I was a foundation staff member of Murdoch and over the years have been involved in many aspects of the development of the University and its courses. I designed and developed the original tourism course and the core values of that course are still based in the social sciences and sustainability, something that differentiates the way we direct the learning of our students. In research terms, I was heavily involved in research projects funded by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre. I have published empirical and theoretical papers from that work and other work.Before retiring at the end of 2011, I had spent over 4.5 years as Dean of School of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). See more on this below.I am still involved pro bono with Murdoch and do international referee work for journals and PhD examination. I do have ongoing research interests but they do get sidelined by my passion for offshore sailing and preparation for about 6 months sailing overseas in 2013: The kick-off event for that sailing is the "Wonderful Indonesia Fremantle to Bali Race and Rally" so I could be out of email contact a bit for a while in 2013 (I hope).Cheers, Jim

The Dean of SSH is directly responsible for about 50 full time academic staff and upwards of 200 casual and contract staff, plus 6-7 administrative staff. The Dean is responsible for a budget of about $15 million and has both operational and strategic responsibilities. Besides teaching and research, SSH controls the operation of a full professional dramatic theatre and separate drama workshop and studio production space. There are approximately 20 courses in 10 discipline areas run out of the School and about 150 PhD students at any one time. SSH was at the time one of the most successful research and teaching schools in Murdoch University