An Invitation to Walk Together

As I have begun to serve as Dean of Learning and Teaching, my first response has been one of gratitude.

Gratitude for the confidence placed in me. Gratitude for the people who have walked beside me throughout my life. And gratitude for the opportunity to serve a University that I have come to love.

I begin this role with humility, excitement and a deep awareness that none of us arrives in a role like this alone.

Many of you will already know me through teaching, research, committees and conferences -or perhaps simply through a conversation over coffee. If we haven’t yet met, I look forward to meeting you.

I have always believed that universities are built not only on scholarship, but on relationships. Our best ideas often emerge when we are willing to listen well, learn from one another and work together.

The people who shape us.

I certainly haven’t arrived here on my own.

Throughout my life I have been shaped by generous Elders, teachers, mentors, colleagues, students, friends and family who have invested their wisdom, encouragement and trust in me.

Among the many things they have taught me is that I never needed to choose between the different parts of who I am. I could be a historian and a theologian. A teacher and a researcher. An Aboriginal woman and a Christian. A leader and a learner.

Those worlds are not in competition. Together, they have shaped the person I am and the leader I hope to be.

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons I have learned is that our gifts are never ours simply to keep.

Each of us has been entrusted with particular gifts, experiences, knowledge and perspectives. Our calling is not simply to develop those gifts, but to place them in the service of others.

And perhaps that is part of the vocation of a university community too: to recognise the gifts in one another, nurture them with generosity, challenge them with wisdom, and create the conditions in which people can flourish.

That is the kind of community I hope we continue to build together.

Listening before speaking

My understanding of leadership has been profoundly shaped by relationship, responsibility, reciprocity and deep listening.

These have become guiding practices in my life. They remind me that leadership begins with listening before speaking, understanding before acting, and serving before leading.

I am deeply grateful to the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, communities, colleagues and students who continue to encourage me to learn and to teach.

At the same time, I have not accepted this appointment to become the Aboriginal Dean.

I have accepted it to serve as Dean of Learning and Teaching for our whole University community.

My responsibility is to every College, every discipline, every member of staff and every student.

My Aboriginality is not something I leave behind when I enter this office, nor is it the whole story of who I am. It is one of the gifts I bring, alongside my faith, scholarship, experience and commitment to theological education. Together, these things shape how I understand education, relationship and leadership, and how I hope to serve this University.

Stewardship, not ownership

I also see myself as a steward rather than an owner of this role.

Others have faithfully built the foundations on which I now stand. My responsibility is to care for what has been entrusted to me, strengthen it where I can, and one day hand it on stronger than I received it.

Leadership, to me, is not primarily about leaving my mark. It is about creating the conditions in which others can do their best work and our students can flourish.

So, you won’t find me arriving with all the answers.

You will find me asking questions.

Visiting Colleges. Sitting in classrooms. Talking with students. Listening to academic and professional staff. Celebrating what is already working well. Learning where things are harder than they need to be. Asking what we should protect, where we can improve, and what opportunities we might be missing.

And then rolling up my sleeves and working alongside you.

Learning and teaching belongs to all of us

The landscape of higher education is changing rapidly.

Artificial intelligence, changing student expectations, new approaches to teaching and assessment, theological formation, student wellbeing and belonging, quality assurance, and the changing needs of churches, communities and workplaces all invite us to think carefully and creatively about the future.

But those challenges – and those opportunities – don’t belong to the Dean of Learning and Teaching alone.

Learning and teaching is not the responsibility of one office. It is a shared vocation.

The wisdom we need already exists in many places across this University: in our Colleges, classrooms, libraries and offices; among our academics and professional staff; and, importantly, among our students and alumni.

Part of my task is to listen to that wisdom and help us bring it into conversation.

Listening Across UD

That is why one of my first priorities as Dean will be Listening Across UD – an eight-week University-wide listening project.

Before we decide what Learning and Teaching at UD needs to become, I want to listen carefully to what our University already knows.

I want to hear:

• What are we doing particularly well?
• What should we protect?
• What makes teaching, learning or supporting students harder than it needs to be?
• Where do our students experience unnecessary friction?
• What do our staff need to do their work well?
• What opportunities are we missing?
• What should UD be doing differently over the next few years?
• And what haven’t I asked that you think I need to know?

Over the coming weeks I will be listening across Colleges and University portfolios, and to academic and professional staff, students, alumni and particular communities within UD.

There will be different ways to participate – conversations, College visits, online gatherings, targeted sessions and a short University-wide survey.

And I want this to be more than consultation for consultation’s sake.

At the end of the process, I intend to report back on what I heard and what we will do. There will inevitably be some things we can act on quickly, some that require deeper investigation, some that will take longer, and perhaps some things that we simply cannot do at present. Where that is the case, I want us to be clear about why. Listening should have consequences.

An invitation to walk together

So, my invitation is simple.

Let’s walk together.

Let’s learn from one another.

Let’s encourage one another.

Let’s be courageous enough to try new things and humble enough to learn when we get them wrong.

Let’s celebrate excellence wherever we find it.

Let’s protect the things that make the University of Divinity distinctive while remaining open to the ways we need to grow and change.

Let’s make room for new voices, new ideas and different ways of knowing.

And above all, let’s continue building a University where our students and colleagues have the opportunity to flourish.

Over the coming months, I want to understand your context, your hopes, your challenges and your aspirations. I want to learn what makes your College and community distinctive, and how we can strengthen learning and teaching across the whole University without losing the richness of what makes each part of UD particular.

Invitations to participate in Listening Across UD will soon arrive in a variety of ways, including email, conversations and surveys.

And if eight weeks pass and somehow, I haven’t managed to reach you, please don’t wait for an invitation. Get in touch with me at dlt@divinity.edu.au and I will make sure you have an opportunity to contribute.

Thank you for welcoming me into this role.

It is a privilege to serve alongside you. I look forward to the conversations ahead, the relationships we will deepen, and the work we will undertake together.

—
Naomi Wolfe
Dean of Learning and Teaching

Naomi Wolfe

Naomi Wolfe is the Dean of Learning and Teaching at the University of Divinity. She is trawlwoolway Aboriginal woman of Jewish German and Irish heritage who lives and works on Wurundjeri Country (Melbourne, Australia).

staff.divinity.edu.au/staff/naomi-wolfe/