As the Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching Performance (ADLTP) for the College of Arts, Law and Education, I provide leadership in support of excellent and inclusive student experiences of learning and teaching. My professional background in social work influences the relational approach I adopt in my research, learning and teaching, and administrative activities.

By working collegially with mulitiple teams of people, I strive to advance the College’s strategic mission to ‘increase access, equip and inspire graduates to make transformational contributions to society throughout their professional practice and contemporary careers’ (CALE Strategic Plan 2021). I seek to build, strengthen and sustain relationships internal and external to the university to advance higher education outcomes in Lutruwita/Tasmania and beyond.

I am also an Associate Professor of Social Work, having graduated with a BSW (Hons), MSW (Advanced Practice) and a PhD. Throughout my career, I have been appointed to high-level internal and external academic and professional service roles. I am the recipient of numerous awards recognising my skill teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate programs, most prominently in 2011 as the national “Best Academic Educator” awarded by the Australian Association of Social Work and Welfare Educators and Researchers. More recently, in 2019, I was recognised for 25 years of service at UTAS. In 2020 I received two CALE Commendations for ‘Leadership, Innovation and Adaptability’. Also in 2020, I received the ‘Vice Chancellor’s Award for Leadership’.

Biography

I have over 25 years experience working in higher education. I aim to create and sustain engaged and enduring partnerships with students, colleagues, and community partners that can make Lutruwita/Tasmania a place where individuals and communities can thrive. My undergraduate social work training was grounded in the value of ‘service to humanity’ and this ethos prevails as the driving force in all that I do.

Senior appointments at the University of Tasmania have included Coordinator for Graduate Research for the School of Social Sciences 2016-2017; 4 years as Head of Discipline for Social Work 2017-2020; Acting Head of School of Social Sciences in 2018; and, my current role as ADLTP, which I commenced in November 2020.

Before joining the University of Tasmania in a full time position in 2007, I worked in the areas of sexual assault support and disability support as a counsellor, educator and community liaison officer, working in federal, state and non-government agencies. I worked with people who had experienced sexual violence, family violence, disability, and mental illness. I was in awe of the strength and capacities of the people I worked with; however, it was sorrowful to witness the impact of inappropriate and unjust repsonses to their suffering. Such acts created layer on layer of avoidable trauma for people who battled everyday to stay connected to a hopeful story of their healing, recovery and having a better future. I have been determined to challenge such injustices throughout my career.

My early practice experiences were formative of the course I set as an academic. From my doctoral research I have built a program of social work research that has contributed to the field of critical risk studies by examining the interpretive dimensions of risk and how these impact the wellbeing and outcomes of people who access, and those who deliver, services in the care sector. The use of risk assessments for suicide and family violence are key areas of focus.

Career summary

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy, Social Work, UTAS, Australia  2007
  • Thesis title: The operations of risk: The meaning, emotion and morality of risk identities in social work practice
• Master of Social Work (Advanced Practice), UTAS, Australia  1999
  • Thesis title: Women’s experiences of the diagnosis of postnatal depression
• Bachelor of Social Work (Hons), UTAS, Australia  1992
  • Thesis title: Mothers’ experiences of health, welfare and legal services after a child discloses sexual abuse

Memberships

Professional practice

2015 –                     Mental Health Council (Tasmania)

2001 –                     Australian Association of Social Workers

Other

Selected responsibilities at the University of Tasmania

• 2021                      
  • Student Focused Working Party
  • Deputy Chair, Online Digital Delivery Group
  • University Course and Unit Proposals Committee
  • University Learning and Teaching Committee
  • CALE Probation Committee
  • CALE Promotion Committee
  • UTAS Probation Committee
  • College Leadership Team
  • Chair, College Learning and Teaching Committee
• 2020                        
  • School Learning and Teaching Committee, School of Social Sciences
  • CALE Study Leave Review Panel
• 2019–2020              
  • Academic Lead, Field Education, Social Work
  • Academic Representative for CALE, Academic Senate
  • Executive Committee Member, University Course and Unit Proposals Committee
• 2019                        
  • Acting Head of School, School of Social Sciences, CALE (June–October)
• 2018–2020               
  • Chair, Social Work Course Advisory Committee
• 2018 – 2019             
  • Expert Advisory Group on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment
• 2017 – 2020            
  • Head of Discipline for Social Work, School of Social Sciences
  • School of Social Sciences Leadership Team
• 2017 – 2019            
  • Student Complaints Panel, Graduate Research Complaints Panel and Discipline Panel
• 2016 – 2017            
  • Coordinator Graduate Research, School of Social Sciences
  • Honours Course Coordinator, Social Work
• 2015 – 2018            
  • Graduate Research Coordinator, Social Work
• 2013 – 2015            
  • Faculty of Arts Learning and Teaching Committee
• 2011 – 2013            
  • Honours Course Coordinator, Social Work
• 2010 – 2016            
  • Course Coordinator Bachelor of Social Work, Social Work

Selected responsibilities external to the University

• 2020                        
  • Advisor AASW National Expert Advisory Panel on Field Education
  • Panel Review Member, Master of Social Work Course Review Committee, Australian Catholic University
• 2019–2021              
  • Associate Editor Australian Social Work
• 2018–2021              
  • Editorial Board, Australian Social Work
  • Executive Officer (Treasurer), Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work
  • Adjunct Industry Fellow, School of Social Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast
• 2017–2020              
  • Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work
• 2017–2018              
  • Addressing Family Violence in Emergencies Steering Committee, Women’s Health Tasmania
• 2010–2012              
  • Executive Member, Australian Association of Social Work and Welfare Educators

Administrative expertise

Between 2017 and 2020, I was Head of Discipline of Social Work at UTAS. In this role, I pursued an agenda of remodelling social work higher education – in Tasmania and nationally – to increase its relevance for the future workforce needs of the rapidly changing community services sector and to secure the discipline’s viability amidst reforms to higher education priorities and policies.

Currently, as ADLTP, my key areas of focus are:

• leading the development and delivery of the College’s Learning and Teaching strategy ensuring a critical focus on enhancing teaching, student progression and success, and graduate employability outcomes
• driving collaborative teaching initiatives and outcomes across the University and external educational partners, fostering a culture of innovation, excellence, and continuous improvement
• playing a key role in determining and managing the College’s teaching and learning priorities and supporting the development of new educational products whilst bringing enthusiasm and expertise to enable achievement of College and University strategic objectives, and
• working closely with the Academic Division leadership team to drive and inspire mission-aligned learning and teaching across the entire institution, and actively build and coach capability in others.

Through our five Schools (Humanities, Social Sciences, Law, Education, and Creative Arts and Media), the College offers nearly 60 courses. We have a diverse cohort of students (approximately 7,200 students), with 22% from low SES backgrounds, 4% are Indigenous students, and 13% have disclosed a disability. Over one-third of our students are in one or more of these equity groups. More than one-third of students are first-in-family to attend university and only 12% of students are school leavers (Student Diversity Dashboard, 2021). An important focus of my work is to ensure inclusion, diversity and equity issues are taken into account in all aspects of students’ learning experiences within the College.

Teaching

Teaching expertise

An ethic of care is central to my teaching philosophy as a social work educator. I view social work teaching as an opportunity to reinforce social bonds that enhance dignity and wellbeing through caring teaching practices. In this regard my teaching is a practice of value.

Caring as an ethical standpoint requires a deep understanding of the perspective of others to respond to their needs. Being respectful, kind, and approachable are indicative of what it means to ‘do’ care. Acting in these ways as a social work educator helps students to feel valued and so they learn.

Through being ‘cared for’ by their classmates and by myself, and by us all caring for each other, I encourage students to develop learning cultures that generate interpersonal solidarity. Such conditions also reinforce self-belief, self-worth and inclusivity. In this way, students develop a felt need to critically and reflectively learn about social work practice as intensely relational acts: they are acts of care.

Teaching as caregiving is emotional work that values the affective dimensions of learning; however, ‘caring with’ each other is also complex and often confronting. This is especially the case when students’ and my own assumptions about power and privilege are challenged by unit content and by people discussing their lived experiences. Delicately and purposefully, I cultivate a reflective learning climate that moves students to care for each other by recognising their own personal and social vulnerabilities.

Over my long career as an educator, I have taught and coordinated undergraduate and postgraduate social work programs. I have been instrumental in developing online teaching methodologies and materials and I have led course and curriculum development. I am sought after to conduct national course reviews and I have led accreditations.

My teaching publications have focused on next generation leadership in social work education, the value of principles-based leadership in social work higher education, and the use of social media advocacy by academics to lobby for change to higher education policy.

Teaching responsibility

I have mostly taught interpersonal skills and social work theory and practice at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. As Honours Coordinator, I coordinated and delivered the BSW Honours curriculum, and I have coordinated and delivered Advanced Practice units at Masters level.

I am currently the Course Coordinator for A0F Undergraduate Certificate in Social Care https://www.utas.edu.au/courses/cale/courses/a0f-undergraduate-certificate-in-social-care

Research Appointments

2019 ­– 2020              Associate Editor Australian Social Work

2019 – 2020             Editorial Board member Australian Social Work

2017 – 2018             Coordinator Graduate Research School of Social Sciences

2015 – 2018             Graduate Research Coordinator Social Work

2016 – 2017             Coordinator Bachelor of Social Work (Honours)