Females in the professoriate at The University of Melbourne

Abstract

For the first 120 years from its establishment in 1854 the University of Melbourne had an all-male professoriate. Personal chairs were established in 1964 in order to recognise and reward exceptionally distinguished academics that were not heads of departments; the first female professor was appointed to such a chair in 1975. The first female Departmental Head with the title of professor followed in 1979 and our guest of honour, Nancy Millis was appointed to a Personal Chair in Microbiology in 1982 – only the fourth female professor ever. This paper traces the growth in female numbers in the professoriate, which, in 2008, stood at 85 out of about 410 – that is only about 21% - but growing, as outstanding female candidates reach the required level of distinction.