Head: Ms Margaret Lynn
The School of Humanities and Social Sciences formalised its links with the Faculty of Arts in 1993 as a part of the on-going amalgamation between Monash University and the former Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education. As a result of this process the school now operates under the umbrella of the Faculty of Arts, reporting to faculty board, but still maintaining autonomy over courses and student matters.
The term `School of Humanities and Social Sciences,' like `Faculty of Arts,' is used most frequently to include all students enrolled in its courses and all staff, both academic and general, employed to assist in the delivery of these academic programs. The school is located on the Gippsland campus, which is in the township of Churchill, approximately 168 kilometres east of the Clayton campus.
The school is located in two wings of the campus: the 2W and 1E buildings. The school office is room 2W283, and staff there can direct inquiries to the appropriate areas within the school if necessary.
The School of Humanities and Social Sciences employs a staff of approximately fifty, including full-time, part-time and sessional staff. In 1995 approximately 1125 students were enrolled in undergraduate programs taught by the school, with a further 100 undertaking graduate study. Of these students, around 400 are enrolled on-campus, with in excess of 700 students studying part-time by distance education from a variety of locations within Australia and overseas.
Within the school there are eight sections: Mass Communications, History-Politics, Indonesian, Journalism, Social Research, Sociology and Social Welfare. Each section has a head of section who is responsible for administrative and academic issues relating to the one or more disciplines they teach.
In addition to the sections, the school also has two centres: the Gippsland Centre for Koorie Studies; and the Centre for Gippsland Studies. The Gippsland Centre for Koorie Studies, headed by a director, offers an undergraduate program in Koorie studies and also has involvement in research in this area. The Centre for Gippsland Studies has a large archive of information on Gippsland, maintained by the executive officer, which is accessible to anyone researching issues related to Gippsland.
The main business of running the school is the responsibility of the school board, which meets at least seven times throughout the year and reports to the faculty board where necessary. The school board comprises most academic and general staff within the school, a representative of another school and two student representatives.
Students wishing to bring matters to the attention of the school board should feel free to discuss them with the student representatives, who may be contacted via the student union.
The organisation of teaching and research in particular disciplines rests with the relevant head of section, while the school board is concerned with issues affecting more than one section, including new developments within the school. The school board has certain committees which have the power to act on behalf of the school board on particular issues as specified in their terms of reference. These committees include:
Patrick Morgan Australian literature and Australian studies; Gippsland studies; political literature.
Cathy Greenfield Relations between media, culture, power with particular attention to forms of democracy and populism and to intercultural relations.
Mike Griffiths Creative writing; contemporary writing; travel writing.
O Mary Griffiths Reading cultural practices; `postcolonial' and feminist theories, cultural production and pedagogy; writing.
Neil Hanley Media studies, mass communications; computer-mediated learning.
Ros Prosser Water; place; pedagogy; writing.
Marian Quigley Creative writing; women's writing; feminist theory; Australian literature; and culture; contemporary literature; media studies; visual arts.
Leanne White Advertising; nationalism; popular culture; new communication; technologies, particularly the Internet.
Beth Edmondson Environmental politics; international relations; public policy; citizenship and governance; Australian politics
David Schmitt Medical history; Australian colonial military history; Australian health policy; representations of China in popular literature of the interwar period; war by proxy.
Keith Wilson American slavery; Civil War; reconstruction; African American culture; US civil rights; industrial revolution: Britain; Australian prisoners of war.
John Tebbutt Foreign correspondents; community media; computer assisted reporting; media policy; journalism and cultural practices.
Veronika Petroff Media ethics; human communication; community journalism; photo journalism; journalists as social change agents.
Marlene Drysdale Koorie education.
Margaret Egudo Policy issues relating to Aboriginal education.
Isabel Ellender Koorie archaeology.
Nani Thomas LOTE methodology; drama and theatre studies; television in developing nations.
Paul Thomas Applied linguistics; listening skills in second language acquisition; immersion programs; and translation.
Sue Arnall Counselling; groupwork, disability and mental health, feminist approaches to welfare.
Kim Arthur Homelessness; crisis intenvention; foster care.
Karen Crinall Homelessness specifically young women; feminist and post-structural research methodology, photography; postmodern welfare practice.
Will Crinnall Homelessness; post-structural research methodology; social policy; social service organisations and services.
Marg Lynn Rural social work; rural informal networks; community development; feminist social work practice.
Debra Manning Public welfare; overseas community development; anti-racist practice.
Kathleen Williams Behavioural studies; adult education; mature-age students; feminist practice; family work and program evaluation; fields of practice.
Peter Harry Ballis Sociology of work, including issues of occupational health and safety, trade unionism, career change and redundancy; Sociology of religion; qualitative research methods.
Marion Collis Women's health; mental illness/psychiatric services; women and social control.
Lyle Munro Social movements; animal rights; youth employment; social control and deviance; sociology of education, school to work transition.
Daryl Nation Distance education; educational technology; open learning.
Pam Reynolds Research methodology; acquisition of numeracy; psychological effects of unemployment; gender issues.
Marianne Robinson Children; gender relations; education.
Parimal Roy Race, migration and ethnicity; family and kinship; social and community networks; social change; rural and urban studies; south and south-east Asia.
Steven Russell Social and political thought - historical and contemporary - sociology of deviance; sociology of religion, especially new religious movements and traditional religious institutions; race and ethnic relations, especially Jewish issues; gender relations and the reconstruction of masculinity; sociology of identity, the body, emotions.