On the move | December

EGAN’S SUCCESSOR Macquarie’s longest-serving chancellor, Michael Egan, has left some big shoes to fill. Stepping into them is Dr Martin Parkinson, a public servant of more than 30 years who served as secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet since 2016. Said Parkinson of his predecessor: “He leaves us with a great legacy of wise decisions that have helped build a track record of, and a foundation for, continued success, one on which the council and I will continue to build.” Hailing the new chancellor, VC S Bruce Dowton championed Parkinson’s understanding of “the transformative power that a university education can provide to young Australians and international students”. A GOOD FELLOW He’s a fellow of two colleges of physicians on both sides of the antipodes, has worked as a gastroenterologist in Geelong and has been a dean at Deakin, but now Professor Jon Watson is set to take on the role of new executive dean at UWA’s Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. He will join the university in February, lending the skills and insights he gained from his studies at Cambridge and Oxford, his experience as a practitioner and his years as a senior academic. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences and with people across the university to continue to develop and deliver world-class research and teaching,” Watson said. NOT BEATING AROUND THE BUSH Charles Sturt has appointed Lesley Forster as inaugural dean of rural medicine. She comes from a similar position at UNSW, where she was associate dean (rural health) and head of the Rural Clinical School. Based at the School of Rural Medicine in Orange (a city familiar to her from her time involved in the Royal Flying Doctor Service), she will be spearheading a new joint program in medicine, shared by CSU and WSU. “I am excited to oversee a school which will not only enable students to develop their skills in regional areas, but encourage them to remain there as they forge their careers in medicine,” Forster said. DOUBLE DEANS Murdoch’s College of Arts, Business, Law and Social Science has a new dean double act. Associate Professor Noordin Shehabuddeen, who has worked at Swinburne and Cambridge, is the college’s new dean of engagement, and award-winning educator Professor Tracy Taylor is the new dean of the business school. The pair “bring a wealth of experience and truly outstanding knowledge and capability to the university”, said pro-vice chancellor Professor Grant O’Neill. MINISTER FOR COMMONHEALTH Another former politician has made the move from government chambers to academic cloisters. Former ACT health minister Meegan Fitzharris has been made a senior fellow in health policy and leadership at the Australian National University, where she will help develop a program to assist senior health executives to navigate a changing future. “Delivering exceptional healthcare to the Australian community is vital,” she said. “This requires leadership skills to ensure healthcare leaders can engage in policy, technological and digital developments, and lead teams to new ways of collaborating within and beyond the healthcare sector.” ANU researchers and health students can also expect to tap into her expertise. WRITING HABITS Stella Prize-winning author Charlotte Wood has joined Notre Dame as the inaugural Copyright Agency’s writer in residence. The novelist will be using her time to explore ideas of feminism and religion and the “tension between the secular and spiritual demands of belief”, which will coalesce in a new “inventive work” about Catholicism and nuns. She will also be engaging in various public activities while in residence. “Charlotte is a powerful and distinctively feminist voice in Australian literature,” said Associate Professor Camilla Nelson, head of the university’s writing program. “I deeply admire her willingness to enter difficult terrain and to pose risky and confronting artistic questions.”