“We are thrilled to congratulate Professor Averil Coxhead in her role as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences following an extensive search. We extend our best wishes for her success in this role.” - Patrick Rooney, Associate Director.
Press Release
Professor Averil Coxhead appointed Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences
Professor Averil Coxhead has been appointed as Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington’s new Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Professor Averil Coxhead joined Te Herenga Waka in 2012 and is currently Head of School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. She teaches courses on second language learning in undergraduate teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL ) and the Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics and TESOL programmes and supervises postgraduate research in a range of areas.
She has taught in many countries including New Zealand, England, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand. Her current research includes specialised and academic vocabulary in the trades, at university, and at secondary school. One element of Averil's research involves developing and evaluating word lists.
Averil received a Research Excellence Award in 2023 for her work on questions of how vocabulary is researched, taught, and learned.
Averil has undertaken roles outside her academic endeavours convening Vocab@Vic 2023, as well as the inaugural Wellington Vocabulary Research Summer School in December 2023. She has also been an Associate Editor of the Journal of English for Specific Purposes from November 2021 to December 2023 and is currently a member of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (HKSAR) Standing Review Board.
Averil is well known within FHSS and brings her positivity and sense of humour to all endeavours.
Outlining her vision for the Faculty, Averil says “Te Wāhanga Aronui—Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences is a large, multitalented community of researchers, teachers, professional staff and students. A key focus for the next five years is to build on our strengths and connections within FHSS, across the university, in Wellington and further afield. I hope to continue to hold steady the good ship FHSS and cannot promise to refrain from using cricket analogies practically daily.”