UTAR Faculty of Arts and Social Science academic (FAS) Associate Prof Dr. Cheah Phaik Kin is appointed as a Visiting Associate Professor at University of Central Florida (UCF), with the Office of the Assistant Provost, UCF Downtown.
As a Visiting Associate Professor, Cheah will be able to expand her expertise in police volunteerism and education, as well as, contribute, in collaboration with UCF, to produce academic scholarly works that may include books and academic journal articles.
Her appointment also establishes collaborative opportunities that will facilitate the development of proposals for funded research projects and new studies involving volunteers, and assist in data collection and analysis.
Having previously worked with UCF faculty, Cheah commented that the appointment also strengthens the collaboration between UTAR and UCF and continues to set a good platform for her to work in partnership with Ross Wolf, a Professor of Criminal Justice, Interim Assistant Provost of UCF.
Her first project with Wolf was to compare volunteer policing in Malaysia, the United States of America, England and Wales. Currently, they are working together on a few projects.
“I am humbled by this appointment. It is not only meaningful to me but also to the University because it signifies the appreciation, recognition to contribute towards innovation and the creation of new knowledge, in volunteerism and volunteer policing,” enthused Cheah.
“We, together with a few other researchers got together and brainstormed to explore salient issues in volunteer law enforcement, globally. All the researchers in the team were from different parts of the world, but we all shared the same interest. It was not easy but what all of us had was the same spirit of wanting to advance the research and innovation in volunteer policing.”
“That was enough to drive us to keep going. We took almost three years to see the first project bear fruit. There were a lot of challenges, of course, but the process was meaningful as we all shared the same goal. The same spirit that got us started is keeping us going because there is a lot more to do,” said Cheah.
UCF, located in the Orlando metropolitan area of Florida, United States is ranked among the nation’s top 20 most innovative colleges (US News and World Report).
In 2020, the university with more than 71,000 students, was ranked as one of the best national universities (Washington Monthly) in the USA.
“Working with Cheah has enabled us to inform from a different viewpoint and focus for our international research into volunteerism. Her research has, and will continue to be, important to understanding motivations, experiences, challenges, and the risks associated with utilizing volunteers in public service,” said Wolf.
“We opened our UCF Downtown campus in Fall 2019 with a shared vision of partnership in the urban core of Orlando. UCF Downtown serves nearly 8,000 students and offers a complete campus experience to students in the heart of the urban core of the city of Orlando.”
“UCF Downtown partners with Valencia College, the City of Orlando, Orange County government, and local businesses and community organizations to uplift lives and livelihoods of students from the Parramore community downtown, from all of Central Florida, and from throughout the state, nation, and world.”
“As a metropolitan research university, we continually strive to do more by expanding opportunity through innovation, and this academic partnership with Cheah and UTAR brings an international focus to this vision,” added Wolf.
