Associate Dean (Education)

The position of Associate Dean (Education) at UNSW@ADFA was created to:

provide advice to the Rector on issues related to learning and teaching and associated academic matters.
provide academic leadership in learning and teaching.
facilitate scholarship and research that informs teaching and learning, and curriculum development and review.
provide support for processes associated with program and course development and review and issues of student academic conduct.
ensure the quality of academic programs via continuous evaluation and improvement of learning and teaching.
to represent the College on the Committee on Education of the UNSW Academic Board and related fora, and
act as a point of coordination for learning and teaching activities, including liaising with members of Defence and the University on learning and teaching matters.

The Associate Dean (Education) serves on a number of key UNSW@ADFA committees:

Senior Management Committee
Executive Committee of Academic Board
Teaching and Learning Committee
Distance Education Advisory Committee
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Coursework Education Committees
Assessment Review Group, and the
Information Technology Infrastructure Advisory Committee

Dr David Blaazer currently holds the position of Associate Dean (Education) at UNSW@ADFA.

David holds a PhD in History and Politics from La Trobe University, Victoria. He held academic posts at La Trobe University, University of Technology, Sydney, and the Australian National University before joining the School of History at UNSW@ADFA in 1999. He became Undergraduate Coordinator in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences on its foundation in 2003 and has since served as its Deputy Head of School and Presiding Member of its Teaching Committee. He has been active on numerous UNSW@ADFA committees, including a period as Presiding Member of the UNSW@ADFA Teaching and Learning Committee. He is currently a member of ACT Executive Committee of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA).

David has over 25 years experience teaching in higher education across all levels including undergraduate, postgraduate coursework, and postgraduate research supervision. His main emphasis has been on first year teaching, and he has a long-standing interest in the transition from secondary to higher education, and in the development of assessment to foster deep learning.

David’s interests as an historian are focussed on modern Britain and Ireland. He has published on British political and intellectual history, including The Popular Front and the Progressive Tradition: Socialists, Liberals and the quest for unity 1884-1939 (Cambridge, 1992). More recently he has been working on the cultural and political history of currency and public credit. He has given numerous conference papers and published articles in leading international journals on this topic. He is currently working on a book on the relationship between currency and nationality in the process of English, Scottish and Irish monetary union 1603-1826.

Content coordinator: assoc.dean.education@adfa.edu.au, Associate Dean (Education)