Flashback Friday

My name is Mihajla Gavin. 

I graduated from Cecil Hills High School in 2007. 

My high school years

I very recently dusted off my school yearbook from 2007 and realised, wow it has been 14 years since leaving high school! I was particularly proud to be in the position of School Captain in my final year of school. During high school, I participated in different extracurricular activities, like representing my school and region in state competitions for public speaking and debating. 

Some of the most enjoyable projects I worked on during high school were in visual arts and writing. I studied visual arts all throughout high school and at different times had my art displayed at the Art Gallery of NSW, Penrith Regional Gallery and Hazelhurst Regional Gallery. I also really enjoyed working on my Extension 2 English major project where I wrote a short thesis on the films of one of my favourite artists and directors, Tim Burton. 

Life after high school: the Uni days

I wasn’t sure what my exact plans were after high school but enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce (Liberal Studies) degree at Sydney University. This degree was really valuable because I was able to take a lot of different subjects which helped me to narrow down my interests. I studied some of my favourite subjects from high school, like art history and English, but also took lots of other subjects in areas like business, psychology, law and politics. I gravitated mostly to the business subjects which I enjoyed most. In my final year of undergraduate studies, I completed a 20,000-word thesis where I interviewed school principals about decentralised school reforms in public education. 

After completing my undergraduate degree I worked at the Fair Work Ombudsman which is the national government agency responsible for enforcing workplace legislation. I spent six years there working in different roles, like providing advice to workers and managers about workplace entitlements, responding to correspondence from parliamentarians, and working on major projects like the redesign of the pay and entitlements calculator. 

My biggest achievements

One of my biggest achievements would definitely be completing my PhD and starting my new career in academia. I wrote my PhD about the strategy of teacher trade unions in responding to neoliberal reform in public education. I’ve been lucky to present my research at many overseas conferences across the world, which has taken me to places in the USA, and also England, New Zealand, Sweden and South Korea. During my PhD studies, I also spent a month in the north of Sweden on exchange and stayed in a small village called Abisko which is famous for skiing, reindeer and is a great place to see the Northern Lights.

Where am I now?

I’m now a Lecturer in the Business School of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). After completing my PhD I applied for a lecturing/research position and have been at UTS Business School since 2019. I teach undergraduate and postgraduate students in the areas of human resource management and industrial relations. The onset of Covid-19 meant all of our teaching shifted online in the space of a week. In 2020, I delivered more than 100 classes online, which was a big learning curve in understanding how to use new online platforms, but also retain the ‘human’ connection in teaching and learning particularly as many students were studying overseas.

My days working as an academic are extremely varied and exciting. In addition to lecturing and tutoring, I also carry out research projects which involves interviewing people and writing my results in publications. I also write opinion pieces for the media and supervise the projects of PhD students. 

I have also been very lucky to contribute to leading UTS’  U@Uni Academy Program which provides an alternative pathway to tertiary education for high school students from socio-economic status backgrounds in South-West Sydney. I feel very privileged to give back to my community and help students develop the skills and capabilities to succeed at university. 

A huge congratulations to Cecil Hills High School on your 25th anniversary!  Cecil Hills High School has demonstrated such great success and built community spirit in what is only a relatively short period time. I wish the school and its community all the best as it continues to grow from strength to strength in the future. 

You’re welcome to follow me on Twitter where I share more about my research: @Mihajla_Gavin