Associate Professor Simone Ulalka Tur and Dr Ali Gumyilla Baker have agreed to take up the shared role of interim Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous), while the University proceeds through an external recruitment process for the role.

Associate Professor Tur is from the Yankunytjatjara community north-west of South Australia and resides in Adelaide. In 2011 she became the Director of Yunggorendi, First Nations Centre for Higher Education and Research at Flinders University where she began working in 1998. She moved to the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences in 2018 where she is engaged in teaching and research in the area of Indigenous Education and Indigenous Knowledges.

Dr Baker is an academic and visual and performance artist and filmmaker. Her family comes from the West Coast of South Australia. She is a descendant of the Mirning people of the Nullarbor.  Dr Baker was Associate Dean, Yunggorendi prior to moving to the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University in 2018 to pursue her teaching and research.

Dr Baker and Associate Professor Tur will share responsibilities for engagement with Indigenous students, staff and the broader community to enhance respect for Indigenous knowledge systems and perspective, and to progress Indigenous advancement in education, research, employment and wellbeing.

In this shared role they will provide guidance to Yunggorendi to ensure Indigenous student success. They will also contribute to the University’s development of its first Reconciliation Action Plan.