Source: University of Otago
When he leaves St Margaret’s College, Dr Charles Tustin will look back on a 27-year association with the University of Otago with gratitude and fondness.
The Master of St Margaret’s College will leave his post in early January 2023.
Dr Tustin says he is resigning to “have a break for a while” and spend more time with his family, having spent the last six years at the College, including three years weathering the uncertainties of the pandemic.
“These roles can be all-encompassing, and I just knew it was time to call it a day,” he says.
“In terms of what is next, I’ve postponed that decision until next year.”
Since moving to Dunedin from South Africa in 1994, Dr Tustin has worn many hats at the University of Otago.
He was initially employed as an academic at the Otago Business School, before moving to management roles including Deputy Director of Human Resources and Director of Graduate Research.
After leaving for a role at Monash University in Melbourne in 2012, he returned to Dunedin a year later to become the Head of Abbey College for almost four years.
His time serving on the councils of both Abbey College and Aquinas College prior to moving ignited his interest in colleges and he says he thought managing a college would be a “nice challenge”.
Dr Tustin became Master of independently run St Margaret’s College in 2016.
He says that while becoming Master provided an extra layer of challenge, his love of management, organisation and people, as well as the special culture of St Margaret’s, made him a good fit.
“It’s a bit like being a chief executive of a small organisation. You have responsibility for everything at the College in addition to our 224 students; marketing, finances, HR, staff, grounds, buildings and maintenance.
“You don’t have the University doing that for you,” he says.
The independent nature of the College means students can stay beyond their first year, which Dr Tustin says builds a proper sense of community.
“These students become a bit like your family in a way. You get to know them really well, particularly those who stay on for two, three, four or even five years.
“We see their growth and it’s nice to have been able to play a role in providing them with a wonderful place to be and to help them develop into well-rounded people who are better prepared for life.”
Dr Tustin is not the only member of his family with a long history at the University. His wife, Brenda Tustin, worked in administrator roles for a combined period of 20 years culminating as Lead Administrator of Client Services, as well as supporting students at St Margaret’s College in an unofficial capacity.
“She’s sort of become the college ‘mother’ I suppose,” Dr Tustin says.
“You can’t do this job on your own.”
Two of his daughters completed their studies at the University of Otago, with the eldest of them going on to work in the Department of Psychology for over a decade, and currently as a Research Fellow in Women’s and Children’s Health.
Living at St Margaret’s College, the Tustins have not strayed far from where their journey at Otago first began, 28 years ago.
“We started off our Otago life living just down the road on Leith Street. It’s now the Health and Safety office. That used to be a staff house.
“And now, at the end of my career at the University, we’re still on Leith Street, just a bit further down.”
Navigating COVID-19 as Master proved challenging, particularly because of the pressure to remain financially viable as an independent college, he says.
“We had staff salaries to pay but you also had to keep people safe, and you had to interpret the rules that were coming out.”
Despite the challenge, St Margaret’s was able to keep 65% of its student population at the college during the lockdown period in 2020 – the highest proportion of any college at the University.
“We wanted to make sure our students knew that they were welcome to carry on at the college and we would look after them.
“My mantra at the time was that St Margaret’s is a home away from home, and homes never close.”
He says while he looks forward to free time, gardening and “the quietness of suburbia”, he will particularly miss the “friendships and the fun and the humour and banter” of working with young people.
“I think they keep me young.”
Dr Tustin says he is grateful to the University for the “wonderful and fulfilling” career it has given him and the Council of St Margaret’s College for affording him the opportunity to lead the College over the last six years.
“The University is like a world within a world. It provides a lot of opportunities.
“I look back with gratitude and fondness at my time. I’m enormously grateful for what it’s given to me, to my family.
“I’m going to miss the wonderful colleagues, but I’ll see them around. You know how small Dunedin is.”
Dr Tustin will be replaced at the College by former Waitaki Girls’ High School principal, Elizabeth Koni.
– Kōrero by Keilah Fox
