Luke has a diverse employment history, having worked in the public and private sectors, and in the service and manufacturing fields. His first job was in the South Australian Public Sector in the role of researcher on the Clarkson Royal Commission into Prisons. That set the scene for a future career in enquiry and investigation.

However, even with this broad exposure, Luke has been happiest in academia, having been a senior lecturer, and for 3 years the Associate Head of School (Teaching and Learning), at the Business School, University of South Australia.

He has taught in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore on numerous occasions. As a Program Director for a number of undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Management and Human Resources Management, he was also very much involved in the one-on-one counselling of international students from a number of countries. The exposure to cultural diversity in this role was exciting and educational.

Luke enjoys learning and this has resulted in the attainment of a number of academic qualifications – none of which were easy – to him at least!

Part of Luke’s former role was liaising with the industry in order to gain student placements for work experience and, hopefully, leading to full-time employment upon graduation. This duty entailed Luke visiting a wide range of businesses across the metropolitan area and speaking with employers about the benefits both parties can gain from student placements. Over a period of 2 years undertaking this duty, Luke had found over 60 ongoing annual student placements, many of which led to permanent employment opportunities for students. We called this very productive mutual relationship between industry and academia ‘Town Meets Gown’!

He is glad to be a member of the teaching and learning team at UBSS.