Dear alumni and friends

Welcome back to another exciting year in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. 2013 is shaping up to be a great year for the FASS, as we roll out a series of new initiatives and exciting events.

One thing we have been working hard on over the past two years has been a major overhaul of our undergraduate and postgraduate programs. We are proud to be offering the greatest diversity of subjects available in Australia in the humanities and social sciences – taught by some of the very finest scholars in the world. Every single major in the Faculty has now been reviewed and a new, clearer pathway developed for each and every subject area we offer.

Among the new initiatives to be launched next year are a ‘Faculty Scholars Program’, which will be introduced for our truly outstanding undergraduate students. They will follow a special 18-month program focussed on an intensive reading and discussion of some of the greatest texts in the humanities and social sciences.

Similarly, we are in the process of reviewing all of our postgraduate programs and are delighted to announce the establishment of four new coursework degrees in Art Curating, Museum Studies & Heritage, International Relations (subject to final approval) and English Studies – all to be launched next year. You might want to think of coming back to study with us – it’s never too late!
 
We also have an exciting line-up of new Insights Lectures for 2013, featuring our outstanding new professors. And there will be a range of other fascinating events for you to participate in.

As always, I am delighted to hear from our alumni and friends about any aspect of the Faculty’s work. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me directly. I do hope to see you at this year’s Dean’s Reception, being held on Wednesday 10 April.

Best wishes

Professor Duncan Ivison 
Dean | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Company director Belinda Hutchinson AM is the new Chancellor of the University of Sydney. She succeeds Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, who concluded her second term as Chancellor in December 2012.

"I feel honoured and privileged to be elected as Chancellor of the University of Sydney, which has always been a leader in education and research," said Ms Hutchinson.
 
"World-class tertiary education and research are critical to the economic and social future of Australia and I'm confident the University of Sydney will continue to be a key contributor to that future. I am excited by the opportunity to work with the whole University community as we strive to achieve excellence in educational and research outcomes," she said.

Click here for more information.

The 2012 Alumni Awards presentation was held on 26 October 2012. The Faculty would like to especially congratulate our alumni, who won four out of five awards, celebrating the fantastic achievements of our alumni community.

Winners include joint recipients of the Community Achievement Award Mary Kostakidis (BA ’77) and David Handley (BA ’87 LLB ’89), Belinda Hutchinson AM (BEc ’76) for Professional Achievement and Eric Knight (BA ’06 LLB ’07) for Young Alumni Achievement.

Click here for more information about the winners above, as well as the Graduate Medallists.

In an increasingly competitive global student market, it can be difficult for universities to cut through the crowds and stand out, especially when the degree you are promoting is prone to being negatively stereotyped.

In a bid to draw attention to one of the University of Sydney's flagship degrees, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has released a bold new video that makes fun of these stereotypes in order to dispel them – and ultimately tells the real story of studying in the humanities and social sciences at one of Australia's leading Group of Eight universities.

View the video here.

Five scholars from the University have been elected as Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, one of the highest honours available in the humanities in Australia.

They are Professor Warwick Anderson, Professor Paul Giles, Professor Peter Morgan, Associate Professor Penelope Russell and Professor John Wong.

The Academy is dedicated to advancing excellence in the humanities for the benefit of the nation. Find out more.

On the 15 November 2012, in the sunny courtyard of The Mint, alumni and friends gathered for our annual ArtSS In The City event, aimed at, but not exclusive to, our young alumni living and working in Sydney.

As drinks and canapés were shared, guests mingled with old University friends, and were given the opportunity to meet new faces with which they share a connected past at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

The theme for this year of Bright Young Things featured some short TedX-style presentations by an exciting mix of our young talent. Watch the video or listen to a podcast of the presentations. Find out more.

Two Sydney students hope to broaden the the partnership between Australia and India beyond cricketing as they embark on a comprehensive study tour of India.

Bachelor of Arts student, Nicola Bodill, and Bachelor of Science and Arts student, Myles Curtis, were selected from over 180 applicants nationwide to join the Australia India Institute's highly coveted Australia India Student Experience Study Tour.

The pair will join a contingent of 20 Australian university students as they gain a more complete snapshot of modern Indian life on the ten-day Tour, which begins on 17 January 2013. Find out more.

Jacob Taylor, the vice-captain of the Australian Rugby Union Sevens squad, is the winner of the NSW Rhodes scholarship for 2013.

Already a fluent Chinese speaker, Jacob is well ahead in the Asian Century. Prior to completing his BA Languages honours degree at the University of Sydney in 2010, he studied at Peking and Liaoning universities in China.

He will take up his scholarship at University of Oxford next year to study for a Master's in Neuroanthropology in the Centre for Anthropology and Mind. Find out more.

Ute Eickelkamp, ARC Future Fellow from the Department of Anthropology, received a grant from The Australian Research Council for $595,389 to research Cultural Resilience and Changing Selves in Central Australia.

This project examines how members of Anangu communities in the Central Australian desert perceive their existential condition. Eickelkamp argues that the success of life-enhancing changes depends on the understanding of existing cultural capabilities and knowledge structures, and on the deep refigurations of the self that are currently taking place.

Pip Smith (MLitt '10) lets her imagination run wild on a daily basis. In fact, this is how she makes a living.

A dynamic career to date, she has had her poems and stories published in a number of publications and co-directed the National Young Writers' Festival in 2012. Pip currently runs the monthly short fiction night Penguin Plays Rough, which recommences on 21 February 2013, and has edited the group’s first book The Penguin Plays Rough Book of Short Stories, launched at the Sydney Writers’ Festival in 2011.

With excitement for her year of projects ahead, Pip shares her career experiences and passions with us.

What are your happiest memories about your time here as a student?

I loved being in an environment where everyone was on the same page, interrogating what they were interested in. You were instantly thrown into a community of people which I think is particularly important if you're working in a creative field – so many good ideas emerge from simply engaging in conversations with people who approach what you're doing from a different perspective. 

Who was your favourite Professor while you were a student at the University of Sydney and why?

Judith Beveridge my poetry teacher, who taught me over three years. At the beginning of each semester, she put together a reader of her favourite work. It was very comprehensive, like receiving a new anthology every six months. She has a wonder for poetry and was very patient with our work. She would bring the same amount of vigour to everything that anyone turned in, which created a spirit of freedom in the room, where all the ideas we brought to the table were welcomed.

What is your proudest achievement?

Bringing out The Penguin Plays Rough Book of Short Stories. I naively thought I’d be able to put it together in a few months, then a year later, it was finally published. I pooled resources from a variety of avenues, scrimping and saving every way I could. It was pretty epic because we were matching each story with an illustrator and composer and it ended up being quite a big production.

Who inspires you?

So many people! I can’t write in a vacuum – reading other people’s work wakes me up. A recent poet that had that effect on me was John Forbes, an Australian who died in the 90s. He was part of that crew of poets who re-energised the poetry scene in the 70s, publishing work in New Poetry. Electric stuff.

What is the mantra you live by?

"Make the most of every opportunity" – but that can sometimes get you into tricky situations. I used to just say yes to everything, then get overwhelmed and have meltdowns. I'm gradually learning to only say yes to those opportunities that scare or challenge me in ways that energise me, not wipe me out.

What are your plans for the future?

I’m currently undertaking a Doctorate in Creative Arts at the University of Western Sydney, so my plans for the immediate future are to finish it. I'd also really like to publish my first collection of poetry, which has been a long time coming.

Then I really want to go overseas for a while. I'd love to write for theatre, or for a project where I'm writing to task for something that's bigger than my own imagination. First, though, I've got to get through my DCA alive.

What advice would you give to students graduating from the University of Sydney?

Don’t be afraid to work for free, and get involved in projects just for the experience while you're still studying. If what you want to do isn't out there, nothing is stopping you from having a stab at creating it yourself. After a while, good things (and paid gigs) will come from that.