TMU’s University Social Responsibility (USR) Program shapes social practice for health improvement

Source: College of Nursing
College of Nutrition

Published on 2022-10-04

To reach the university’s goal of nurturing talents and serving society, TMU has developed a series of action to fulfill of its social responsibility.


Aligning with one of the university’s core values, Service, we value the contribution and service of others and seek to be a positive influence in our community that helps to promote the needs of our society. Intending to develop a friendly environment for social practice, TMU’s University Social Responsibility blueprint introduces a range of programs, curricula, systems and incentives to support the actions of TMU faculty and students. The plan also coordinates efforts from TMU and its affiliated institutions, as well as biotechnology business and other external partners, depicting the social commitment of TMU faculty and students to improving the health of our people.

TMU College of Nursing Directs Freshmen to Community for Hand-in-Hand Health Activities.

With “compassionate care for the community” as its core, College of Nursing faculty led a USR program allowing freshmen from all departments in holding activities in the community such as health promotion and interaction with the elderly.

According to Associate Professor Fang- Liu, a co-Project Director of College of Nursing’s USR Program, the courses are designed to allow participating students to observe, assist in, design and physically lead the activities. Students can not only learn about community issues that the real situations the elderly may encounter, but also develop humanistic care and problem identification skills.

Students assist the elderly in an age-friendly coloring activity.

TMU College of Nutrition Establishes Sustainable Nutrition in Indigenous Community with “Food Source x Food Safety x Food Education”

College of Nutrition upholds both professionalism and sustainability, and is committed to the implementation of USR. From the mountains to the plains, from field to kitchen table, from children to the elderly, the College’s USR program team practices every possible method and even builds a holistic and cyclical approach to sustainable nutrition with “food source x food safety x food education.” With an innovative perspective, the College aims to promote the health and welfare of the public as well as effectively promote sustainable diets.

Prof. Jane C-J Chao, former Dean of College of Nutrition, and her successor, Prof. Rong-Hong Hsieh, shared their experience pairing up small farmers, residents, and local industries in Hsinchu County’s Jianshih Township with seed teachers in campus field operations and bringing TMU students to apply their classroom learning to the real world.

TMU students practice creative cooking at a tribal elder’s home and share dishes.

The “Nutrition and Aging” course is offered with the aim of encouraging students to take the lead in the field. In 2022, two professional student service teams were formed to conduct outreach with demonstrations of pesticide screening, anthropometric measurement, and creative cooking to local residents of the Lalu Atayal community (那羅部落) in Jianshih Township. The teams assisted residents in practicing healthy diet and building personalized nutritional education to help improve the health and welfare of the whole community.

In addition, these students constantly exchanged ideas with local smallholder farmers, assisted in rapid screening of pesticides, and created multiple value-added produce with creative cooking ideas. With the goal of developing patterns of sustainable agriculture, consumption, and production, TMU will continue its dialogue with the local community in the hopes of enhancing the competitiveness of products at the global stage and further raising Taiwan’s international visibility.

Students carry out pesticide testing on crops at a smallholder farm.