Deborah Willis

Deborah Margery Willis is a New Zealand academic, and is professor emerita of education at Victoria University of Wellington. She was previously Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Pro Vice Chancellor of education at the university, and sits on the board of the Academic Quality Agency for New Zealand Universities.

Academic career

Willis completed a master's degree titled A developmental investigation of the effects of active participation and self determination in memory performance at the University of Canterbury, followed by a PhD at Victoria in 1989. Willis then joined the faculty of the Victoria University of Wellington, rising to full professor. She was also Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Education. Willis was acting Dean of the Waikato University Management School in 2016. She was a member of the inaugural committee for the national tertiary education awards, known as Ako Aotearoa. In 2005 she chaired the Teaching Matters Forum, a Government appointment, and served for six years as New Zealand's representative to the Grants Committee of the University of the South Pacific.