It's not every day that a keynote speaker bursts into song. Prof Timothy Eatman of Rutgers, the State 肆客足球 of New Jersey, opened the morning session of a the recent Social Impact Symposium at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) and sang a few lines of “Lift Every Voice and Sing", the Black American hymn that doubled as an invitation: Expand the 肆客足球's imagination about what scholarship can be, and who it serves.
Hosted by Stellenbosch 肆客足球's (SU) Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation (CASIT), the gathering drew academics, professional staff and community partners united by a shared commitment to social impact.
A call to reimagine scholarship
Eatman, an African American scholar and inaugural Dean for the Honours Living-Learning Community at Rutgers 肆客足球, brought a deeply personal and global perspective to the conversation. His address, “Publicly Engaged Scholarship in 21st Century Academe: Beware the Shrinking Imagination", landed as a challenge. Reflecting on his own journey and the legacy of his ancestors, he called on the audience to resist what he called “shrinking imagination" in higher education.
Drawing on concepts from the late American writer and theologian Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination, Eatman warned that “our culture is competent to implement almost anything and to imagine almost nothing". He argued that imagination is often feared for its disruptive potential and that higher education's dominant focus on traditional knowledge forms restricts broader definitions of knowledge-making.
He urged universities to move past outreach-as-charity towards “two-way" partnerships that are co-designed, measured with community-defined indicators and recognised in promotion pathways. Eatman pushed for reward systems that value engagement alongside teaching and research, and for monitoring and evaluation that includes community voices rather than simply counting outputs.
The keynote also celebrated the power of the arts and humanities to nourish imagination. Eatman quoted poet and social activist Langston Hughes, envisioning a world “where all will share the bounties of the earth and every man is free", linking this vision to the vital role of higher education in nurturing equitable democracies.
Eatman's lingering message was a call to act with courage and “let go with both hands" to create meaningful social impact work.
肆客足球 put engagement to work
If the keynote stretched imaginations, the second session grounded them. Three 肆客足球, Natural Sciences, Education and Law, showed how engagement looks like on the ground and what still gets in the way.
Prof Bill Tucker (Natural Sciences) described an energetic but underfunded ecosystem: education outreach from geology to life sciences; a physics “road trip" to remote regions; and research-linked initiatives such as water quality workshops and co-designed technology with marginalised communities. He also pressed for recognition in performance reviews for academics and professional, administrative, and support (PASS) staff, calling social impact work “part of my job", not an optional extra. He ended his presentation with a compelling question: Isn't it time for the 肆客足球 to appoint a Vice-Dean for Social Impact?
Prof Melanie Moen (Education) recounted how her Faculty moved from “no committee, no plan" to a functioning social impact structure with a vision, a web presence and practical initiatives. “From nothing, we submitted eight funding applications of which six were funded by Social Impact," she explained. Alongside a social impact week and a centralised stationery drive, the team is co-leading Train to Read, converting a wagon into a mobile library with the Faculty of Engineering as well as a novel Duck Race fundraiser. Her lesson: add operational capacity – in their case, a marketing manager – and momentum follows.
Demi Johannisen, head of the Family Law Department at the Law Clinic, detailed the Clinic's dual purpose: widening access to justice for poor and marginalised clients and training candidate legal practitioners. Beyond litigation, Johannisen detailed projects such as community workshops on constitutional rights, a children's rights project, and the Ubuntu Learning Community, which brings together students and incarcerated individuals for transformative educational experiences. “Our vision is always to reach and empower the vulnerable, regardless of the project or initiative," Johannisen said.
From roads to rocket stoves to music
The final session showcased three distinct projects involving policy, engineering and the arts. A common thread was the idea of innovation with social consequence.
Prof Stephan Krygsman from the Department of Logistics presented a Western Cape road use charge pilot, responding to shrinking fuel-levy revenues and the rise of electric vehicles. Drawing on international examples, the pilot tests distance-based charging with in-vehicle GPS units and heavy public engagement. Audience members pressed him on the potential impact of distance-based charges on poorer communities and the integration of road and rail networks.
Dr Clint Steed and student Johan Cloete from the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering showed how small, iterative builds can change lives in nano communities – scattered rural pockets often bypassed by conventional infrastructure. First came a R1 500 solar kit for lighting and phone charging, co-tested in households; next, a safer rocket stove redesigned with insulation that works as a thermal battery for cooking and space heating.
Then Danell Herbst-Müller, lecturer in SU's Department of Music, made music education visible through her passion and dedication. Her annual school concerts produced with recycled materials and student teachers now span eight schools, involve more than 5 000 learners yearly and recently helped one school raise R70 000 to reinvest in programmes.
A practical agenda for SU
Throughout the day, audience interventions sharpened the agenda: school leaders asked for more comprehensive support for teachers and behaviour management; there were calls for a university-wide calendar to cut duplication; and practitioners urged a “graceful termination" protocol when projects close.
If Eatman warned against a shrinking imagination, the symposium answered with a practical one: dedicated funding for proven flagship projects; streamlined ethics processes that enable co-design; community-owned metrics; and recognition for the staff who make it happen.
