Welcome to 2018

Dear Faculty Colleagues

Welcome to 2018 and a special welcome to all those who have joined the Faculty in any role over the past few months.  We have many new colleagues and I hope to meet you all soon as I wander around, get to meetings or you join us at our Faculty Welcome and Induction meetings.

To my colleagues of longer standing, thank you once again for the outstanding achievements of 2017 and the way in which you are setting up 2018.  Our teaching and research has exceeded our goals and everyone in the Faculty plays a critical role in that achievement… from IT, travel, curriculum, research grants, conferences and partnerships – you are all critical.

We are having a more modest start to 2018 than hoped and our primary focus for these coming weeks is our new students.  Our Student Experience Office is literally overwhelmed managing applications and enquiries but are all doing overtime to achieve our goals. 

The Federal Government reforms will mean a great deal to us in the coming months and our planning for 2019 will be difficult and detailed.  I am not looking forward to that, but Deakin is very well prepared for this and we work very hard to continue to thrive in the new environment – watch this space!

If you do see people wandering around campus looking a little confused, please do stop to see if you can assist.  A smile is the best welcome we can all offer and I know the very personal touch you all bring to your relationships and your work.  So thank you for this.

Finally, we have a great opportunity to gather at the NGV in the coming weeks to celebrate the beginning of a great year and I hope you are able to join – see details in your calendar and elsewhere in this bulletin.  If you cannot make it, of course we understand totally and I hope to see you in a coffee shop, corridor or meeting soon.

I wish everyone a wonderful year personally and professionally.

Brenda