FACULTY FOCUS
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be impermeable or siloed. My own
purpose as the head of school was to
create formations for staff to occupy a
greater sense of collegiality and strength in
groups, to grow new leadership potential
for succession planning, and to enable
interdisciplinary work to happen more
readily and frequently. I also wanted to
signal that our ‘doors’ are open for projects
and ideas, and to raise our profile; after
all, we are a large and diverse school,
teach many undergraduate students, and
supervise many HDRs, but have lacked
visibility in recent years.
The transition from former disciplines and
smaller groups to these more deliberate,
thematic clusters has been more difficult
than I imagined. Giving up traditional
ideas about departments or disciplines
has created uncertainty about their role or
privilege for some. The role of disciplines,
especially for exercises such as the
Australian Research Council’s Excellence in
Research Australia or Category 1 grants, is
still important. Yet the transition has opened
up more potential, too, among the staff
who have found new collaborations in their
midst, especially in more compromised
or marginal areas of the school’s staffing,
allowing them to feel part of larger teams.
Perhaps most importantly from my
point of view, there is now the possibility
of a new narrative for those seeking to
develop their leadership of other academics
in multidisciplinary groups – one that is
more fit for purpose than the older ‘head
of discipline’ role. Cluster leaders in HASS
must work with colleagues outside their
own disciplinary areas, at the same time
becoming more aware of the complex
work allocation issues faced by a head
of school or dean. They must also work
with cluster staff to imagine external
engagement opportunities that speak to
cross-disciplinary themes and extrinsic
factors for collaboration.
The pace of change in higher education
presents constant moments for reinvention.
HASS at Newcastle has achieved a rich
renewal. We are aiming all the time for a
much stronger engagement and relationship
with the larger faculty and university of
which we are part. Natural synergies exist
with the School of Education and the
School of Creative Industries, but also with
Architecture, Law, Business, and with Health
and Medicine.
We continue striving to realise our strategy
to be more visible through a stronger
outward-focused identity; to be more
collegial with a focus on workplace culture;
and to form partnerships within, across and
outside of the university. ■
Professor Catharine Coleborne is head of
school and dean of arts at the University
of Newcastle’s School of Humanities and
Social Science.
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