Professor Sally
Kift PFHEA GAICD
Adjunct Professor,
College of Business, Law & Governance - James Cook University
CBSHS 1973 - 1977
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University academic, Professor Sally Kift attended CBSHS
from 1973 to 1977 and is currently President of the Australian Learning and
Teaching Fellows (ALTF). She has had a
noteworthy career in academia including working as Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Academic) at James Cook University (2012-2017). Prior to commencing at JCU in 2012, Sally was
a Professor of Law at QUT, where she has served as Law Faculty Assistant Dean,
Teaching & Learning (2001-2006) and QUT’s Foundational Director, First Year
Experience (2006-2007). Sally received a National Teaching Award (AAUT) in
2003. In 2006, she was awarded one of three inaugural Australian Learning and
Teaching Council (ALTC) Senior Fellowships.
In 2009, she was appointed an ALTC Discipline Scholar in
Law. In 2017, she became a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Sally’s work has been widely published and she has spoken at
numerous national and international events on a wide range of subjects. She is also frequently asked to sit on higher
education review and appointment panels, to evaluate teaching excellence, grant
outcomes and curriculum renewal across the disciplines.
After leaving CBSHS Sally went onto to study at the
University of Queensland with two other former students with whom she also
lived with in one of the universities residential colleges. She credits this vital support from her peers
with helping her adjust and transition into University life. Even though she graduated over 30 years ago
and many of her fellow students have moved away she has maintained these
friendships and still makes time to catch up with them at least once a year.
After graduation from university Sally once again drew on her
experiences at CBSHS, these included the self-help skills she had been taught
and the resilient approach to life that she had learnt during her time at
school. Sally says these skills assisted
in her finding a graduate entry position in her chosen field of study and
helped her on the path to the career she has today.
Her most influential teacher during her time at CBSHS was English
teacher Miss Lampe. Sally says she was
both very supportive and encouraging and had a unique teaching style - students
were taught to think quite critically and freely which Sally says made lessons
fun and more interesting.
Her favourite memories from her time at high school are the
time she spent sitting out on the grass and having lunch under the trees with her
friends and also being involved in the school musical. .
Sally’s advice to today’s students would be “to just relax a
bit more and not sweat the small stuff, high school really is one of the best
times of your life and it’s important to take advantage of everything that is
on offer. Everyone is there to help you succeed – no one wants to see you fail.
Be proud of who you are and where you go to school”.
Sally’s top tips for today’s students are:
1. Don’t wish your time away.
Responsibility and pressure will come all too quickly. High school is a
self-indulgent bubble before it all gets real.
2. Take your time and explore
your career options more broadly.
3. Make the effort to stay in
touch with your friends.