The Vice Chancellor will retire in January

The university announced his departure quietly, on Easter Thursday, with chancellor John Fahey advising staff , “with considerable sadness” that the VC will leave on January 8.

Professor Craven added that it was time to go, “13 years is a long-time to be a VC. … I feel the time has come for someone with fresh insights and perspectives to lead ACU.

“I would like to spend more time reading, writing, tending my cows, and herding my grandson,” he says.

It was an understated announcement, at least compared to much of Professor Craven’s years of commentary on the issues of the hour. He once described Kevin Rudd as “a short-term Australian messiah, a veritable cross between Hercules and Popeye the Sailorman.”

It also brings forward his departure by a year – at the end of 2018 the university extended his term to 2022, (CMM December 4 2018).