The nature of service - Dennis Haskell

The word "service" makes some people think of life below stairs or of something you get in shops - or used to in our parents' days. "Service" actually covers an enormous range of activities, and for some academics it's so integrally a part of their jobs they don't even think about it. "Service" is as instinctive as driving or talking. This can depend a lot on the area. As a teacher of literature I'm involved in an activity of general interest, at least to a certain sector of the public. I was actually involved in literary events - and therefore in "service" - long before I was involved with literature in the academy, so I have never thought of a sharp boundary between service and academic work.

Of course, it can be argued that the greatest services academics perform for their community are teaching and research. This is a fair claim but for convenience's sake we usually think of "service" as a fourth branch of academic life - something to complement teaching, research and administration/management. Service can be internal or external to the university. For me, in this year alone it includes activities as diverse as chairing committees and working parties, mentoring younger staff, co-editing a journal (Westerly), participating in the work of the WA State Literature Centre and of UWA Press, hosting visiting professors, giving a talk to Convocation and poetry readings at the Dublin Writers Festival. Some of these activities are difficult to classify: if I give a poetry reading in Dublin, or a lecture to the Australian Irish Heritage Association in Perth, or advice on a manuscript to UWA Press, am I performing service or research? A more important question is: "Who cares?"

The importance of the teaching-research nexus is a fundamental philosophy at UWA. If the line between research and service is blurred then it follows logically that the teaching-service nexus is of crucial importance. I certainly believe that the skills required in one assist the activities of the other. Editing a journal involves many of the skills required in editing postgraduate students' work. Speaking to a community audience requires communication techniques and a real time awareness of others' reactions, as does lecturing. Chairing a meeting involves a sensitivity to personalities awfully like that required in a tutorial. Participation in such activities may do your teaching a service, and it's something you just can't get in a shop.