John Kinley Dewar (born 9 September 1959) is an Australian academic. He is the current

vice-chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...

.''Who's Who in Australia'', ConnectWeb (2018).

Education

He was educated at

Abingdon School Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...

and

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The col ...

Career

Dewar is an internationally known family law specialist. He was a member of the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Family Law Pathways Advisory Group from 2000 to 2001 and a former member and chair of the Family Law Council from 1998 to 2004. Before working at Griffith University, Dewar taught at the universities of Lancaster and

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and was a fellow and tutor in law at

. He was Head of Education and Training for

Allen & Overy Allen & Overy LLP (informally A&O) is an international law firm. The firm has 580 partners and over 5,600 people worldwide. In 2022 A&O reported an increase in revenue to GBP1.96 billion and is the second largest law firm headquartered in t ...

(London) from 1988 to 1990.

Griffith University

Dewar moved from the United Kingdom in 1995 to take up a professorial position in the

Griffith Law School Griffith Law School is the law school of Griffith University and is located in Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, ...

, where he eventually became the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the school from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 to 2005, he was the pro vice-chancellor for

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and then became deputy vice-chancellor (academic).

University of Melbourne

Dewar moved to the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

in April 2009, becoming the deputy vice-chancellor (global relations). In September that year, he was appointed provost of the university, a role similar to his previous one at Griffith University. The role's focus was "on refining the Melbourne Model and ensuring successful second phase implementation of the University’s graduate programs in 2011".

La Trobe University

Dewar became the sixth

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, in January 2012. On arrival, he declared that his goal was to ensure that La Trobe be "recognised as the natural alternative to Victoria's two Group of Eight universities, with a unique appeal other universities can't offer". In 2012, Dewar announced a plan to cut 500 subjects and 41 jobs. Dewar ran from student protestors frustrated with his plan to cut university subjects and job and escaped via a network of tunnels under the university. In 2014, Dewar announced that 350 staff would be sacked without any voluntary redundancies. In 2020 as a consequence of the effects of COVID-19 on university revenue, Dewar was one of four vice-chancellors who negotiated with the National Tertiary Education Union's leadership to deliver the Australian Universities Job Protection Framework. La Trobe staff subsequently voted to vary the university's collective agreement pursuant to the Job Protection Framework, opting to take pay cuts to protect the financial equivalent of around 225 jobs. Humanities and the arts became the subject of reductions in November 2020, with Dewar informing staff that some subjects were no longer financially viable. In 2021, Dewar consulted on a proposal to close the school of molecular science and reassign its disciplines to other schools in a bid to reduce costs.

Universities Australia

In April 2021, Dewar was elected chair of

Universities Australia Universities Australia (formerly the ''Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee'') is an organisation founded in Sydney in May 1920, which attempts to advance higher education through voluntary, cooperative and coordinated action. After being ba ...

. In July 2022, he delivered a speech at the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Pre ...

arguing the case for investing in universities.

Other appointments

Dewar holds a number of other directorships including the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, the Committee for Melbourne and the Foundation for Australian Studies in China. He is also a member of the University Foreign Interference Taskforce, the University of Lincoln's 21st Century Lab Higher Education Reference Group and the Champions of Change Coalition. He is an honorary fellow of

, an adjunct professor in the Melbourne Law School and the La Trobe Law School, and a visiting professor at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate ...

Awards

In 2020, Dewar was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day Honours List "in recognition of his distinguished service to education through leadership roles in the universities sector, and to professional organisations".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewar, John 1959 births Living people Australian legal scholars Allen & Overy people People educated at Abingdon School Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford La Trobe University faculty University of Melbourne faculty Fellows of Hertford College, Oxford Griffith University faculty British expatriate academics British emigrants to Australia Officers of the Order of Australia