Ngara Yumbin! (Hello, Everyone!)

Message from the Associate Dean Indigenous, Professor Sandra Phillips

Yari gari (welcome) to ARTS INDIGENOUS on the web! As Associate Dean Indigenous, I am in the privileged position of leading Indigenous Strategy across the Faculty of Arts. I support the Dean, Professor Jennifer Balint, and collaborate with the executive and all Faculty in driving positive impact through Indigenous Strategy. I also welcome Deputy Associate Dean Indigenous, Dr Lou Bennett AM (Senior Lecturer, Indigenous Studies, School of Social and Political Sciences), who has joined me to strengthen Indigenous Faculty Leadership.

In collaboration with Indigenous leadership across the University, I seek the best for and with each Indigenous colleague across the Faculty of Arts in your pursuit of your work and/or study goals.

I collaborate with other Faculty of Arts leaders to co-create the best environments for Indigenous student and graduate researcher belonging and success.

I lead a great team in ARTS INDIGENOUS and am grateful for the brilliance they each bring to their every day here in the Faculty of Arts: thank you, Evan Lloyd, Teaka Williams, and Dr Penny Holliday!

For those who don’t know where I come from: I am a Wakka Wakka and Gooreng Gooreng woman, wife, mother, and grandmother. The First Nations I belong to are in the jurisdiction now known as Queensland. I have worked in my home state and also in New South Wales, Western Australia, the ACT, and now Victoria, with a short stint along the way in Singapore. After a career in Australian book publishing, I enrolled in a PhD as a mature age researcher and have worked full-time in academia since earning my Doctor of Philosophy in 2012.

So, welcome to our web pages where we will continue to promote news, information, and opportunities for Indigenous success. ARTS INDIGENOUS also aims to make the Faculty of Arts a destination for more of our peoples on our journeys of making change for the better – whether we want that change to land inside of the University, elsewhere in higher education, in our communities, and/or in other industries and sectors.

Make sure you bookmark us, and keep in touch through all the avenues provided!

Professor Sandra Phillips
Associate Dean Indigenous, Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts
Professor of Publishing and Communications, School of Culture and Communication, Faculty of Arts
The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VICTORIA 3010, Australia
arts-indigenous@unimelb.edu.au