Welcome to the final edition of Articulation for 2021.
A year ago, I wrote to you expressing my thoughts on a ‘most extraordinary year’. Little did I know, when I wrote that, that 2021 was going to be equally, if not more, challenging for us all. Whilst COVID-19 has changed the way we all work, study and socialise, I’m delighted to say that much great work has still taken place across our community.
One of the things I’ve been proudest of this year is the Faculty’s continued promotion of our globally significant research and thought leadership. In addition to providing expert commentary on topics spanning many of our disciplines, several of our academic staff have published on the University’s own Pursuit channel. This has included the Future of Work Lab team, who challenged our thoughts on how internal migrants can benefit the regions; Dr Claire Loughnan and Dr Una McIlvenna, who encouraged us to learn from the Manus Island Detention Centre; Associate Professor Beth Driscoll, who tackled the issue of diversity in publishing; Dr Hannah McCann, who discussed the sensory experience of the pandemic; and Professor Charles Green, who considered the role of artists in war and conflict.
I also want to acknowledge that our community has experienced some significant losses in 2021. Early in November Sir James Gobbo died, a much loved member of our Faculty and University community whose dedication to the study of Italian, including his commitment to building the capacity and profile of Italian Studies at the University of Melbourne through the Italian Australian Foundation, will remain an inspiration. And later that month we were saddened by the death of Professor Stuart Macintyre AO, whom many of you knew as the Dean of Arts from 1999 to 2006. Stuart was one of Australia’s most outstanding historians, making an exemplary contribution to academic and public life; he also made a huge difference to generations of students’ as a dedicated teacher and mentor.
Indeed, it’s in the lives and careers of our graduates that we see the greatest legacy of the work we do in the Faculty of Arts. So I’m pleased to include in this edition of Articulation the story of Ethan Taylor, a Paata-Warumungu man who during his time with us has developed a clear sense of the kind of difference he wants to make in the world and who is now ready for the next stage in his already remarkable career.
Finally, I’d like to wish you and your loved ones a happy Christmas, however you choose to celebrate it, and I look forward to being back in touch with you in 2022.
The Revd Professor Russell Goulbourne
Dean, Faculty of Arts