Recipient of both a Citation at the Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) and a UniSA Teaching & Learning Citation (UAUT) for contributions to research degree supervisor development. 
Recipient of a UniSA Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning for the conceptualisation, development and implementation of a model of HDR transition that facilitates the student socialisation and identity change involved in research degree study. 
Director: Network for Studies in Gender, Sexualties and Equity, Justice & Society, University of South Australia
Member: Faye Gale Centre for Research on Gender, University of Adelaide
Hello and welcome! My teaching delivery is focused on higher degree by research supervisors and research degree students through the provision of workshops, seminars and resources. One of the key services that I provide is Supervising@UniSA, the UniSA HDR supervisor induction program designed for academic staff who have applied (or intend to apply) for admission to the UniSA  Register of Postgraduate Research Degree Supervisors. I also design and facilitate with my Research Education Team colleagues Advanced Supervisory Practice workshops and online resources. In regard to higher degree by research students,  I facilitate the Business, Social Sciences and Humanities (BSSH) and the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Medical/Health Sciences (STEMM) Thesis/Exegesis Writing series and the Journal Article Writing Series. I also design and facilitate blended workshops for both HDR supervisors and students on topics including publishing, thesis completion and submission, thesis examination and ethics in supervision.
I have 26 years of teaching experience in higher and doctoral education. I bring to the position a history of tutoring, lecturing and course-coordinating undergraduate courses in: sociology; gender and sexuality studies, critical masculinity studies; critical disability studies; communication and cultural studies; politics; post-essentialist, poststructuralist, postmodernist and critical theory; and qualitative social inquiry methods. I also have experience developing resources and services for higher degree by research students through my previous role as Research Education Adviser. I actively supervise higher degree by research students in the fields of the sociology of education,  critical disability studies, and critical gender and sexualities studies.I am currently conducting research in the field of postgraduate research education and work collaboratively with members both within the institution and other scholars across Australia on funded research projects including the experiences of early career HDR supervisors. I am also studying the development of more inclusive pedagogic practices for both undergraduate students and higher degree by research candidates with disability and/or who identify as neurodiverse.
Theoretically and conceptually, I have a strong interest in the value of an ethics of the embodied self for analysing identity and subjectivity, such as that suggested in the works of Michel Foucault, Friedrich Nietzsche, Judith Butler and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. This interest was initially established during my doctoral candidature and evidenced in my thesis Embodiment, Ethics and the Ear: Constructions of Masculine Subjectivity by Yound Men with Hearing Disabilties in Contemporary Australia. I am interested in postmodernist, post-structuralist, and particularly, post-essentialist and queer conceptualisations of the inter-relations between gender, sexuality, class, 'race' and ethnicity, and disability.
I am the proud mother of 18-year-old twins.
AWARDS AND GRANTS RECEIVED TEACHING AWARDS 2024 UniSA Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning for the conceptualisation, development and implementation of a model of HDR transition that facilitates the student socialisation and identity change involved in research degree study. 2017 Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning as part of the Australian Awards for University Teaching with Professor Alistair McCulloch - $10,000 awarded for professional development 2016 Division of Education Arts and Social Sciences URIPA Funding of $10,000 for the project 'Intersectionality as a lens to explore the first-year student experience at university' with Dr Garth Stahl and Associate Professor Sue Nichols 2016 UniSA Teaching Citation for Supervisor Development with Professor Aliair McCulloch with $5000 for professional development 2006 University of South Australia Supported Teacher Award with $1000 for professional development 2005 University of South Australia Supported Teacher Award with $1500 for professional development 2004 High Commendation Certificate for Teaching Excellence Awards 2003 High Commendation Certificate for Teaching Excellence Awards
RESEARCH AWARDS 2011Supported Researcher Status 2010Supported Researcher Status 2006 Commendable Results - ED61 Graduate Certificate in Education (Queensland University of Technology) 2003 University of South Australia Research Degree Student of the Year for the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences 1998 Golden Key National Honour Society Scholarship Golden Key National Honour Society Membership Chancellor's Merit List Dean's Merit List
RESEARCH GRANTS 2010 UniSA Learning and Teaching Grant The Aspirations and Experiences of Students with Disabilities Undertaking Higher Degrees by Research at the University of South Australia Awarded to Dr Cassandra Loeser (principal applicant) Dr Vicki Crowley, Mr Stephen Manson, Ms Jayne Ayliffe and Ms Dale Wache.2006 Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies small grant for writing of ARC Discovery proposal. Awarded to Dr. Lia Bryant and Dr. Cassandra Loeser 2005 Divisional Scholarship for the Queensland University of Technology Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education) 1999 Australian Postgraduate (APA) University of South Australia Postgraduate Research Award (USAPRA) for doctoral research 1998 Recipient of one of seven $500 Golden Key National Honour Society Scholarships (University of South Australia Chapter).