After nearly seven years as Wellington Dean and Head of Region, Professor William Levack moves to Ōtepoti as the Head of the Faculty of Dentistry, back to the campus where he began his Otago journey as an undergraduate student.
As Wellington Dean and Head of Region Professor William Levack prepares to leave for a new role as Head of the Faculty of Dentistry in Dunedin, he looks back on the highs and lows and says he’d definitely do it all again.
When William signed on for the role more than six years ago, he had no idea he would be leading the campus through the Covid-19 pandemic, a long-term evacuation of the main academic building, several relocations, fires and the occasional flood.
He took up the role on 15 January, 2020, and had been at his desk for a little over two months when the country went into Level 4 Covid lockdown and everyone was sent home to work.
Challenging as that was, it was not nearly as difficult to manage as the long-term closure of the Wellington academic block. The building had to be evacuated in August 2021 after it was found to be an earthquake safety risk by engineers ahead of a planned refurbishment.
William recalls, “We had already done a lot of work to prepare for the refurbishment. I remember engineers coming and asking me about the stairwell with concerned looks on their faces. A couple of days later, the decision was made that the building was not suitable for working in. Overnight we had to leave.
“It was crazy and chaotic, and there were periods where we considered whether we would be able to continue training medical students in Wellington. It also resulted in the closure of some of our research activities, which were a real loss.”
Staff and students are now settled in longer-term temporary accommodation on the Wellington Hospital campus and nearby in Newtown and William says the amazing thing through it all has been the resilience of staff and students.
“We continue to excel and to produce fine young health professionals.”
For the students who came through Covid and the closure of the academic building, their University experience was capped off with a kitchen fire which broke out towards the end of their awards ceremony in November, 2022, forcing a hurried evacuation of the Massey University venue into a rain-soaked Wellington evening.
For William, it almost seemed like business as usual.
“Those were the students who had lived through Covid and the building problems; it just seemed like, why wouldn’t there be a fire!”
Along the way, there have been rainstorms and building leaks, but despite the difficulties, William says he would definitely do it again.
“I like interesting things, and it’s definitely been an interesting thing. There’s been lots of variety, lots of different challenges. I like the people, and the work we’re doing is so meaningful. It’s been nice to be able to celebrate work that has real-world impact.”
When asked what he’s most proud of, he says, “the community we’ve built”.
“As a campus, we’ve been through quite a lot of disruption. But we came out the other end having produced amazing research and great graduates.”
There have been plenty of highlights along the way. Among them, the opportunity to host some “really uplifting” events. Over the years, he’s hosted dignitaries such as the former Mayor of Wellington, Tory Whanau, who spoke at the celebratory launch of the new Otago brand, as well as former Prime Minister Helen Clark, former Health Minister Andrew Little, and the Thai ambassador.
He says it has been a real honour to work with the small team of staff in the Department of Radiation Therapy. The programme recently achieved a significant increase in student numbers.
“We’ve also managed to get an increase in the remuneration for the programme from the Government. That’s been a massive highlight as well.”
William trained as a physiotherapist, graduating with his undergraduate degree from Otago in 1995. He went on to gain a Postgraduate Diploma in Rehabilitation in 1999, a Master of Health Sciences specialising in Rehabilitation in 2002 and his PhD in 2008.
He’s worked in hospitals and in private practice as a physiotherapist but recalls being attracted to a career at the University after being captivated by the fascinating conversations he’d had with University staff and fellow students.
“There were such great conversations – and then an opportunity came up to teach into the programme.”
He began working for the University as a lecturer in 2003, and has served as Associate Dean, Research and Postgraduate, Programme Director for the Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit and Associate Dean, Research. He was promoted to Professor in 2020.
While working as Dean, he’s enjoyed being able to maintain his research interests – in rehabilitation for complex injury and chronic health conditions – during evenings and over weekends, connecting with colleagues in Japan after finishing work in his day job. A founder of Cochrane Rehabilitation, he continues to meet online with colleagues in Italy one evening a week as part of a University of Otago Cochrane collaboration.
He is excited about taking up the role with Dentistry, and is looking forward to learning new things and meeting new people.
“The work is very similar in lots of ways. My role will be around providing the environment in which the staff are able to flourish while working within the constraints of the University, in terms of the financial and legislative environment.”
He’s already begun meeting people and developing relationships within the broader dental community and says it’s fascinating to see how tight-knit they all are.
“The profession is facing some interesting changes in technology, as well as ongoing changes in the scope of practice for oral health therapists.
“It offers a real opportunity for adding to the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders and I’m looking forward to helping support that type of work.”
William says the Faculty has a significantly higher proportion of international students than in medicine, and increasing numbers of Māori and Pacific tauira coming through, which places additional responsibilities on staff.
“The biggest thing will be helping to balance the books and, as we grow the programme within our geographic constraints, bringing in the expertise we need to fill vacancies, alongside the great team already here.”
As a physiotherapist, William has a strong underlying belief that constraint can drive creativity.
“It is exciting to see what happens when people are asked to think of different ways of doing things.”
He’s moving on from the Wellington campus at a good time, he says.
“The building project work is in a really good place for a new Dean to step into. We’re at the start of the next bit of work of reimagining what the campus will be like in the future.”
The move to Dunedin takes him back to where it all began, the campus where he studied as an undergraduate student more than 30 years ago. He starts in his new role on 7 September and will be joined in Dunedin by his wife Jo White next year once the youngest of their three children leaves home.
Professor Lynn McBain has been appointed Interim Dean and Head of Region of the Faculty of Medicine – Wellington until mid-January, 2027 to allow time for a new Dean to be recruited.
- Kōrero by Cheryl Norrie, Communications Adviser