ON THE MOVE
You may have been a little confused when
bombarded with advertising for ‘Black
Friday’ sales in the lead-up to Christmas last
year. In the US, Black Friday is the day after
Thanksgiving (always the fourth Thursday in
November) when shops have traditionally
taken advantage of the public holiday to
entice customers in. According to various
accounts, the epithet ‘black’ was applied
originally by police who had to deal with the
mayhem induced by these flash sales, but
this negative connotation has more recently
been reinterpreted using the explanation that
it’s the day when shops can turn a profit and
go into the black. Despite this spin, it’s hard
to overlook the unfortunate implications of
the name. The sense of financial loss is there
in the history of stock market crashes (there
was one in 1869 known as Black Friday, and
we have the more recent Black Monday of
1987). And for Australians, especially in this
devastating bushfire season, there’s the
memories of the destructive blazes of Black
Friday and Black Saturday, in 1939 and 2009
respectively. It’s possible that the power of
global marketing will entrench the Black
Friday sales as an annual event in Australia,
even without the cultural context of its
origins, but will we ever lose the sense of
mourning as we part with our cash?
Written by Dr Adam Smith, convenor of
the Editing and Electronic Publishing
Program at Macquarie University.
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campusreview.com.au
SUSSEX TO SYDNEY FIRST NATIONS PRO
Two Sussex professors
are moving up in the
world (figuratively)
by moving down
in the world
(cartographically),
taking up positions at the University of
NSW. Professor Claire Annesley (pictured),
former deputy pro-vice-chancellor
(equalities and diversity), will become the
new dean of arts and social sciences, and
Professor Rorden Wilkinson, deputy pro-
vice-chancellor (education and innovation),
will become pro-vice-chancellor for
education and the student experience.
“I’m delighted they have been recognised
for their achievements, but naturally I’ll be
very sorry to see them go,” said the VC of
the University of Sussex. Both professors
start their roles this year. Griffith University has
chosen Professor Cindy
Shannon as its first
pro-vice-chancellor
(Indigenous). Shannon,
a descendent of the
Ngugi people, was named a ‘Queensland
Great’ in 2017 by the state government.
“Professor Shannon brings enormous
depth of experience not only as an
academic but also as a leader, changemaker
and adviser in many Indigenous portfolios
locally and nationally,” said vice-chancellor
and president Professor Carolyn Evans.
UQ’s pro-vice-chancellor (Indigenous
engagement) from 2011 to 2017, Shannon
will be working to develop Griffith’s
engagement, participation, support and
recruitment of First Nations communities,
students and staff.
TEQSA LOSES CHIEF EQUITY CHAMPION
After almost five years
as CEO of Australia’s
higher ed watchdog,
Anthony McClaran is
bidding adieu to the
Tertiary Education
Quality and Standards Agency and
returning to the UK. There, he’ll take up the
vice-chancellorship of St Mary’s University,
Twickenham, replacing Francis Campbell,
who in turn will become the new VC of
University of Notre Dame Australia.
In a statement, the federal minister for
education, Dan Tehan, thanked McClaran
for “leading TEQSA in its work protecting
and enhancing the quality of Australian
higher education”.
“His hard work has ensured that Australia
remains a world leader in the provision of
higher education,” Tehan said. After serving seven
years as inaugural
director, Professor
Sue Trinidad will be
departing Curtin’s
National Centre
for Student Equity in Higher Education,
replaced by Professor Sarah O’Shea, who
joins from the University of Wollongong.
“Professor O’Shea has spent nearly 25
years working to effect change within the
higher ed sector through research that
focuses on the success and participation
of students from identified equity groups,”
said Curtin VC Deborah Terry. “Her research
advances our understanding of how
under-represented student cohorts achieve
success at university, manage competing
identities and negotiate aspirations for
themselves and others.”
MALAYSIA CALLING FRESH INDIGENOUS
COMMITMENT
Curtin University may
have its HQ in Perth,
but its largest campus
is in the South Asia
region, in a city called
Miri. Professor Simon
Leunig will be leaving his WA position
as associate deputy vice-chancellor
international and ASEAN dean to become
pro-vice-chancellor and president of
Curtin Malaysia.
“Simon brings more than 25 years’
experience in transnational and
international education to the role, as
well as significant expertise in developing
strategic alliances and education initiatives
across Asia, Europe, Africa and the
ASEAN region more recently,” said Curtin
University’s vice-chancellor Deborah Terry.
Another inaugural
Indigenous role
has been created –
associate dean of
Indigenous education,
School of Social Sciences – this time
by Western Sydney University. The
appointment of Corrinne Sullivan to the
role initiates the institution’s Indigenous
Strategy, with other components to
increase Indigenous employment, research
and education to be rolled out over 2020.
An Aboriginal scholar from the Wiradjuri
Nation in Central West NSW, Sullivan
currently works in the university’s School of
Social Sciences and Psychology, and has
published articles on the experiences of
Indigenous bodies and identities.