Dean's Report

As we are all busily wrapping up our work for the year and preparing for the holidays I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy festive season. I hope you take the time over the break to relax, spend time with your family and friends and switch off from work.

We have achieved a great deal this year through another period of change for MGSE. I appreciate that at times this has been challenging but I’m confident that the innovations we have brought in are already delivering positive results and will continue to strengthen throughout 2019.

There have been many highlights over the year and together we have achieved much for MGSE. The engagement of staff in the development and delivery of the Strategic Plan really stands out for me and I thank Helen Cahill, in particular, for her leadership in this project. The new Strategic Plan sets our direction for the next three years and I am pleased by the progress we are making across our six strategies. The establishment of the Cognate groups is another highlight and I am delighted to see that these groups are starting to evolve and develop an identity of their own. I am also looking forward to engaging further with our new External Advisory Board and with staff through our Quarterly Conversations in 2019.

The Dean’s lecture series has been a particularly enjoyable part of my role as Dean. We started the year with a memorable and entertaining lecture by Professor Marc Brackett on creating an emotional revolution in the workplace, followed by inspiring lectures by Professor Gillian Triggs on a Charter of Rights for Australia and Professor Fiona Stanley who reflected on her career and her lifelong passionate advocacy for children and Indigenous Australians. We finished off the year with a packed house for Professor Lindsay Oades who spoke about the emergence of wellbeing science. We are currently devising next year’s program which looks to be at least as interesting as the 2018 series.

The Talking Teaching podcast series has continued to gain momentum and will be back in 2019. Our research has been featured in over 20 Pursuit stories and a wide range of our academics have appeared in the media. Congratulations also to all our graduating students and to the academic staff who taught and mentored them.

I will be back in the office from the 2nd January, so feel free to come and see me. I will be away working with Professor Lorraine Grahame in Ecuador from 11 – 20 January.

Thank you all for your hard work in 2018 and I’m looking forward to working together to ensure a successful 2019.

Jim