McWhinnie appointed Dean of UTS Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation

Vice-Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs, today announced the appointment of Professor Louise McWhinnie as Dean of the Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation at UTS.

"This newly-created faculty, the only one of its kind in the world, will help to co-ordinate and strengthen the university's transdisciplinary teaching and research activities," Professor Brungs said.

"Louise's high level of involvement in one of our most successful transdisciplinary programs to date – the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation – during the past four years, will be invaluable to her new leadership role, which requires collaboration not only across the whole institution, but with a plethora of business and community groups."

Transdisciplinary research and teaching not only draws on multiple disciplines to provide the knowledge base to address complex problems in society – it actively involves teachers and researchers from multiple disciplines in a shared process of defining and resolving these problems. 

Transdisciplinary skills are increasingly being seen as necessary in the jobs of the future, and demanded by employers as a key graduate capability.

McWhinnie has been Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning within the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at UTS since 2008, and Head of Department: Creative Intelligence and Innovation since 2014.

Prior to joining UTS, McWhinnie had headed up The London Institute's (now The University of the Arts London) graphic design program in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and before that had a decade of industry experience as a Senior Designer in London-based design consultancies.

McWhinnie's achievements in teaching have been recognised by a National Teaching Citation from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, and UTS awards for research integrated teaching and internationalisation of learning and teaching. She will start in her new role immediately.