Common Core Office
Directors
Director
Professor Gray Kochhar-Lindgren
Professor Gray Kochhar-Lindgren has been Director of the Common Core since June 2014. Focused on building an intersecting series of F2F, hybrid, and online learning platforms for both students and colleagues, he has coordinated efforts to expand the flexibility of course-types, enhance the interactivity of courses large and small, and to support students’ co-curricular projects. The Common Core Team has expanded regional and global partnerships with the invention of GLADE (Global Liberal Arts Design Experiments), the facilitation of CLASS (China Liberal Arts Summer Sessions), and participation in the HKSCC (Hong Kong Sustainable Campus Consortium). Currently, there is a deepening attention to building out student peer-mentors and to expanding interdisciplinary undergraduate research opportunities through initiatives such as Critical Zones: Gender, Cities, and Well-Being (based on three of the UN’s SDGs). An HEA Principal Fellow, he also served as the Team Lead for a UGC and HKU Outstanding Teaching Awards (Team) for Transdisciplinarity-in-Action and is a member of the first cohort of HKTEA (Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Alliance).
With a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, Professor Kochhar-Lindgren’s scholarship focuses on cross-disciplinary learning in the global university and how philosophy, the arts, and social theory intersect with urban space. Recent publications include Urban Arabesques: Philosophy, Hong Kong, Transversality (New Critical Humanities Series, Rowman & Littlefield International); “Scintillant@the University of Angelic Invention,” A World Is Born Here: Thinking the Contemporary with Michel Serres. Ed. Rick Dolphijn. London: Bloomsbury; and, with Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren, “Wild Studios: Art, Philosophy, and the Transversal University,” Transversal Studies in Globalisation and Education. Eds. David R. Cole and Joff P.N. Bradley. Springer Publications. Prior to joining HKU, Professor Kochhar-Lindgren served as the inaugural Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Learning and Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at the University of Washington-Bothell.
Associate Director
Dr. Nicol F.C. Pan has been teaching the Common Core course on Virtual Reality (VR) prior to taking up the Associate Directorship of the Common Core Curriculum. She has worked in the field of education with a particular focus on eLearning and its pedagogical applications for many years. In her capacity as an educational researcher and instructional designer, Nicol has worked across academic disciplines at HKU. She has also worked extensively with non-academic institutions and commercial companies in developing VR training programs, including Cathay Pacific and the Police Academy. Nicol is happy to join the Common Core team, and hopes to continue to work with talented people from across the faculties and departments to create innovative and stimulating courses and projects that bring about a positive impact on students’ lives.
Office Administrative Staff
| Administrative Assistant | Yvonne Cheng |
| Executive Officer | Carmen Cheung |
| Senior Executive Assistant | Emily Chan |
| Executive Assistant | Penny Tse |
Contact Information
| Address: | Common Core Office, The University of Hong Kong Room 136, 1/F, Main Building, The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong |
| Tel: | (852) 2219 4957 |
| Fax: | (852) 2858 5745 |
| Email: | commoncore@hku.hk |
Common Core Lounge
The Common Core Lounge is located in Room 150 on 1/F of the Main Building. The facility is a common space for students and teachers to gather before and after their CC tutorials or other lectures for further discussion. The space is also used for showcasing students’ exemplary projects and assignments in CC courses.