ON THE MOVE
campusreview.com.au
STRICTLY SPEAKING | FRUGAL(ISTA)
In its sense of “sparing”, frugal is not
a new word, and it often works as a
negative when applied to the amount of
food on the table, as in a frugal meal. But
Samuel Johnson’s C18 observation on
the frugal lifestyle suggests it could have
positive values, in “a family remarkable
for domestic prudence and elegant
frugality”. Fast-forward to C21, where the
frugal lifestyle is being actively embraced
in economically challenging times – not
so much for its elegance as a means to
“live large on very little”, as advocated
by Australian author Serina Bird in
her entertaining memoir The Joyful
Frugalista (2019). She enjoys the wordplay
on fashionista, as someone who isn’t a
slave to department store fashion, and
finds op-shopping the key to success.
Bird is connected into an international
network of websites focused on Living on
the Cheap, supporting other frugalistas,
journalists and consumer advocates
who are committed to “thriving not just
surviving” – and avoiding the life-style
creep. She commends a fellow frugalista
“who loves to read books… usually from
the library”. While Bird makes the word
frugalista her own, it was in fact around
at least a decade before her publication,
and nominated as the word of the year by
the New York Times in 2008. It’s one way
of coping with a Global Financial Crisis!
Written by Emeritus Professor Pam
Peters, researcher with Macquarie
University’s Linguistics Department.
DONATION TO
BUILD CAPACITY
The Lang Walker Family
Foundation has donated
$3.9 million to Chris
O’Brien Lifehouse for
Australia’s first chair of
head and neck cancer surgery.
The chair is in partnership with
the University of Sydney and the two
institutions appointed Professor Jonathan
Clark to the role.
“This incredibly generous gift will allow
us to develop our own in-house capability
for digital surgical planning and printing
for facial reconstructive surgery. And it
will enable a program of research that will
push the boundaries of technology and
ultimately transform outcomes for patients,"
Clark said.
$20M FOR NINE
PROFESSORIAL
CHAIRS
In a $20 million
investment,
nine Professorial
Chairs have been
established by SmartSat and its partner
universities in artificial intelligence, optical
communications and cybersecurity for
development of next generation space
technologies.
The Universities of Adelaide, South
Australia and Swinburne University were the
first to announce three professorial chairs.
The trio, Professors Jill Slay, Christopher
Fluke and Tat-Jun Chin (pictured), will
form a Research and Development advisory
group to refine the SmartSat research
program in priority areas for space systems
research.
NEW CHAPTER
FOR UWA AUTHOR
A multiple awardwinning
literary history
author has been
appointed chair in
Australian literature at
The University of Western Australia.
Associate Professor Tony Hughesd’Aeth
has replaced inaugural chair
Emeritus Professor Philip Mead, who retired
in 2018.
Hughes-d’Aeth has published numerous
articles on Australia’s literary history and
is particularly known for his work on the
relationship between Australian literature
and the environment.
Hughes-d’Aeth said: “It is really important
in a country like Australia, with its complex
colonial history, that literature exists as a
space for thinking through who we are.”
LEGGAT UP FOR
THE CHALLENGE
James Cook University
academic Professor
Peter Leggat has
been named President
of The Australasian
College of Tropical Medicine (ACTM).
Leggat, who has worked in tropical
medicine for more than 30 years, is
Professor and co-director of the World
Health Organization Collaborating Centre
for Vector-borne and Neglected Tropical
Diseases at JCU.
“It’s both an auspicious and challenging
time to be President,” Leggat said. “The
College celebrates its 30th anniversary
next year, but the College and its
members also find themselves confronting
and dealing with a global COVID-19
pandemic.”
NEWLY MINTED
ROLE FOR KRUSKE
Charles Darwin
University and the NT
Health Department
have jointly appointed
Professor of Primary
Health Care Sue Kruske to a newly
minted strategic leadership role in Alice
Springs.
Kruske will work across both institutions
to ensure the education, research, policy
and practice activities meet the needs of
Territorians.
“My primary focus will be to become
an effective bridge between these two
flagship Territory institutions so that the
education and research outputs of CDU
meet the industry needs of NT Health,”
Kruske said.
THIRD TERM FOR
SWITKOWSKI
RMIT Council has
announced the
reappointment of
Dr Ziggy Switkowski
as Chancellor for
another term of five years beyond the
expiration of his current term on
31 December 2020.
Switkowski said he has greatly valued
and enjoyed his association with RMIT
University.
“But even more, I am looking
forward to working with Council,
vice-chancellor Martin Bean and his
executive in meeting the challenges
of the COVID-19 disruption and
leveraging our capabilities in digitisation
and online teaching and learning,”
he said.
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