Appointments, achievements

Of the day

Marcel Dinger will join Uni Sydney as Dean of the Science Faculty in January. He will move from UNSW.

Michael Donovan joins La Trobe U next month as PVC Indigenous. He moves from  Academic Director, Indigenous Learning and Teaching at Macquarie U.

At La Trobe U Susan Dodds (DVC and VP Research and Industry Engagement) becomes Senior DVC and VP R and EI). “This is in recognition of the fact that Sue … is, in effect, my standing deputy,” DVC John Dewar tell staff.

Anne Pattel-Gray is appointed head of the School of Indigenous Studies at University of Divinity.

IDP Education appoints Tennealle O’Shannessy as MD (replacing Andrew Barkla). She will move from Adore Beauty, “Australia’s leading on-line beauty marketplace” and was previously with SEEK, where “she led the expansion of multinational education services and digital platforms.”

Of the week

Alison Alexander wins U Tasmania’s Dick and Joan Green Family Award for Tasmanian History. It’s for her The Waking Dream of Art: Patricia Giles, Painter.

Chris Armstrong joins Uni New England as DVC R in October. He moves from NSW Deputy Chief Scientist and Engineer.

James Arvanitakis is appointed director of the Forrest Research Foundation (as in Andrew and Nicola Forrest). He moves from the Fulbright Foundation and replaces former UWA VC Paul Johnson.

Australian Catholic U has appointed three campus deans, Darius von Guttner (Canberra), Krista Maglen (Melbourne) and Valentine Mukiria (Blacktown). Campus deans manage engagement with “key stakeholders.

At WEHI (the MRI formerly known as the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation), Melanie Bahlo has a US$330 000 to estimate risk factors in Parkinson’s Disease. The grant is from the US Michael J Fox Foundation and partner Shake it Up Australia.

Chrissy Burns joins UNSW as Chief Information Officer. She moves from CIO at UTS.

Steve Frost joins Uni Wollongong as a professorial fellow of nursing. He is a member of  the South Western Sydney Nursing and Midwifery Research Alliance at Liverpool Hospital.

Lyn Karstadt is incoming VC at Fiji National U. She was DVC International at Murdoch U 2016-2020

Rory Medcalf (ANU National Security College) receives the Japan Foreign Ministers Commendation, recognising “services to the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and Australia.”

Graciela Metternicht becomes science dean at Western Sydney U. She moves from UNSW.

Commonwealth Department of Education official David Patty moves to be the department’s FAS, People, Parliamentary and Communications.

Meghan Quinn is appointed secretary of the Commonwealth’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources (as of August 22).

Sven Rogge becomes science dean at UNSW, starting October. It’s an internal appointment.

Sumeetpal Singh will join Uni Wollongong next year, taking up the Tibra Chair in Mathematical Sciences. He will move from Uni Cambridge. The chair is funded by Tibra Capital, (“a world-class quant trading firm”).

Western Sydney U appoints four distinguished professors (its highest honour for academics). * Kathryn Holmes (School of Education) * Brajesh Singh (“functional ecology and soil biology”) * Anthony Uhlmann (Humanities) * Ian Wright (plant functional ecology) and two distinguished professors for international engagement * Basant Maheshwari (Life Sciences) * Peter Reich (former chief scientist, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment)