Rate My Professor Mick Dodson

Professor Mick Dodson AM FASSA, a member of the Yawuru peoples and traditional owner of land and waters in the Broome area of the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia, serves as a Professor in the Australian National University College of Law. His research specializations encompass Australian Indigenous Rights. Born in Katherine, Northern Territory, he received his early education in Katherine, Darwin, and Victoria. Dodson earned a Bachelor of Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Laws from Monash University, becoming the first Indigenous Australian to graduate from law in Australia. His academic distinctions include honorary degrees: Doctor of Letters from the University of Technology Sydney in 1998 and Doctor of the University from the University of Canberra in 2010. During the acceptance of the latter honor, he highlighted the importance of maintaining high expectations for Indigenous students.

Dodson's distinguished career includes pivotal appointments such as Australia's inaugural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner with the Human Rights Commission, former Director of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at ANU, and former board member of the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics at ANU. As an Indigenous barrister and academic, he has been a prominent advocate for land rights and social justice, contributing significantly to Indigenous affairs nationally and internationally. Major awards and honors recognizing his impact include Member of the Order of Australia (AM), Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA), and Australian of the Year in 2009, awarded by the National Australia Day Council. In tribute to his legacy, the ANU College of Law, Governance and Policy administers the annual Mick Dodson Prize for Indigenous Peoples and the Law, supported by the Mick Dodson Endowment fund. Professor Dodson is located in Room 3.13, John Yencken Building, with contact via his professional email.