Business school appoints host of new Associate Deans

The Business School has appointed a number of Associate Deans (AD) as part of a future-looking “refresh” of its degree programs, management practices and policies related to campus life for students.

In line with a University-wide restructure, the Business School has created ADs with responsibility for Research, Student Life, Indigenous Strategy & Services, and Education. It has also appointed two Business School-specific Associate Dean roles.

They are AD Programs, which has been filled by Professor Rae Cooper and will manage all of the Business School’s award courses; and AD Academic Resourcing and Development to be filled by Ann Davis.

“In other faculties, responsibility for programs tends to be rolled into the Associate Dean Education role. However, given our clear strategic priorities for refreshing our degree offerings and our educational practices, we have chosen to go with two leadership positions here,” said Professor Shields.

Professor Rae Cooper is a leading researcher in work and organisational studies and has an interest in gender, women’s careers and flexible employment. She is Co-Director of the Women, Work and Leadership Research Group and Associate Editor of the Journal of Industrial Relations.

Professor Ann Davis has over 30 years’ experience as a researcher and teacher. She holds a PhD in Psychology from Nottingham University in the United Kingdom and was most recently Director of Business Administration and Director of the Research Degrees Programme at Aston University, also in the UK.

“Ann’s role is also critical to our aim of further enhancing our academic capability over time,” said Professor Shields.

”We see these AD roles as closely interconnected and interdependent and this is why we prefer to see the ADs as a leadership team, working closely with each other, with colleagues in our Disciplines and with those in central portfolios and committees.”

“I’m very excited about the Associate Dean team we’ve been building,” added Professor Shields.

The Business School’s Professor Eddie Anderson continues in a ‘core’ role as AD Research, and is, according to Deputy Dean, Professor John Shields, “our most experienced AD and has been doing fantastic work on the research quality front”.

The other ‘core’ University of Sydney Associate Dean roles have gone to Associate Professor Peter Bryant (Education) who took up the role in April, and to Associate Professor Juliette Overland who has picked up the twin portfolios of Student Life and Indigenous Strategy and Services.

Prior to joining the Business School, Associate Professor Bryant was the Head of Learning Technology and Innovation at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he worked with academics, students and senior management to develop innovative approaches to education, curriculum and assessment design through technology.

Associate Professor Overland is a longstanding member of the Discipline of Business Law. She has extensive experience as a corporate lawyer and teacher and has received many teaching awards, including the 2017 Wayne Lonergan Award for Outstanding Teaching. She has held the positions of Deputy Head of Business Law, Program Director, and Business Law Undergraduate Co-ordinator. She is also a member of the Business School Faculty Board and the University Academic Board.