First blog in quite some time

I’ve only just returned to the office after three months off on long service leave, so I thought it was high time that I get back to my blog. Anita and I had a brilliant time travelling across Australia in the first few weeks, before travelling to Europe and Africa. It was a great experience to be able to unwind like that and I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity.

Anita and I trying to figure out which direction Rockhampton is

While I was away our Provost Hilary Winchester took over as VC and unsurprisingly did a fantastic job. I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about work when the Uni was in Hilary’s capable hands. Sadly though, Hilary finished up at the University following my return and will now embark on the next phase of her career doing consultancy work within the higher ed sector. Hilary will relocate back to Adelaide and will be missed by all here at CQUni. We certainly owe a great deal of thanks to Hilary for her leadership and vision.

Hilary (centre right) with some of our Townsville campus staff

Since returning I have definitely hit the ground running, travelling to Melbourne during the first week, followed by north Queensland and Sydney this week. It’s great to see so much happening and so many of our projects coming to fruition.

I also had the chance to meet with student leaders at the student leadership conference in Brisbane last week

Some of the highlights include the opening of our new state-of-the-art research labs at the Central Queensland Innovation and Research Precinct (CQIRP), the signing of the lease for our new campus in the Perth CBD, the signing of an MOU to deliver our ag program out of the Rural Industries Skills Training (RIST) in Hamilton Victoria, addition of creative and performing arts programs to our Cairns campus and the rapid construction of the next phase of our Townsville campus.

Construction of the second stage of our Townsville campus si moving ahead at a rapid pace

We have also been fortunate enough to see our people win numerous awards and to top it all off we improved our world university ranking with Times Higher Education, appearing in the top 500 bracket.

It sure is great to be back and I look forward to updating you about more of our exciting initiatives, including our growing social innovation agenda. There may only be a few weeks until Christmas but there is certainly no slowing down at CQUni!