‘Tough job’: Professor Tara Brabazon resigns as CDU Dean of Graduate Studies

A Dean at CDU has resigned in an email calling out ‘those who questioned my capacity to be Dean’, and hoping her replacement would be someone ‘you can respect’.

Professor Tara Brabazon has announced she is leaving Charles Darwin University with a revealing email to students. Picture: Supplied.

Charles Darwin University’s Dean of Graduate Studies has resigned in an email telling students it was ‘a tough job’, calling out ‘those who questioned my capacity to be Dean’, and hoping her replacement would be someone ‘you can respect’.

Professor Tara Brabazon AM sent the letter on Friday, just over a year after accepting the job, to a distribution list of all the university’s Higher Degree Research students.

In the email, obtained by the NT News, she also said there was “a good chance that CDU will once more return to a male dean, which seems to make the scholarly community more comfortable”, adding “your comfort is important”.

Professor Tara Brabazon.

“I have resigned from CDU. Serving you has been a great privilege of my life,” Professor Brabazon wrote.

“I am returning to hope, to light, and to my intellectual life. I leave despair and move – with joy – to the next stage of scholarship.

“I thank you for the support you have granted me each day. And for those of you that did question my capacity to be dean, or questioned my teaching, supervision and research, I wish you renewed energy and momentum.

“The gift to you from the volatile state of contemporary higher education is that you will now – I hope – find someone in this position that you can respect.

“There is a good chance that CDU will once more return to a male dean, which seems to make the scholarly community more comfortable. Your comfort is important.

“I wish the person who replaces me every success. Please care of them (sic). This is a tough job.”

To summon Luke Skywalker, "A thousand generations live in you now. But this is your fight.” Let's move from the dark to the light. #Maythe4thBeWithYoupic.twitter.com/bVMHEQQ8Er

— Tara Brabazon (@tarabrabazon) May 3, 2024

CDU Vice-Chancellor Scott Bowman said Professor Brabazon was “a highly valued member of staff who contributed enormously” to the university.

“CDU proudly supports gender equity and women in the workplace. Overall, our staff profile is 65 per cent female. Also, 57 per cent of the university leadership team are women and 54 per cent of academic staff are women,” Professor Bowman said.

“We wish Tara all the very best in her next chapter.”

Professor Brabazon said she would remain as Dean of Graduate Studies until June 17.

According to her CDU bio, Professor Brabazon has authored 20 books, won six teaching awards including the National Teaching Award for the Humanities, and in 2005 was a finalist for Australian of the Year and Telstra Businesswoman of the Year.

She was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2019 for her significant service to education, particularly to graduate and cultural studies.