Australia’s “most innovative academic” joins UTS

Professor Deb Verhoeven, as Associate Dean of Engagement and Innovation in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Image: Andrew Beverage
UTS has appointed one of Australia's most prominent entrepreneurial academics and public intellectuals, Professor Deb Verhoeven, as Associate Dean of Engagement and Innovation in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Professor Verhoeven joins UTS in September from Deakin University in Melbourne as part of the university's mission to create new pathways to innovation in Australia.
Described by Campus Review in 2013 as Australia's "most innovative academic," Professor Verhoeven has already transformed the fields of the digital humanities, cinema studies and interdisciplinary approaches to big data.
She has served as inaugural Deputy Chair of the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), CEO of the Australian Film Institute (AFI), as a founding executive member of the Australasian Association of the Digital Humanities (aaDH) and recently as a member of the Tasmanian Government's Digital Futures Advisory Council.
"I am so excited to have an opportunity to work in the creative heart of Sydney. As someone who has spent a substantial part of my career analysing the Australian film industry, joining UTS turns the green of my interstate envy into emerald."
UTS Dean of Arts and Social Sciences, Professor Mary Spongberg said she was thrilled to appoint Professor Verhoeven to the Faculty. "Deb is a distinguished scholar, public intellectual and leading international proponent of the digital humanities. She will bring great energy and vision to this new portfolio."