to see it printed. It has been my passion and my personal purpose, and I am delighted to finally deliver it. I could not have done this without the support of so many people, whom I would like to thank.

First, my family. To my husband, Paul, whose amazing emotional and logistic support and encouragement help me to find the moral courage to pursue my dreams: thank you for making it all possible. To my two wonderful daughters, Emily and Ella, who inspire me more than they know and who boost my motivation to fight for a better world, for them and all future generations. To my sister, Meirav, who always believes in me and my crazy dreams.

Second, my students. I was privileged to teach corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship over the past few years at Macquarie University, and to meet students who are not just there to gain a degree, but also a life-changing experience. This is particularly true of my students on the Master of Social Entrepreneurship program – what a spectacular group of future change-makers you are. A special thank you goes to Kristina (Kim) Panuncialman who did a research project on sustainable universities to help with the background research for this book, and to Glyn Cryer for his comments on an early version of the book.

The idea of the purpose-driven university started three years ago when I wanted to implement it at Macquarie University. Back then, I called it the Transformational University Initiative. I took it to the then Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Learning and Teaching, Professor Sherman Young, who completely came on board to work with me. I want to thank Sherman and the entire advisory board who helped to shape some of the ideas that are shared in this book: Professor Richie Howitt, Dr Kath McLachlan, Leanne Denby and JoAnne Sparks. Thank you for supporting the dream.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to all the outstanding academic leaders who, despite their busy schedule, met me and interviewed for this book. University chancellors, vice chancellors, presidents, vice presidents, social impact leaders, professors, students and others: your insights and enthusiasm informed and inspired.

I would also like to thank my many colleagues who were excited by this book and who shared ideas with me on purpose-driven universities. Special gratitude to Professor Jennifer Leigh: you are such an inspirational and kind woman, and to Dr Lonneke Roza, it is a pleasure working with you for the last decade.

I would like to thank Macquarie University and the Dean of Macquarie University Business School, Professor Stephen Brammer, who encouraged me to pursue the idea of the purpose-driven university. It is delightful to work with a dean who is so purpose-driven.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the team at Emerald Publishing and to Kimberley Chadwick, Senior Commissioning Editor, who worked with me through this process and shared my enthusiasm. I would also like to thank Sharon Cawood for proofreading the book.