Associate Professor Louise McWhinnie

Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Executive
Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building

BA (Hons) (Middlesex), PhD
Email: Louise.McWhinnie@uts.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 9514 8922
Fax: +61 2 9514 8966
Room: CB06.05.40B (map)
Mailing address: PO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007, Australia

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Biography

Dr Louise McWhinnie is the Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building at the University of Technology Sydney. As a large and dynamic creative centre with just over 3000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, The Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building has an international reputation for its innovative and practice-led educational practice in the broad areas of Design, Architecture and The Built Environment, as well as for an active research culture across its three Schools.

As Associate Dean, Dr McWhinnie's role encompasses a number of wide-ranging responsibilities. The role requires that she work with the Faculty Dean to ensure the provision of creative leadership in the development and implementation of innovative University teaching and learning policies and strategies. Additionally she is responsible for the strategic management of teaching and learning and the quality assurance of the Faculty's Teaching and Learning portfolio. The role also assumes responsibility at a Faculty level for the strategic development, delivery, maintenance and evaluation of all teaching and learning programs, as well as for the introduction of new teaching courses and subjects that are designed to meet the future and current learning needs of students and industry.

Over the last twenty five years, Dr McWhinnie has lived and worked as a designer and design educator in three countries within three continents. Prior to her work in Australian higher education she worked as a Senior Graphic Designer within London design consultancies and as a Course Director within the UK and also Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Louise’s particular research interests reside within the areas of international design and its education as well as how cultural and linguistic diversity shapes design educational practice. Louise’s doctorate examined the subject of Design as studied by International students within the context of Australian universities, and her recent work explores the implementation of the findings of such research back into teaching practice. This work has resulted in both University and Australian Teaching & Learning Council awards and citations for her contribution to teaching delivery and internationalisation.

Professional

Member of the Association Typographique Internationale (the premier worldwide organisation dedicated to type and typography).

Editor
Louise is the Review Editor for the Journal of Visual Communication (Sage: London)

Teaching areas

Louise traditionally teaches and coordinates first and second year typography, third year information design (in professional practice) and coordinates and supervises fourth year major project students at undergraduate level, information design in the masters (by coursework) and undertakes masters and doctoral supervision within the faculty and as a co-supervisor with the university’s faculty of education.

As the Associate Dean of Teaching & Learning, Louise maintains a teaching presence in the Typography subjects within the Visual Communication Program and through post-graduate supervision.

Teaching Awards
National Teaching Award
2008: Australian Learning & Teaching Council Citation
for an outstanding and sustained contribution to student learning. Presented annually to selected academics within Australia’s university sector
Citation: For educational excellence, through a sustained commitment to cultural and cross-cultural learning in undergraduate typographic teaching

Institutional Teaching Award
2007: UTS Learning & Teaching Award for Internationalisation of Teaching & Learning
for an outstanding contribution to teaching and learning or an exemplary innovation related to aspects of internationalisation of teaching and learning, for example internationalisation of the curriculum, teaching and/or supporting international students, teaching approaches that support diversity and cross-cultural learning

Research supervision: Yes

Publications

Book Chapters

McWhinnie, L.J. & Wilson, J. 2008, 'Mapping Meaning and Defining Spaces' in Typographic Experiment: Radical Innovation in Contemporary Type Design, Thames and Hudson, London, UK, pp. 1-20.

Journal Articles

Peterson, J., McWhinnie, L.J., Lawrence, J. & Arnold, J. 2012, 'The industry studio in the creative arts: ten practitioner perspectives', Text, vol. 16, no. October, pp. 1-21.

McWhinnie, L.J., Sweetapple, K. & Benjamin, A.E. 2007, 'On Judging a Book By its Cover', Journal of Visual Communication, Vol 6, No 1., vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 123-127.
View/Download from: Publisher's site

Conference Papers

McWhinnie, L.J. 2008, 'Graphic Production: Cultural Production?', New Views 2: coversations and dialogues in graphic design, London, July 2008.

McWhinnie, L.J. 2007, 'Font Design as a Means of exploring and validating students' cultural identity: an Australian', Thessaloniki, Greece, June 2007.

McWhinnie, L.J. 2001, 'Identity and Miscommunication: Some experiences of International Design Students', Freemantle, WA, December 2001 in Australian Association for Research in Education Conference Proceedings, ed Jeffrey, P. L., Australian Association for Research in Education, Freemantle, WA.

McWhinnie, L.J. 2000, 'A British Graphic Designer Teaching and Learning in South East Asia.', Brisbane, September 1999 in InSEA 30th World Conference Papers: Cultures and Transitions 2000, ed n/a, International Society for Education in the Arts, Brisbane.

McWhinnie, L.J. 2000, 'Design Education and the Production of Culture', Australian Association for Research in Education, N/A, December 2000 in AARE Conference Sydney 2000, ed N/A, AARE University of Sydney, Sydney Australia, pp. 0-0.

McWhinnie, L.J. 2000, 'Design Education and the Production of Culture.', Sydney University, December 2000 in Australian Association for Research in Education Conference Proceedings 2000, ed Jeffrey, P. L., AARE, Sydney, Australia.