A/Prof. Josephine May

Biography

I am currently Deputy Director and Associate Professor (Teaching and Learning) in the English Language and Foundation Studies Centre. My passion for teaching was recognised recently when, as part of a team teaching undergraduate Australian History, I received a 2012 Vice Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning Award for Teaching Excellence. Among other previous awards, in December 2007 I was awarded a New South Wales Quality Teaching Award. My research interests include Australian history, film and history, history of Australian education, and childhood and youth histories, encompassing gender, race, and class perspectives. These interests came together in my latest book, Reel Schools: Schooling and the Nation in Australian Cinema (Peter Lang, 2013). I am embarking on a new project on the history of Australian women teachers. I am active in my research communities as a member of the Executive of the Australian New Zealand History of Education Society (ANZHES) having served as President in 2011-2012. I am also a member of the Editorial Board of the History of Education Review. I am a member, and past secretary, of the International Australian Studies Association (InASA).

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Newcastle, 2000
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Newcastle, 1990
• Graduate Diploma of Education, University of Newcastle, 1991
• Bachelor of Arts, University of Newcastle, 1988

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Research

Research keywords

• Enabling Education
• Film and the History of Australian Education
• Gender and sexuality
• History of Australian Education
• History of Teacher Education

Research expertise

My research expertise is primarily in the discipline of history. My expertise is especially developed in the history of Australian education in the twentieth century. I am very interested in gender, class, age, and race and ethnicity as they affect the lived experience of education. My work also examines representational aspects of education, including mythological constructions in memory and in images, especially in films. I have researched the history and experience of single-sex secondary schooling, as well as tertiary enabling education. This latter research has helped to raise the profile of enabling education as a research field nationally. I edited the first-ever journal edition devoted exclusively to tertiary enabling programs in Australia (Australian Journal of Adult Learning, November 2004). My current research examines filmic representations of Australian schooling. I have published numerous articles on this area and with a colleague, co-edited an issue of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (volume 10, 2006) on film, history and gender in Australia and New Zealand. As lead author and manager of the project, I have just completed a commissioned history of the Australian Teacher Education Association (2009). While expert in traditional historical methodology, I am an experienced oral history researcher. My work displays a keen interdisciplinary awareness, especially in the use of qualitative evidence. My forthcoming book, Reel Schools: Schooling and the Nation in Australian Cinema is to be published by Peter Lang.

Collaboration

My main research areas at present concern the history of Australian women teachers as leaders and Australian film representations of educational sites and subjects. I am also interested in researching the theory and method of tertiary teaching, as well as enabling education and widening participation in the tertiary sector.

Languages

• English

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
130399	Specialist Studies In Education Not Elsewhere Classified	60
210300	Historical Studies	30
200200	Cultural Studies	10

Memberships

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

• Member - President, Australian & New Zealand History of Education Society
• Member - International Australian Studies Association (InASA) Executive

Conference Chair

• The Inaugural Australian Enabling Educators Conference Committee, 2003-2004.
• Ourimbah Campus Festival of Literature Committee 2004

Editorial Board.

• Member - History of Education Review

Awards

Distinction.

2009	Lecturer of the Year Australian University Jobs website and Campus Daily (Australia) Lecturer of the Year - National finalist, Australian University Jobs website and Campus Daily

Recognition.

2012	Vice-Chancellor's Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning University of Newcastle (Australia) Vice-Chancellor's Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning
2009	Teacher Recognition Award Australian College of Education (Australia) 2009 Winner ACE (Hunter Division) Teacher Recognition Award
2009	Excellence Award School of Humanities and Social Science Student Forum (Australia) Citation Reads: 'To acknowledge the highest regard held for your work by students of University of Newcastle'.
2007	New South Wales Quality Teaching Award Australian College of Educators (Australia) The NSW Quality Teaching Award Citation read: "Josephine’s well-organised, holistic and nurturing approach changes lives, giving students at all levels, from enabling programs to PhDs, self-belief. She inspires them to love history and to challenge assumptions in safe, humane and humour-filled learning environments."

Invitations

NewMac Postgraduate Conference University of Newcastle and Macquarie University, Australia (Invited Judge)	2013
Invited Book Launch Common Ground Publishing; Coop Bookstore, Australia ( )	2012
Presidential Address ANZHES, Australia (Keynote Address)	2012
Newmac Postgraduate Conference University of Newcastle/Macquarie University, Australia (Invited Judge)	2012
Ned Kelly Singleton Library , Australia (Invited Presenter)	2012
'Look Who's Talking' Local History Series Maitland City Council Library , Australia (Invited Presenter)	2011
NSW Premiers History Prize Arts NSW, NSW State Government, Australia (Invited Judge and Panel Chairs x 2)	2011
NSW State Records NSW Department of Services, Technology and Administration, Australia (Invited Judge, NSW Archival Research Fellowship)	2011
Public Forum on Governor Macquarie NSW History Week (Hunter) , Australia (Invited Chairperson)	2010
'From Reel Schools to Real Schools Australian Films and the History of Education' Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society, Australia (Keynote Address)	2009
Invited Speech for book launch Australian Teacher Education Association, Australia (Invited Presenter)	2009
NSW Premier’s History Awards Arts NSW in association with the History Council of NSW, Australia (Invited Judge)	2009
Invited Occasional Talk Union of University Women, Australia (Invited Presenter)	2008
International Women’s Day After Dinner Speech Union of Australian Women (Hunter Region) , Australia (Invited Presenter)	2009
Annual Conference Dinner Progressive Labour Party, Australia (Invited Presenter)	2008

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Administrative

Administrative expertise

1. I am able to undertake significant university-wide roles and discharge them effectively. For example, from January to June 2012, I am Acting Head of School in the School of Humanities and Social Science where I am currently Deputy Head of School (Teaching and Learning). I was Deputy Dean of Students at the Ourimbah Campus in 2008-2009 dealing with over one quarter of all cases for the Dean of Students Office. I have served on boards, committee of review, and interview panels, as well as given many presentations to prospective students.

2. I am able to handle complex organisational tasks. In terms of the wider academic community, I have managed two national/international conferences at the University of Newcastle, and I was Chair of the 2006 Ourimbah Campus Festival of Literature that attracted over twenty of the nations top authors and over 1000 attendees.

3. I have considerable administrative expertise at the Program level as a Program Coordinator, first as Newstep Program Coordinator, where I was responsible for the management of 17 teaching staff and 240 students, and then as acting Program Co-ordinator, in the Open Foundation Program in 2003 where I coordinated over a thousand students and a large teaching staff. I have also been acting Bachelor of Arts Program Coordinator twice.

4. I have administrative strong expertise as course coordinator required to coordinate courses, some with over 500 students and seven tutors.

5. My expertise is sought out beyond the university. I am currently President of the Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society (2011-2012); have been Secretary of the International Australian Studies Association, and Book Reviews Editor since 2006 for the A ranked (ERA 2009) academic journal History of Education Review.

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Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Australian History
• Film and History
• Gender and History

Teaching expertise

My teaching expertise has been developed over twenty years of academic teaching at all levels of the university. I can work with both small and very large groups of students and I have some experience of Distance Education. I have a genuine passion for teaching which is reflected in the ways I write and deliver courses. I have an interactive style, use multimedia in my teaching and online systems for delivery of material. I am able to teach alone with others. I am expert in teaching Australian History from a number of perspectives from undergraduate survey courses such as The Australian Experience, Issues in Australian History and Australia and the World, to courses on Australian auto/biography. My upper level course on film and history incorporated American, European and Australian films and was very well received by students. I have also taught survey courses in Western and Eastern Civilisation as well as having developed expertise in teaching womens history from 500-1750.

Aside from copious informal positive feedback from students, my expertise has been recognised in formal ways. For example, my courses in Australian history have regularly over the years scored very highly in Student Evaluation of Courses. I was awarded a New South Wales Quality Teaching Award in 2007; I was named as one of the top ten nominees from The University of Newcastle in 2008 for the Unijobs Lecturer of the Year award; and I won an Australian College of Educators (Hunter Division) Teacher Recognition Award in 2009. My 2009 course on womens history at the Ourimbah campus, based on student satisfaction, was rated highest of 132 courses offered by the School of Humanities and Social Science in second semester 2009, and the same course was ranked third in the university as a whole. I am currently thesis supervisor for eight postgraduate higher degree students.

Courses

• HIST3053 - History and Film
• HIST3668 - Reading and Writing Australian Biography