ON THE MOVE
campusreview.com.au
NO CODA FOR CODY
Associate Professor
Anna Cody is stepping
up. The former director
of the Kingsford Legal
Centre, a community
legal centre at UNSW,
has been appointed dean of law at Western
Sydney University.
The Harvard graduate’s background and
leadership experience will be “invaluable”
to WSU, vice-chancellor Professor Barney
Glover said.
Cody, a human rights law and legal
education specialist, will head west in April.
LAW DEAN BOUND
FOR SYDNEY UNI
Profit and loss are sharply contrasted in
business, so investments must be loss‑proof,
and only very select items can be loss‑leaders.
These principles are in fact very old, hence
the use of lossful in the 17th century,
recorded in a property owner’s comment
(1623): “As the rate of Money now goeth, no
man can let his Timber stand … but it will
be very losse-full to him.” How 21st century
is that! Also from the early modern era –
lossless is on record (1587) to refer to assets
like furniture, as when people forced into
exile were allowed “losselesse of furniture to
depart”. The Oxford English Dictionary has
no further record of either word until after
World War II, when lossless and newcomer
lossy emerge in the technology of electrical
engineering. They move with the times into
computer engineering as keywords in digital
compression, where they distinguish two
levels of re-encoding to reduce the size of
digital files. In lossy compression, redundant
elements of the file (from music and sound
recordings) are irretrievably removed.
Compare lossless compression, used with
alphanumeric files, where information is
re-encoded more compactly but can be
retrieved. Lossiness impacts on all of us when
using a lossy line on the phone or Skype –
which leaves you feeling the interaction with
the other person lacks something. Perhaps
you can be grateful for the trade-off between
speed of service and quality.
Written by Emeritus Professor Pam
Peters, researcher with Macquarie
University’s Centre for Language
Sciences.
28
Continuing the theme
of legal reshuffle,
the University of
Sydney Law School
is also getting a fresh
leadership face. Beginning July, Professor
Simon Bronitt will be dean.
Previously deputy dean at the University
of Queensland, Bronitt has an eclectic
research background, encompassing
everything from terrorism law to family
violence and mental health policing.
A university veteran, having also served
at Griffith University and ANU, Bronitt has
ambitious hopes for his new role: “I hope
that under my leadership the Sydney Law
School continues to make significant and
lasting contributions to Australia’s judiciary,
politics and public life."
HEALTH FOCUS FOR
MITCHELL INSTITUTE
Education policy hub
the Mitchell Institute
now promises to be
wise and healthy.
The Victoria University-
based organisation has expanded to
include health research. This has resulted in
a leadership shakeup, with Dr Jen Jackson
and Ben Harris fronting the education and
health verticals respectively.
VU has streamlined its operations by
enveloping its Australian Health Policy
Collaboration personnel in the Institute.
Vice-chancellor Professor Peter
Dawkins believes the larger institute
will offer more than just two policy
sets. “There are strong connections
between education and health outcomes,
and the impacts of socioeconomic
disadvantage on both are well
recognised," he said.
"Good policy, supported by sound
translational research, should address
both together.”
TOP MARKS FOR
BOND UNIVERSITY
‘Bondies’ are delighted
by the appointment
of Catherine Marks
as the university’s
inaugural international
vice-president (engagement). Marks, from
the UK, has resigned from her role as
director of global advancement at Swansea
University to assume the Bond post.
A chartered marketer, she aims to grow
the university’s reputation and endowment,
including through its alumni.
This strategy is championed by Bond’s
vice-chancellor and president, Professor
Tim Brailsford: “Having embarked on a
strategic path in recent years to genuinely
engage with our alumni, Catherine’s
appointment represents our next step."
LA TROBE’S ETHICAL
ADDITION
La Trobe University
is also changing
its engagement.
It's hired Professor
Susan Dodds as deputy
vice-chancellor (research and industry
engagement). Canadian-born Dodds is a La
Trobe alumna, having completed her PhD
there 25 years ago. Now a philosopher and
bioethicist, she leaves her position as dean
of arts and social sciences at UNSW to take
up the new role in June.
She will apply her leadership skills as
well as her expertise in the social impact
of developing technologies and the
intersections of ethics, political philosophy,
moral psychology and feminist theory.
FROM START TO
FINNISH
As its two-year
leadership cycle has
come to another
end, the IRU has
found a new chair:
Eeva Leinonen, vice-chancellor of
Murdoch University.
Helming the group for this year and the
next, she replaces Flinders University VC
Colin Stirling.
The IRU chair is responsible for liaising
with government. To this end, Leinonen
already has ideas. “The 2019 federal election
is unusual for the two clearly distinct
positions from the government and the
Labor opposition about how best to support
universities,” she said. With her advice, she
hopes the winning party will keep in mind
key university issues, such as student
success, applied research and community
and international linkages.