WORKING RECORD
* All 3 degrees required a thesis - which were in psychology specifically motivation, and examined the dynamics of human motivation towards particular goals, motivational style and orientation.
Professor, Head of Group, Course Director, Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer, Psychologist, Lecturer
Secretary, Personal Assistant, Shorthand (Pitmans) Typist, Teleprinter Operator, Clerk Typist.
Out of necessity, I left school at 16 and for 10 years I was employed in industry as a clerk typist, stenographer, and personal assistant. After 10 years, then married with one child, and living in England, I finished my high school education at night school. Thus, I was a 'mature age student' - a rare creature at the time. In my early 30s, I obtained a First for my Honours undergraduate double degree in East Anglia - first woman to achieve a First class honours in the degree, and the only student of my year to obtain a First. Then, with a family of 2 children, I completed my M.Phil {by research) at Nottingham University. Upon returning to Australia, armed with a Commonwealth Scholarship, I began a full time PhD while engaged in sessional lecturing at various institutions. My first full time academic job was at Monash University as a Research Fellow. But then, in 1991, I obtained a full time tenured position in my sub discipline of Industrial/Organizational Psychology in the Psychology Department, Melbourne University. Just shy of Christmas, 2005, I moved to Swinburne University to take up a Research Professor position in the Faculty of Business and Enterprise. Over the 25 year period - 1988 to 2013, I have strived to achieve in the three areas of academia: teaching, research and administration. My purpose here is to briefly mention some career highlights.
I have received awards at both Melbourne and Swinburne for my teaching. I have taught the full gamut of age and education levels, in all types of educational institutions and communities, in a wide range of subjects. I have produced workshops, videos, teaching texts, slides, and reading packs. A hallmark of my teaching has been consistent high independently-evaluated student ratings of my courses. Students report getting jobs through taking my courses. This is my reward.
In my field of 1/0 psychology, I have taken on many responsibilities in helping to develop the sub discipline in Australia. This was achieved not only through course teaching, research, thesis supervisions, designed industry practicums, grant-getting, publications, conference organization, colloquia initiatives, course Directorships, interaction with the media and public through talks and interviews with TV, radio, and print media,but also in management and administration, in particular in helping to establish new accredited 1/0 courses for the Australian Psychological Society (APS) in my work for APS Course Approvals.
I have served an extensive array of committees, teams, working parties, and panels,in facilitating the management and administration of the universities I have worked in. At Melbourne, this was a minimum of 32 committees at Departmental and University level. At FBE, I served 20 committees. This included 13 faculty committees, e.g., Faculty Executive, Staffing and Resources committee and Faculty Research committee, and for the University, 7 committees, e.g., Research Higher Degrees Executive, University Ethics, University Internal Grants, and Academic Board.
In research, I've been awarded 5 National Competitive grants and have also been awarded funds from charitable foundations, universities and industry organizations. I have published 9 books, 25 book chapters, 48 peer review international journal articles, 34 peer reviewed full article conference proceedings, and 40 conference proceeding abstracts. I have written 31 reports for universities and industry, and delivered 40 talks. A couple of highlights are worth noting: a book published by Cambridge University Press and one article, Entrepreneurship Research and Practice: A Call to Action for Psychology published in the prestigious journal "American Psychologist". This work was cited in "Nature".
In all my research, collaborations with colleagues and students, and individuals and groups in industry, have been a key to helping find solutions to workplace problems and issues and improving individual, unit or system performance at work - the focus of my research work. It has been a team effort. Towards this end, I designed a student industry placement program and supervised 74 student industry placements, and supervised to completion, 53 student theses as well as acting as Examiner of over 100 theses. I have given reviewer service to scientific journals, and to National Competitive grant reviewing processes in Australia, the United States, and Canada. Citations of my work are extensive.
Motives: Need to Achieve – (N.Ach); Need for Affiliation (N.Aff); Need for Power (N.Pow); Willpower; Inspiration; Work Addiction; Motivation and Abilities; Entrepreneurial Motives, Innovation and Creativity.
Mental models; human-machine interaction; mental and job workload; manipulation of work environments to improve efficiencies; medical human factors - interaction of hospital systems, human performance and error (“adverse events”).
Acquisition and development of job skills; Intuition; creativity; general, perceptual speed and psychomotor abilities; ability development; impact of ageing on abilities.
Thus in all. I have been involved at all levels of the training of Industrial / Organisational Psychologists, in my work for the APS Course Approvals Committee, in the selection of course materials, skills and abilities suitable for their accreditation as well as their training and professionalisation through course teaching and thesis supervision.