What part has UWA played in your life and how did this influence your decision to run as Warden of Convocation?
I first enrolled at UWA as a part-time student when I was working with the Commonwealth Government. As part of the great expansion of university education in the late 1960s and 70s, the government was encouraging staff to complete a degree by paying their fees and giving them time off to attend lectures. I began an Arts degree and a year later, I met my husband in Psych 10, which provided a much-needed thrill of anticipation to each lecture in ‘rats and stats’. It was not until the birth of our children, that I began to hit my straps.
After Whitlam opened up places for so-called ‘mature-aged women’, a like-minded cohort of women, many with young children like me, appeared on campus. That made a big difference as we shared child-minding, ideas and coffee. At the same time, I encountered some inspirational teachers and a world of extraordinary ideas. These led me, via English, Anthropology and a timetable clash, to History and later a PhD in Urban History.
Along the way I began to tutor in Tom Stannage’s History units, and in him I was fortunate to have a brilliant teacher (inaugural winner of the Prime Minister’s University Teaching Award) as a mentor and colleague. As I began to teach history — in many ways one of our most radical disciplines — I experienced first-hand how university teaching can make a huge difference to lives, opinions and outcomes. Later, it was wonderful to see our children grow and flourish during their own UWA experiences.
My eight years as Director of UWA Press extended my experience in new directions. It took me beyond the Arts building and introduced me to a range of passionate researchers in other parts of the university. We published some outstanding award-winning books in the field of botany, for example, and this awakened my latent concern for the environment, which I was later able to meld with my research in history.
Emerita Professor Jenny Gregory, Warden of Convocation of UWA Graduates
During those years, I continued to research and supervise a host of fabulous postgraduates. After I returned to Faculty, I became Head of School of Humanities (2010-2016) and learnt much more about the functioning of UWA as a whole. I now began to better understand the helicopter view of this huge organisation and its hundreds of moving parts.
From the mid-1990s onwards, I was offered external roles where I could contribute my expertise to the community. In organisations like the National Trust and the History Council (I became President of each), I gained further leadership experiences and again these expanded my horizons.
Hence, when I ‘retired’ from UWA I already had a strong commitment to volunteering. My husband had been on Convocation Council in the early 2000s, so I knew a bit about it. I felt that my knowledge of and commitment to UWA and my leadership experience could be helpful to Convocation and so I put up my hand. After a few years on Council, with like-minded Councillors, I and others believed there was an opportunity to reimagine Council so that it better served the needs of the graduate body, so I stood for Warden and was successful, becoming Warden in the Autumn of 2022.
As the representative of UWA graduates, what do you see the most important task of the Warden in the next 12 months?
I was intrigued to read the definition of ‘Warden’ in the Oxford English Dictionary. First appearing in English in the 13th century, its etymology is from the Old French word for guardian. Implicit in all its later definitions is this earliest meaning, ‘one who guards, protects and defends; occasionally a guardian angel.’ I rather like this – and it seems appropriate for the role of Warden of Convocation, which as the representative of its many graduates, is to protect the mission of the university in advancing the prosperity and welfare of the people of Western Australia.
The Council of Convocation has recently completed its Strategic Plan 2022-25, and my key task as Warden is to lead the implementation of our key strategies; revitalising Council, inspiring and engaging our members, and contributing to the advancement of our University, Convocation, higher education and our community.
We have several goals that we will be actively pursuing this year to further engage our members — the more than 141,000 graduates of UWA. In line with the recommendations of the Vice-Chancellor’s Student Experience Taskforce, we expect to increase our involvement in mentoring and internships. This will provide a great opportunity for our members to engage with the University while lending a helping hand to our undergraduates. We also plan to host a series of webinars on some of the broad issues in higher education that are relevant to UWA.
Convocation has a long history of providing travel and research awards, and we host an immensely successful 50th anniversary lunch each year and a commemorative tree planting by the Warden and Guild President followed by a sundowner each Convocation Day. I encourage all graduates to stay in touch and to get involved in events, volunteering and life at UWA.
What is special about UWA that you want students to experience while studying and to take with them as graduates? What can a UWA degree do for you?
The place — the beauty of its earliest buildings and the might of its aged trees. Its strong sense of heritage gives students a sense of historical perspective as well as the continuities that are still central to our own time.
When I began my degree, I could not have imagined the opportunities it would give me. I had no real plan and, driven by curiosity and a desire to help others, simply followed my interests. Little did I know that it would open up an immense world of learning to me, that I would have the opportunity to give hundreds of students an insight into that world or share in postgraduate journeys as they explored that world. Nor that I would travel the globe to find the answers to research questions and share those findings with others through conferences and publications. Or that my research would have an impact in the real world beyond academia.
What are your aspirations for future students and future graduates of UWA?
The Covid-19 pandemic has had many unexpected consequences. In the university sector this has largely been the rapid rise of online learning. From the days of taped lectures that students accessed in a computer lab if they missed a lecture, many units are now fully online. Although there were teething problems, UWA stepped up rapidly and many full majors are now completely taught online.
There is, however, a disjuncture here. Ask any graduate for their memories of UWA, and amongst them will be an emotional response to the beauty of the Crawley campus. Current students have been largely learning via a device that could be anywhere. Unless they experience the campus, it will be difficult for them to develop that same strong emotional connection to UWA and nostalgia for their time at uni. Bringing students back to campus and finding new ways to help our remote students experience and engage with our campus community will benefit the whole UWA community.
I hope that UWA students are excited by the ideas they are exposed to in their degree. That they develop the skills of critical thinking, analysis of evidence and argument, as well as tolerance and an understanding of others, even those we disagree with. And that what they learn at UWA leads them to a career that they love and that energises and motivates them.
Along the way I want them to have loads of fun and make lifelong friends. And for their experience at UWA to have a defining role in their lives.
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