7 minute read
Professor Fay Haisley
The teacher’s teacher
IN JUNGLE CLASSROOMS AND ELEGANT CAMPUSES, FAY HAISLEY DEVOTED MORE THAN 60 YEARS OF HER LIFE TO EDUCATION - AND LEARNED A FEW LESSONS OF HER OWN.
by Jo Crompton
Bumping down a dirt track in the back of a jeep, driving deep into the wild Highlands of Papua New Guinea in the late 1950s, Professor Fay Haisley (Class of 2003) sometimes wondered what she had let herself in for when she joined a small team of Australian teachers scattered through villages hacked out of thick jungle. But if there’s one thing Professor Haisley has never shied away from, it’s a challenge. She started her teaching career, which has now spanned more than six decades, at one of Sydney’s toughest schools, so teaching English to local children in and around Goroka seemed like an adventure. But even Professor Haisley wasn’t quite prepared for what greeted her on her first day. “My students were aged from four to 40. Some of the boys had beards,” she says. Taking up her position in front of the class, not only was she ringed by students seated on the dirt floor of the hut, Professor Haisley was faced with a sight that would intimidate even the most experienced of teachers. Standing around the edges of the hut, in full warrior dress, were the rest of the villagers leaning in and watching intently as she imparted the basics of English language to her students. “It was certainly an experience,” says Professor Haisley. “I was one of about 20 men and just six women who had been selected for this work and we initially had no idea where we were going to be based. I ended up in Goroka and every day I would get into a jeep dropping me off in the morning, and then picking me up at the end of the day,” she says.
“Other members of my cohort had similar experiences, but I never saw them again.
“It was a long journey on what was essentially a bush track, and sometimes I would still be waiting there in the dark for the jeep to come and pick me up. So here I am, a young woman, alone in a jungle village in the dark, in what was some pretty wild country back then.”
Professor Haisley’s strong connection with her local church in Sydney, and her deep love of teaching, set her on the path to the first of many adventures. Initially planning to be a missionary in India, the country’s closure meant she sought out an alternative, applying to take her skills to Papua New Guinea.
There she was tasked with training local teachers, a job she loved and tackled with the skill, inventiveness and gusto for which she would become renowned. Returning to Sydney after 12 months, she took a job as a school principal. But Professor Haisley had unfinished business with Papua New Guinea – the Australian government begged her to return. She stayed on and obtained a bachelor’s degree in classics and history
from the University of Papua New Guinea, becoming one of the university’s first six graduates.
Having whet her appetite for further education, Professor Haisley decided to undertake postgraduate study in North America, gaining a Masters of Education and a PhD at the University of Oregon in the 1970s. She soon became known for her innovative approaches to teaching in the areas of special education, gifted students and early childhood education.
She was appointed Assistant Professor in Educational Psychology at The University of California Santa Barbara before returning to the University of Oregon where she held roles including Assistant Professor of Special Education, Associate Professor and Department Chair for Curriculum and Instruction, and Associate Dean for Teacher Education. In 1984 she was appointed Professor and Dean of the Bernerd School of Education at the University of the Pacific in California, the first woman to hold the position in the university’s 150-year history.
Watch the video interview with Vice President Engagement Ms Catherine Marks and Professor Fay Haisley.
Top left: The classroom in Papua New Guinea where Professor Haisley taught, and one of her students.
Top right: Professor Haisley, left, with her parents at the wedding of her brother Warren Sambrook.
Professor Haisley holds a photo of her brother Mr Warren Sambrook and his wife on their wedding day.
“I sort of became known as a bit of a guru, especially in the teaching of gifted students and special education, so I moved around the country giving talks and presenting at conferences,” she says. "It was very hard to leave the University of Oregon. I spent many wonderful years there, but I was headhunted for the role at the University of the Pacific and the opportunity to be the first female Dean of Education was an important one.”
It’s a common theme throughout Professor Haisley’s career – every new job offer seemed to coincide with her firm declarations that she needed to return to Australia.
“I kept trying to go home, but every time someone would say to me ‘no, no we need you to come and do this role, we need your expertise’,” she says. "I kept telling people that I needed to come home and look after my parents, but they were having none of it. When I went down to interview for the job at the University of the Pacific I had no expectation of being offered the role, or any intention of taking it – there was already a shipping container in my driveway in Oregon with all my belongings packed up and ready to be shipped to Australia.”
This included one of her most prized possessions – a red 1964 E-Type Jaguar. Instead of boarding a plane for Sydney, Professor Haisley ended up driving her beloved Jag down to Stockton, California, and into the history books.
It was another 15 years before Professor Haisley finally made it back to Australia, retiring with the titles of Professor and Dean Emerita from the University of the Pacific in 1999. She landed on Queensland’s Gold Coast where she made good on the promise to take care of her family. But it seemed she wasn’t quite ready to officially retire.
In 2000, she was invited to sit on Bond University’s committee to establish Bond's new education program. After a few years, the itch to learn something new became too much, and at the age of 70, Professor Haisley decided to undertake a law degree. She was awarded a Juris Doctor from Bond University in 2006.
After helping establish and run the University’s education program, Professor Haisley went on to become the Dean of Students and Executive Officer of the Law Faculty and directed its internal review, all the while teaching and supervising students in education. Moving to the Business Faculty in 2009, she took on the role of Professor of Education – Reviews and Accreditation and drove the review enabling the faculty to attain Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation in 2013, held by the world’s best business schools.
In 2013, following the tragic death of her brother Mr Warren Sambrook in a car accident, Professor Haisley honoured his memory by establishing an ongoing scholarship and award at Bond University, presented annually to a high-achieving Business student. During her time at the University of the Pacific she saw first-hand how philanthropy could change the lives of students by affording them access to greater opportunities. Receiving a gift of US$5 million from a teacher dying of cancer, Professor Haisley applied the money to a perpetual fund, providing scholarship assistance to students of the university. That fund is now worth more than US$50 million. She’d like to see the fund established in her brother’s memory grow in a similar way, leaving a legacy of supporting young people to benefit from education the way she has.
“It is really education that has given me all the opportunities in my life,” she says. “I remember back when I was in the fourth grade, the local teacher came to my parents’ house and told them to ensure I got an education. She had seen my potential very early, and I ended up being accepted into a selective school, which is really where it all started for me. That love of learning has always stayed with me, and I hope, through my philanthropy, to continue to provide students with the same wonderful opportunities in life it has afforded me.”
Homecoming 2022
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18-21 May 2022 In May, all roads lead to Bond University as alumni are invited to re-connect with the University in a range of in-person and online events.
