Roslyn Louise "Ros" Pesman, (''née'' Cooper; born 24 June 1938) was the first female

Challis Professor The Challis Professorship are professorships at the University of Sydney named in honour of John Henry Challis, an Anglo-Australian merchant, landowner and philanthropist, whose bequests to the University of Sydney allowed for their establishment ...

of History at the University of Sydney and the first woman to be elected chair of the academic board at the university.

Early life and family

Roslyn Cooper was born in Leeton, New South Wales, on 24 June 1938 to Robert Hewitson Cooper and Dulcie May Butler. She attended the MLC School, Burwood, graduating in 1956, going on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in history at the University of Sydney in 1959 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1965 from the University of London, where she was the junior fellow of the Warburg Institute from 1963–65. Her thesis was on the Italian

Gonfaloniere The Gonfalonier (in Italian: ''Gonfaloniere'') was the holder of a highly prestigious communal office in medieval and Renaissance Italy, notably in Florence and the Papal States. The name derives from ''gonfalone'' (in English, gonfalon), the ter ...

and statesman, Piero Soderini, entitled ''Piero Soderini, Gonfaloniere a Vita of Florence 1502–1512''. She married Albert Pesman in London in 1964; they have two daughters and one son.

Career

In 1966, Pesman was appointed lecturer in history at the University of Sydney and promoted to professor in 1996, becoming the fifth Challis Professor of History in 2003, and the first female. Previous Challis Chairs of History had been George Arnold Wood, Stephen Roberts,

John Manning Ward John Manning Ward (6 July 1919 – 6 May 1990) was a Vice-Chancellor and Challis Professor of History at the University of Sydney. Ward was born in Sydney and was educated at Fort Street Boys High School and the University of Sydney. He ...

and Deryck Schreuder. A scholar of the social and political elites of Renaissance Florence, Pesman published a number of works in this field. However, family, teaching and administrative duties limited her capacity to undertake sustained research in Italian archives and she devoted more time to projects within Australia, leading research in fields such as Italian migration to Australia and Australian travel and tourism. She was appointed a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2002, later serving as its vice-president from 2005–06, served as president of the

Australian Historical Association Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

from 2004–06 and in 2010 she was awarded the

History Council of New South Wales History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as we ...

Annual History Citation for services to the discipline. She was appointed chair of the History Department in 1989 and oversaw the centenary celebrations of the department in 1991. In 1995 she became acting principal of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music at University of Sydney. She was elected chair of the University of Sydney of Sydney Academic Board in 1997, the first woman to hold this role, In 1999 she was appointed pro vice-chancellor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, one of the then three main faculty groupings at the university. She retired four years later, becoming Emeritus Professor in 2005. Pesman was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the

2012 Australia Day Honours The 2012 Australia Day Honours were appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2012 by the Governor General of Australia, Quentin Bryce. The Australia ...

for "service to tertiary education through academic and administrative roles, particularly the study of the history of Italian migrants in Australia, and to the community".

Selected works

* 1982 ''A volume of Italian Renaissance studies'' (with Conal Condren), Frederick May Foundation for Italian Studies, University of Sydney * 1990 ''Alessandro Malaspina, an Italian life in the Pacific: papers of a conference held at History House, 11 May 1990'' University of Sydney, Frederick May Foundation for Italian Studies * 1992 ''History at Sydney, 1891–1991: centenary reflections'' (with Barbara Caine) History Dept., University of Sydney, ydney * 1996 ''The Oxford Book of Australian Travel Writing'' (with David Walker and Richard White) Oxford University Press * 1996 ''Duty Free: Australian Women Abroad'' Melbourne, Oxford University Press Australia * 2002 ''Pier Soderini and the ruling class in Renaissance Florence'' Goldbach: Keip, * 2005 ''From paesani to global Italians: Veneto migrants in Australia'' (with Loretta Baldassar) Crawley, W.A.: University of Western Australia Press * 2008 ''Australians in Italy: contemporary lives and impressions'' (ed with Bill Kent and Cynthia Troup) Clayton, Victoria, Monash University ePress

References

External links

*
Ros Pesman
at ''AustLit'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pesman, Ros 1938 births Living people Alumni of the University of London Australian women academics University of Sydney alumni University of Sydney faculty Women historians Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Members of the Order of Australia