College of Health and Medicine

1. Why are we becoming a College?

The University of Tasmania has some ambitious goals unique to Tasmania. We aspire to meet the State’s educational needs, maintain world-class research that is relevant to our community, and commit to regional campuses that offer a breadth of courses and encourage participation.

In response, the University has adopted an academic college structure. The College of Health and Medicine is a strategic alignment between Menzies Institute for Medical Research, the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, School of Medicine and School of Health Sciences. It will build on existing strengths within each entity to effectively increase and expand academic excellence, research excellence and sustainability.

The College’s scale will allow for improved agility through the review and removal of unnecessary structures and duplication. As a larger operating unit, the College will have access to a broader range of professional services to support its academic mission.

As a management team, we see many opportunities arising through implementation of the College model.

In Research: there are opportunities for enhanced performance and interdisciplinary research through more efficient and effective allocation of resources, working in more collaborative ways while ensuring excellence.

In Learning and Teaching: there are opportunities for enhanced interdisciplinary learning and teaching outcomes drawing on the expertise of our staff across the College to inspire our students in their future careers in health and towards research.

Embracing our geography: With staff in Hobart, Launceston, Burnie and Sydney there is an opportunity to draw on our diverse geography to find complementary solutions in our research and learning and teaching.

Building on our community: With greater scale we expect to have greater capacity to build on our community connections with industry, government, alumni and the general public, both as a College and as individual entity’s within the College.

2. Who is the College Transition Steering Committee?

Membership of the committee includes:

• Associate Dean Learning & Teaching, Professor Justin Walls
• Acting Associate Dean Research and Global, Professor Andrew Hills
• Director of Menzies, Professor Alison Venn
• Director of Wicking Centre, Professor James Vickers
• Head of School of Health Sciences, Professor Nuala Byrne
• Head of School of Medicine, Professor Ben Canny
• Executive Director Operations, Craig Davies
• Director Research Development, Mark Bennett
• Director Strategic Partnerships & Business Development, Ben Jones
• Manager Corporate Services, Garry Hennessy
• Senior Executive Officer, Katherine Hough
• Executive Dean, Professor Denise Fassett

3. What is the College Transition Steering Committee working through?

We are part-way through the transition and to-date:

• The structure has been endorsed by Academic Senate and University Council
• A number of senior College positions have been advertised including Associate Dean Research and Associate Dean Global.
• Professor Justin Walls has been appointed to the position of Associate Dean Learning and Teaching and Sue Johnson to the position of Executive Officer to the Executive Dean. Mark Bennett has been appointed to the new position, Director Research Development, and Ben Jones has been appointed to the new position, Director Strategic Partnerships and Business Development.
• We have begun reviewing governance across the College including delegations that will be provided to the College (which previously sat with the Provost). As these activities are finalised your Heads of School and Directors will provide you with updates.

4. What does a change in delegation mean?

The review of delegations and governance aims to increase accountability and responsibility in the College. Some advantages of this change include streamlined processes, a reduction in the number of committees and fast-tracked approvals.

5. How can I find out more information?

We encourage you to talk with any member of the College Transition Steering Committee and to submit any questions by email to: OTD.HealthLiaison@utas.edu.au