Ann Robertson always wanted to teach.
“I still get butterflies in anticipation. I want to create a classroom environment that helps students thrive,” she said.
For the past 5 years, in her current role in the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Tertiary Preparation Pathway (TPP) program, she has helped would-be university students develop essential study skills before they embark on a degree.
“Often students in TPP haven’t had a good experience of education. So, to be able to help them turn that around is really rewarding,” she said.
She first joined the university in 1999 and, as UniSC celebrates its 30th anniversary, Ann is also marking her own milestone in 2026 – retirement.
She recalls first learning about the university after moving to the coast from interstate.
“I remember meeting [then planning president] Paul Thomas in 1994 while the university was in the process of being built.
“He advised me to enrol in a postgrad teaching qualification – which I did in 1995 at the University of Queensland – if I wanted to be work ready for the new university,” she said.
Her first position at the university was as a casual Japanese language tutor.
Since then, she’s gone on to work in a variety of roles drawing on her background in applied linguistics, languages and literacy, and teacher education.
She’s received two Commonwealth Office of Learning and Teaching team citation awards: one for her work in developing curricula for first year university students, and one for her work with teachers in Papua, Indonesia.
She is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
She estimates she’s now taught close to 7000 students and reflects on the early days at Sippy Downs with fondness.
“Everybody mostly knew each other on campus. This connection offered lots of opportunities to explore different possibilities as the university grew,” she said.
“That was one of the fantastic things about being at the university. It was busy and challenging, but it was very rewarding.”
There was also another bonus.
“I met my partner here. He worked in the IT team at the time, and I had called them for help. He spent extra hours over the weekend setting up technology for a project I was working on. And we’re still together all these years later,” she laughs.
As she retires from teaching at UniSC, Ann’s grateful for the support she’s received.
“I’ve been able to pivot into different roles at UniSC because as one door closed another one opened. As someone who is a keen learner as well as a teacher, this has kept me creatively stimulated – and I think that’s why I’ve been here so long,” she said.
She plans to continue her research work which currently focuses on arts-based research methods, ways of knowing and making meaning and community wellbeing.
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