Rate My Professor Kate Smithers

Dr Kate Smithers serves as Honorary Lecturer in the School of Education within the College of Human and Social Futures at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy and Bachelor of Teaching (Honours) from the University of Newcastle, along with a Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching from the University of Wollongong. Her doctoral research focused on the intersection of tourism and education in Zimbabwe, specifically examining philanthropic tourism in Matabeleland North through a Foucauldian lens. From 2019, her research interests have broadened to the nature of contract research in higher education, exploring how policies shape academic experiences and how casualisation affects precarious workers. Additional areas include research methods, honours student pedagogies, and the experiences of research students. Keywords associated with her work encompass Zimbabwe, developmentourism, Foucault, higher education, sociology of education, and virtual reality. She has contributed to teaching across multiple courses, including as a marker for EDUC6785 Educational Foundations (2019-2021), sessional tutor for EDUC4940 Research Design and Critique (2019-2021), sessional academic for EDUC3800 Intercultural Understanding for Educators (2018), and sessional tutor and lecturer for EDUC1103 Schooling, Identity and Society (2018-2021), as well as EDUC1038 Foundations of Secondary Education (2019-2021).