Campus Review Vol 30. Issue 03 | March 2020 | Seite 30

ON THE MOVE
campusreview.com.au
VIVA LA ELLIS
Professor Viv Ellis is
switching hemispheres,
joining Monash
University as dean
of the Faculty of
Education in June after
a long career in the UK. Currently professor
of educational leadership and teacher
development at King’s College London, he
has had previous appointments at Brunel,
Oxford and the University of Southampton.
“Professor Ellis’s successful leadership
experience, excellent research and
educational collaborations with international
partners, together with his school teaching
experience, provide a strong platform to
enable him to further advance the Faculty
of Education’s research and teaching
excellence and policy impact,” said Monash
VC Professor Margaret Gardner.
ALL’S WELLINGS
THAT ENDS WELL
A lot of words have come into Australian
English from Aboriginal languages. Think of
billabong, corroboree, kookaburra, mia-
mia, and of course kangaroo – which was
famously misinterpreted by Captain Cook
and his crew. It’s true of most of these words
that they’ve been reinterpreted or anglicised
in some way, but a relatively new addition
to the list, ngangkari (‘traditional healer’),
has preserved its form and meaning more
successfully. It comes from Pitjantjatjara,
a dialect of the Western Desert language,
from Central Australia. A ngangkari draws on
an ancient medical knowledge system that
offers a holistic approach to health involving
education and cultural practices alongside
the use of bush medicine and traditional
healing approaches. Only recently have
these healers started to be accepted into
mainstream medicine, with standardised
accreditation for them provided by ANTAC
(the Anangu Ngangkari Tjutaku Aboriginal
Corporation), and services provided by them
at clinics and hospitals such as the Royal
Adelaide. Ngangkari was one of the words
shortlisted by the Macquarie Dictionary for
its 2019 word of the year. As the modern
world lurches from climate crisis to global
health threats, it seems that ancient wisdom
and the words that represent it become ever
more important.
Written by Dr Adam Smith, convenor of
the Editing and Electronic Publishing
Program at Macquarie University.
28
Next year in June,
Professor Paul Wellings
will lay down the bat
after a 10-year tenure as
vice-chancellor of the
University of Wollongong. Chancellor Jillian
Broadbent praised Wellings for being an
“exceptional leader”.
Some of his achievements include placing
UOW consistently in the Top 20 Young
Universities rankings, securing an investment
of $870 million to upgrade facilities, and
a new campus in Dubai. Wellings has
also advised many federal, regional and
state bodies in areas such as research
infrastructure and sustainable sector growth.
The search is now on for the university’s
fifth vice-chancellor.
HOME IS WHERE
THE NEW HEAD IS
The University of the
Sunshine Coast has
announced its inaugural
head of the Moreton
Bay campus: business
specialist Professor Karen Becker.
Unlike many other appointments listed in
this section, Becker will not have to travel
across interstate or international lines – she
lives in the suburb. This, she and other
university heads believe, gives her a unique
community perspective.
“I’ve seen this region really take off in
a short amount of time – a lot of new
development and new businesses – so it’s
an incredible opportunity to play a part in
the next stage of growth in Moreton Bay
through this position with the University of
the Sunshine Coast,” she said.
WHERE’S WALLIS?
Professor Joanne
Wallis will leave ANU’s
Strategic and Defence
Studies Centre in July
to become professor of
international security at
the University of Adelaide.
“My family and I are very excited about
the move: once my kids saw the hippos
at Adelaide Zoo, they were sold!” Wallis
announced over Twitter.
A Fulbright scholar, fellow of the Higher
Education Academy and author of two
books – Pacific Power? and Constitution
Making during State Building – her areas of
expertise include comparative government
and politics, the government and politics of
Asia and the Pacific, international relations,
citizenship, constitutional law, international
law, and law and society.
RURAL CHAMP
HONOURED
Former politician
Cathy McGowan has
been honoured by
La Trobe University
with a vice‑chancellor’s
fellowship in recognition of her advocacy
for higher education participation in regional
and rural Victoria.
“Our regional towns and cities are crying
out for more degree-qualified professionals
in a whole range of industries – including
healthcare, education, planning and
engineering,” McGowan said.
“I will work with La Trobe, and
communities across Victoria, to lift the
aspirations of regional school-leavers, and
hopefully remove barriers they face when
considering further study.”
A VOICE FOR
FIRST PEOPLES
Indigenous disability
researcher and advocate
Dr Scott Avery joins
the School of Social
Sciences at Western
Sydney University as a senior lecturer in
social work and community welfare.
A Worimi man who is profoundly
deaf, Avery is a member of an ABS
roundtable on Indigenous health and has
recently presented evidence at the Royal
Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect
and Exploitation of People with Disability.
“Dr Avery is a leading scholar working in
Indigenous disability – an important and
under-researched area requiring urgent
action to address the social and health
inequalities facing the nation’s First People,”
said WSU’s Professor Michelle Trudgett.