Avondale College is partnering with Alphacrucis College on a joint research project entitled: “Women in Higher Education Institutions: Constraints and Enablements”. The project arose from the invitation extended by the Avondale Women’s Group to Professor Lily Arasaratnam-Smith who is the Deputy Vice President Student Affairs and Chair of Academic Board of Alphacrucis College.
Lily Arasaratnam-Smith gave a presentation on challenges and opportunities for female academics, particularly in light of the current “male, pale and stale” executive environments in the higher education sector. On sharing her experiences, she invited Associate Professor Maria Northcote (Discipline of Education, Avondale College) to share her academic journey at the Alphacrucis Women’s Executive meeting late last year. At this meeting Maria shared her “mistakes” as an academic, but also her learnings from those mistakes.
Associate Professor Lisa Barnes from ABS was invited as the March 2019 guest speaker at Alphacrucis, and shared her journey and challenges to create a life/work balance, particularly in her role as a parent as well as Head of Discipline. Breakfast meetings, late running afternoon meetings and inefficient meetings all contributed to her imbalance, but the satisfaction she gets from the teaching, flexible working options and the support from her co-workers has contributed to less stress about the balance.
Feedback from the presentation: “Thank you for your honesty, for your transparency on a subject that resonates well with me personally (especially the aspect of the mum-work-life balance). From your story, I am glad for the aspects where you have been victorious, thus paving the way for women in your wake. Although a difficult journey, your passion for advocacy for women has seen incredible victory. Thanks for sharing. From a fellow mum who is already wondering about dinner and hoping that my very helpful husband will remember to do homework with the 9 year old….”- Rachel.
This sharing of experiences led to the notion of a joint research project. Based on a replicated study that so far has shown some initial similarities.
Factors that support or constrain career development:
Women in Higher Education: Challenges & Opportunities, a cross institutional study – watch this space.
