Professor Jane Bryson: driving the Faculty forward
Professor Jane Bryson was appointed Dean of the Wellington School of Business and Government in May of this year, after serving as Acting Dean from November 2020. This may be the same person with the same perspectives, but her appointment as Dean not only acknowledges the duty of care and skills, it also now provides “a license to do things, to move forward with the faculty”.
Professor Bryson joined the academic staff of Te Herenga Waka―Victoria University of Wellington in 1999, having previously worked as a Human Resources Manager in the public sector, and as a management consultant in New Zealand and overseas.
Professor Bryson explains that the acting role, by its nature―being short term―is one of
stewardship, of holding the fort, taking care of things.
To be the Dean is a combination of humbling and exciting, says Professor Bryson. “I was thrilled to have that support from the faculty and the appointments committee, though it is a little scary”.
Professor Bryson is now ready to give thought to what needs managing now, and build for the future, and has the challenge of working out the role of universities in 5-10 years’ time.
“And what will the role of business education be during that time?”
These are big questions. And big challenges.
“Right at the top of the list of responsibilities is to make sure we’re a top regarded Business school, a good place to work and study, and a place that stimulates healthy debate on issues”.
“How we paint the picture of delivering a worthwhile and winning experience for all staff and students is a joint effort, and the Dean has to create the platform for that joint effort, whilst also retaining business as usual, no mean feat with budget pressures and the worries of the new COVID-19 world.”
Challenges provide opportunities, which means “an urgency and impetus for us as a faculty to really think about what we’re educating students for. Issues of social cohesion, climate change, and growing resource distribution inequities mean that now more than ever we need to educate confident problem solvers with a holistic appreciation of the social, economic, and environmental ecosystems in which we live”.
Her duty of care for and belief in the faculty and staff is immense. Enjoyment in this role comes from the personal interactions, with her “fantastic staff”, for Professor Bryson wholly believes “the faculty is the people―the building is just a shell that houses us, it’s the people that matter”.
Reflecting on previous parts of her career, Professor Bryson can see how she ended up in education―and the management roles she held before her academic tenure feel not just like obvious credentials but a connected piece of the puzzle.
“Two common threads run through my career, involvement in facilitating the development of other people, and a desire to take different perspectives on issues. That can make me look a bit eclectic from an academic point of view, but I find it rewarding and enlightening”.
It is these threads that align to make her skills perfectly suited to her role as Dean of WSBG.
Professor Bryson grew up in a family as the youngest, with parents that were GPs, very focussed on local community. They were community doctors who understood their civic duty.
“You absorb that when you’re growing up. Part of what you do is serve others. For me, that manifested in my career around roles where I am able to facilitate development.”
The skills she uses most are the ones learned in her family home: “Listening to people, asking questions, helping them come to their own solutions, those ideas come from my childhood.”
Professor Bryson also believes she is fundamentally shaped by coming to academia later. “You bring yourself to the role―the role is just a label with some broad performance tasks attached to it. How it is done speaks to the person that is in it, their preferences, their style, their values. So of course, the things I’ve done previously influence who I am today.”
Professor Bryson says there’s a weight of expectation around directing the ship in uncertain waters, in worrying about the future students who have been impacted by the pandemic before even making the leap to tertiary study. But she says, “I can rely on the positivity around being involved in education—facilitating the personal growth of a generation of students, and trying to facilitate empowerment and opportunity for staff—both academic and professional—so they can, enjoy things, build on their experience, and make a difference”.