Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences launches two new schools
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is pleased to announce two new schools have been launched today as part of organisational changes announced earlier this year. The School of Literature, Art and Media is now the School of Art, Communication and English, and the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry is now the School of Humanities.
As part of this organisational change, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has also moved from a departmental to a disciplinary structure. For example, the Department of Philosophy is now referred to as Philosophy. Most disciplines will remain in their original school, however, there will be shifts for some disciplines.
The School of Art, Communication and English will be led by Professor Alan McKee, who has been recently appointed as the Head of School. It includes the following disciplines:
- Film Studies
- Sydney College of the Arts
- Art History (including Museum and Heritage Studies)
- English (including Writing Studies)
- Media and Communications (including Digital Cultures)
- Theatre and Performance Studies
"I am excited to join the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at this time of change. The School of Art, Communication and English is thriving - students want to do our courses, our research is outstanding, and we’ve got so much to offer to external partners," said Alan McKee.
I’m looking forward to continuing to support our school’s academics and students as well as building connections with our community outside the University.
The new School of Humanities will be led by Head of School, Professor Keith Dobney, and includes the following disciplines:
The new School of Humanities will showcase the extraordinary work of our academics and students across the wonderfully diverse and intertwined areas of the arts and humanities.
"Our unique strength is that we join studies of the human past (through archaeology, the classics, ancient and more recent history) with those of how we think (philosophy), communicate (linguistics) identify (gender and cultural studies) and construct our belief system (studies in religion).
Our teaching and learning emphatically demonstrate the value of the humanities in society and the special edge they give to our career-ready graduates. With our new configuration of disciplines, we are excited to train the next generation to better understand where we’ve come from and where we might be headed - in essence, our place in the world," said Professor Keith Dobney.
Other organisational changes within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences include:
- The Department of Asian Studies and the Department of Indian Subcontinental Studies in the School of Languages and Culture have been amalgamated into the discipline ‘Asian Studies’
- The Department of English and the Department of Writing Studies have been amalgamated into the discipline 'English' within the newly named School of Art, Communication and English
- The Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and the Department of Sociology and Social Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences have been amalgamated into the discipline ‘Sociology and Criminology’.
The renaming of the two schools and other organisational changes were designed in consultation with staff and students. The changes aim to enhance the student experience; foster greater academic collaboration in teaching and research; ensure consistent, high-quality education for our students; reduce administration; and allow for the continuation of teaching and research in smaller disciplines.
The Faculty of Arts and Social Science will retain six schools and all of its disciplines. With nearly 50 disciplines, the Faculty will continue to be one of the most comprehensive arts and social sciences faculties in Australia.