But, 26 years later, she's still here, and has just been appointed head of the school.

Dr Ferris said she would bring a well-rounded artistic and teaching practice to the role, rather than any head for administration.

"In fact, if you had to employ me just for my administrative skills, I'm not sure I'd be sitting here," she said.

"Obviously to be here you have to be rounded in many ways, and one of them is that I come from a practice background, so I get it. I come from a teaching background, so I get that as well, and I hit my straps when it comes to my teaching over the years."

Dr Ferris said she'd come a long way since deciding to follow a boyfriend - now her partner - out of Sydney.

"I taught photography, a course called The Real Thing, which was about conceptual art, and then I was invited down to our Foundation Studies, and I taught life drawing there, which was kind of unusual for a photographer, but that's what I did, and somehow I just kept hanging in there," she said.

"I'd like to apologise to all those people I taught when I first came out. You think you know a lot, and then decades on you realise how much in fact your students have taught you."

She said she had been gratified by the response to her appointment among colleagues and students.

Dr Ferris will replace Gordon Bull, who will return to his position as senior lecturer in art theory workshop.