ON THE MOVE campusreview . com . au
STRICTLY SPEAKING | EXCO
Acronyms are handy expressions for those who know what they stand for , and impossible for those who don ’ t . Exco encountered in a brief news report gives little away . Could it be a shortened form of excon ( -vict / -fidence man )? Try making sense of its two two-letter parts , and both ex and co prove ambiguous : ex could mean “ former ” as in ex-partner , or “ out of ” as in ex-warehouse ; while co stands for “ fellow ” in co-worker , and “ company ” in and co . But no amount of mixing and matching the parts yields the meaning of the whole . Wikipedia offers a lead with its disambiguation page for exco , showing its different meanings in different contexts . The least likely is exco as an experimental college ( predecessor of the C21 academic mooc = “ massive open online course ”) – another inscrutable acronym ! Otherwise it could be executive
council ( a body that advises the Governor- General ), or an executive committee within the structure of an organisation . The last is a catchall category , defined as “ a group of people who come together to consult , deliberate , or make decisions ”. In commercial contexts the exco is the group of directors appointed to act on behalf of the company ’ s board ; whereas its equivalent in Australia ’ s parliamentary system is the select committee of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues . How much power the exco actually has depends on whether it operates in government or business .
Written by Emeritus Professor Pam Peters , researcher with Macquarie University ’ s Linguistics Department .
SIMONS SAYS YES The Australian Council of Deans of Education has named Western Sydney University ’ s Professor
Michele Simons its new president .
Simons , who previously held the role of deputy president of the council , said : “ I am looking forward to leading ACDE as we forge partnerships with providers , regulators and employers to ensure that we have an education system that can work for all learners regardless of their personal background or circumstances .”
A leading education researcher , she has won several nationally competitive grants from the Australian Research Council and the National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation Program .
CARVER HEADS WEST
Australian Catholic University will bring in Professor Robert Carver to head up its
Ramsay Program in Western Civilisation . Carver will join the team as inaugural director on 4 January 2021 .
ACU said Carver ’ s main teaching and research interests lie in Renaissance literature , Renaissance humanism , the influence of classical texts and ideas on Western culture , and the origins and development of the novel .
He said : “ This is a wonderful opportunity to draw on the very best of the Australian and British pedagogical traditions and stir into that mix something extra – the ‘ Great Books ’ approach to teaching liberal arts .”
PA TO SA A US-based engineering scientist and inventor will join the University of Adelaide as the new head of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Professor in Quantum Electronics .
Professor Nelson Tansu , whose research focuses on the materials , devices , computational sciences , and integrated technologies based on semiconductors , will head to Adelaide from Lehigh University , Pennsylvania , where he is currently the director of the Center for Photonics and Nanoelectronics .
He is a Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors and has been a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher ( 2018 ). Tansu will take up his post in January 2021 .
IN THE LOOP Professor Kathy Laster has been appointed chair of the Victorian Government ’ s Interpreting and
Translating Service Language Loop . The service works to ensure lack of fluency in English is no barrier to access and equity for those in Victoria ’ s diverse communities .
The director of Victoria University ’ s Sir Zelman Cowen Centre , who came to Australia from Hungary as a child as part of the family reunion program for refugees , said : “ COVID 19 has highlighted the importance of effective communication channels with diverse communities , including making information available in community languages and providing interpreter services in health settings .”
WILSON VOLLEYS TO AUS
Charles Darwin University has welcomed Professor Mike Wilson as its newest provost .
Wilson was previously provost at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates . Originally from the UK , he has held senior roles at the University of Leeds and at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand .
On CDU ’ s future , Wilson said : “ It has been said that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us , driven by new developments in technology , with a consequent revolution in the job market , and it is important that we , as an educational institution appreciate the changes and what is required of us .”
ÓRAMA LOOKS NEAR
Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor Tracey Wade will head up Flinders University ’ s Órama Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing .
Wade , who worked as a clinician in the area of eating disorders for almost 30 years , said she has always been passionate about developing interventions that can work in the real world .
Professor Mike Kyrios , acting director of Órama , said her appointment follows an exhaustive recruitment and selection process .
In 2019 , Wade was appointed fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and is director of the Flinders University Services for Eating Disorders and the Blackbird Research Initiative within the Órama Institute .
28