Background
Pattison was born in Perth, Western Australia, and spent part of her childhood in Adelaide and Melbourne.
Pattison was born in Perth, Western Australia, and spent part of her childhood in Adelaide and Melbourne.
She completed her education at the University of Melbourne, obtaining her Bachelor of Science (Honours) in 1973 before being awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology in 1980. Pattison"s full-time employment at the University of Melbourne began with a lecturing role in the Department of Psychology in 1977 while she was completing a Doctor of Philosophy, and she continued to hold an appointment in Psychology until 2014.
She was promoted to Professor in the Department of Psychology in 2000 and then took on leadership roles that included Head of the School of Behavioural Science, and Deputy Vice President, Vice President and President of the Academic Board. She became Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) in 2009 and then Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) in 2011. In a number of these roles she was involved in the introduction and implementation of the Melbourne Model (a restructure of the undergraduate curriculum to provide only generalist undergraduate courses and specialist postgraduate courses) and oversight of learning and teaching, including eLearning and the introduction of MOOCs to the University.
Pattison joined the University of Sydney in 2014 as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) Education.
Pattison’s research focuses on the development and application of mathematical and statistical models for social networks and network processes. Her work has broad application, from tracking the spread of infectious diseases to following the recovery of communities after the 2009 Victorian bushfires, and has been funded by competitive grants in Australia and the United States. Pattison has published several books and numerous book chapters and scholarly papers and is also a regular invited speaker to international conferences.
She has supervised more than 30 Doctor of Philosophy and DPsych graduates. In 1995 Pattison was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
In 2014 Pattison was awarded Professor Emeritus from the University of Melbourne.Distinguished past professors honoured.
As DVC Education she is a member of the University’s senior executive group and leads the strategy for teaching and learning at Sydney.