Emeritus Professor Faith Trent  AM FACE, who retired as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law at the end of 2010, is the inaugural recipient of the Outstanding Service Award made by the Australasian Council of the Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH).

Described as “one of the important movers in the foundation of DASSH,” Professor Trent was also cited by the peak academic body for her contributions to the arts, social sciences and humanities as a whole.

During her time as President of DASSH, Professor Trent undertook a study funded by the Carrick Institute (now the Australian Learning and Teaching Council)  to map Bachelor of Arts degrees across Australia, the first of its kind.

DASSH was also expanded to include Associate Deans (Teaching and Learning)  and, in the years following Professor Trent’s retirement as President, has grown to include Associate Deans (Research). DASSH is currently undertaking an ALTC-funded project to look at leadership in the arts, social sciences and humanities.

Over the course of her career, Professor Trent was instrumental in devising and promoting educational programs and curricula that serve the needs of students from Indigenous and multicultural backgrounds. She was awarded an Order of Australia for her work in these areas in 2003.

In recent years Professor Trent has taken part in reviews of BAs in a number of Australian universities.

The award will be officially presented to Professor Trent tonight (September 29) at the DASSH annual conference organised by James Cook University tonight.