Pro Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Quality) 

BSc E Ang, PhD S'ton, Grad Cert HigherEd Canberra

Contact Information

Phone: 02 6201 5050
Fax: 02 6201 5383
Email: John.Dearn@canberra.edu.au
Postal Address: University of Canberra ACT 2601

Personal Assistant: Alexis Johnson
Phone: 02 6201 5051
Email: Alexis.Johnson@canberra.edu.au

Areas of Responsibility

• Academic strategy and policy, with a special emphasis on creative teaching strategies and curricula content, flexible learning, and the use of technology aided teaching and learning;
• Ensuring appropriate mechanisms for assisting staff in monitoring and developing teaching strategies to enhance the University’s reputation in professional education, utilising the expertise of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Scholarship;
• The work of the academic committees of the University including the Education Committee, Admissions Committee, Flexible Learning Committee, Academic Programs Committee, and the International Committee;
• Representation of the University on relevant external bodies;
• Fostering appropriate relationships with industry and government to further teaching and learning opportunities; and
• Strategic and quality planning including a focus on attracting and retaining the best students and staff.

Biography

John Dearn received his B.Sc.(Hons) degree from the University of East Anglia (UK) and his Ph.D. from the University of Southampton (UK). His specialist research interests in science are in ecological genetics and evolutionary ecology and he has published many research papers in this area. He has held research and teaching positions at the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne and in 1984 took up a position at the Canberra College of Advanced Education where he was responsible for teaching the first year introductory biology program. He has strong interests in all aspects of teaching and learning and has been widely involved in the development of higher education, both within his university and nationally.

At his university he has been Director of the Science Resource Centre (a learning centre for first year science students), a Fellow of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning Teaching and Scholarship, Academic Director of the New Student Orientation Program, Chair of the Faculty of Applied Science Education Committee, a member of the Academic Board of the University and Chair of many committees including the Faculty of Applied Science Education Committee, the University’s First Year Experience Committee, the University Teaching Grants Committee, the University Academic Development Committee and the University Flexible Learning Committee.

He was a major writer for both volumes of the national year 11/12 biology textbook (Biology: The Common Threads) and was Leader of the highly successful Australian Biology Olympiad Team in 1994 and 1995. John was a member of the national Higher Education Council Review of Distance Education in 1992, a Project Director for the 1992 national Review of Modes of Delivery in Higher Education and was a member of the national selection committee for the Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching 1996 national teaching development grants.

In 1994 John was awarded an inaugural National Teaching Fellowship by the Australian Federal Government which enabled him to spend three months in the USA as a visiting scholar at Harvard University visiting universities and colleges looking at innovative approaches to teaching introductory science courses. In 1997 he was awarded the inaugural Australian Award for University Teaching in the category science teaching and in 1998 was appointed to the national Committee for University Teaching and Staff Development (CUTSD).

In 1998 John was appointed Director of the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Scholarship (CELTS) at the University of Canberra where he continues to teach biology. He is currently an auditor for the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) and President of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia and was appointed to the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) in 2003.