Professor Su Baker

Pro Vice-Chancellor Community and Cultural Partnerships
University of Melbourne


Professor Su Baker is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Community and Cultural Partnerships at the University of Melbourne. Su was the Director of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) for 7 years with over 25 years’ experience in teaching, research and senior management. She undertook graduate study at Sydney College of the Arts in 1984, and in 2004 was awarded a Doctorate of Creative Arts, at Curtin University of Technology. Su has held academic positions since 1989, including senior management roles at SCA, University of Sydney and VCA, University of Melbourne.

In March 2000 Su Baker took up the position as Head of the School of Art, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. In addition to her role as Head of the School of Art, Su Baker has held senior management roles at the VCA, including the Deputy Chair of the Board of Studies, and has been part of the Integration Implementation Planning Committee, overseeing the structural transition of the VCA into the University of Melbourne and in 2006 was appointed Associate Dean, Research and Research Training for the VCA. In 2010, Su Baker was appointed Director of the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.

Su Baker is a leading arts academic and artist, who is called upon for expert advice and has written on the shifting needs of arts education and the role of the art school in the 21st century. She has been Chair of the Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools (2004–2008). She played an active role in the recognition of research in the creative arts advising the ARC in the development of the RQF and the recent ERA process. Her work in these roles has led to the establishment of the new Council of Deans and Directors of Creative Arts, to which she was elected President in February 2013.

Su Baker has exhibited nationally over the last 20 years in public and commercial galleries, including numerous solo and selected group exhibitions and national survey shows. These include Perspecta '89 at the Art Gallery of NSW and Dissonance, at Artspace in Sydney in 1991. Since 2007 Su has been represented and exhibited with John Buckley Gallery in Melbourne.

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