The Faculty of Arts is one of the largest faculties at The University of Melbourne. It is the University's home of teaching and research in the humanities, social sciences and languages. Teaching of the arts and humanities at The University of Melbourne began when the University was first opened to students in 1855, and the Faculty of Arts officially opened in 1903. The current Dean of the Faculty of Arts at The University of Melbourne is Professor Denise Varney. She was Deputy Dean from 2016 to 2017, and has been co-director of the Australian Centre. Her research areas include modern Australian theatre, modern and contemporary drama and feminist criticism and performance.
Research
The Faculty of Arts is home to many researchers who are working on publicly and privately funded research projects. These projects range from archaeology to contemporary art. Research output contributes to the world rankings of The University of Melbourne, which in 2019 ranked 41 for Arts and Humanities and 52 for Social Sciences. Notable academics who have conducted research at the Faculty of Arts include:
Gareth Evans
Margaret Simons
Tim McNamara
Abdullah Saeed
Peter Singer
Undergraduate study
The Faculty is home to the University's Bachelor of Arts, which was the first degree offered at the University in 1855. The University was the first in Australia to align its education more with that offered in Europe and North America and to offer a broad education at the undergraduate level with specialised options at the graduate level. Since the launch of this revised structure the degree has become the most popular in the state of Victoria based on how many high school students select it as their first preference. In 2013 over 1700 offers were made for this program, making it one of the largest in Australia. In 2018 students could take the following majors or minors in the humanities, social sciences and languages. Ancient World Studies Anthropology Arabic Studies Art History Asian Studies Australian Indigenous Studies Chinese Studies Classics Creative Writing Criminology Development Studies Economics English and Theatre Studies English Language Studies European Studies French Studies Gender Studies Geography German Studies Hebrew and Jewish Studies History History and Philosophy of Science Indonesian Studies Islamic Studies Italian Studies Japanese Studies Knowledge and Learning Law and Justice Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Media and Communications Philosophy Politics and International Studies Psychology Russian Studies Screen and Cultural Studies Social Theory Sociology Spanish and Latin American Studies
The Centre was founded in 2009 as the Centre for Advanced Journalism. Michael Gawenda was appointed as inaugural director. In 2011, academic and author Margaret Simons was took over director and gave the Centre its current name. She remained in this role until July 2017. The current director is Andrew Dodd. The Centre coordinates the teaching of the Master of Journalism, a coursework degree with focus on professional practice, law and ethics, media entrepreneurship and placement for internships. A graduate diploma and certificate in journalism are also offered.
Discipline schools
The Faculty has five discipline schools. These schools are home to researchers and teachers of various disciplines who contribute to the teaching and learning of the University.
