This month, Professor Lisa McKenna will finish up as Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
Reflecting on her time as Dean, Professor McKenna says there have been many highlights.
“We've grown substantially as a School over the past eight years – in terms of our people, our facilities and our reputation,” she says.
“For example, when I first came into the role of Dean we were sitting at around 250 in the international university rankings for nursing. Now we’re 44, which is a tremendous achievement.”
“I am also proud of the work we have done to expand our international engagement, particularly in Southeast Asia. We’ve collaborated with universities in Indonesia, Brunei and Hong Kong, to name a few, and I think this has been a key part of building our reputation.”
Professor McKenna says she is equally proud of collaborations within the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
“When the Judith Lumley Centre moved from Franklin Street to the Bundoora campus we were able to increase our productivity and engagement. As a result, we are much more united and there is a level of collaboration within the School now that I am very proud of,” she says.
The opening of new clinical laboratory facilities in 2021 was another highlight.
“La Trobe is now home to state-of-the-art clinical laboratories, which means that the learning experience for our students, and the teaching experience for our staff, have been greatly enhanced.”
Above all, Professor McKenna says people have been the highlight of her time as Dean.
“I do like to nurture people and see them achieve their goals, so it is great to see how our people are growing and developing professionally. It's not just the School that's growing, our people are growing too – and I think that is lovely.”
“Supporting people is a really big thing for me and, above all, I hope this is the legacy that I leave behind.”
After stepping down as Dean, Lisa will continue as Director of Clinical Health Education at La Trobe and continue to work on her own research, research student supervision and national and international collaborations.
