Maddy McMaster, Director, Academic Services (Student Systems), University of Melbourne

Abstract: Universities in Australia have been characterised by change over the past thirty years. As well as new roles for academic managers, this change has included the growth in recent years of a cohort of professional administrators whose role does not fit easily into romantic perceptions of universities as isolated guilds of scholars.

The role of faculty manager is one that has evolved in recent years as the responsibilities of deans have changed. The conference session will focus on the different ways that deans and faculty managers work together. It will expand on some of the ideas presented below about partnerships between these two roles. Questions for discussion include: Are such partnerships between administrative and academic managers influenced by the structure and values of the particular university? To what extent does the work culture of the faculty or the university affect what they do and how they do it? Or is it simply a matter of individual work styles?