New appointments to the Board which provides strategic input to ensure Advance HE’s operations and services meet the needs of members and partners across Australasia
Professor David Sadler, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education at Notre Dame University, has been appointed Chair of our Australasian Strategic Advisory Board (ASAB). He succeeds Professor Liz Johnson, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, Deakin University. Professor Giselle Byrnes, Provost at Massey University, will be Deputy Chair.
We also welcome Professor Julie Cogin, Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Australian Catholic University, and Professor Jessica Vanderlelie*, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, La Trobe University, as new members.
These appointments are key to Advance HE’s thriving partnership with 38 member institutions across Australasia. The collaboration continually seeks to support members in their drive for excellence in teaching and learning, leadership, governance, and in their work to promote inclusive campuses.
Alison Johns, Advance HE’s Chief Executive, said, “I want to express my sincere thanks to our outgoing Chair, Professor Liz Johnson, for her outstanding leadership of ASAB. Her strategic understanding of the sector and her wise counsel have been pivotal in enabling us to support our members. The Board plays a vital role in ensuring our work remains relevant and impactful for Australasian members and her leadership has been vital in enhancing that work.
“As we welcome our new Chair and Board members, I am excited and confident in the perspectives they will bring to guide our strategic direction and membership work in Australasia.”
Professor David Sadler, incoming Chair, commented: “I am delighted to take on this role at such an important time for higher education in our region. Advance HE is perhaps best known in the region for its work to support Teaching and Learning through the Professional Standards Framework and Fellowship.
“Increasingly, it has been working with members on the broader challenges of leadership in HE – especially in opportunities for women – and in governance. It’s also worked hard to bring members together in the region and beyond, to tackle some of the shared challenges faced by HE wherever it is delivered – and that is clearly articulated in the new Advance HE Strategy 2030. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the Board to bring the multi-layered Australasian context to that discussion.”
Advance HE has been working with institutions in Australasia for more than 10 years. There are 38 member institutions in the region and more than 8,300 Advance HE Fellows.
Following a successful pilot program in 2024, this year, Advance HE will deliver its Aurora Australia National Program, a ‘leadership ignition journey’, which aims to inspire women to achieve their career goals in higher education through a combination of individual and group learning, mentoring and networking.
In March, in partnership with CAULLT (Council of Australasian University Leaders in Learning and Teaching), Advance HE will deliver Enhancing Program Leadership, which is designed to supporting program leaders to meet the challenges of a dynamic leadership environment through the development of understanding, learning and practice within their own context.
Advance HE also works with SAGE who offer the Athena Swan gender equity charter in Australia. Forty-three institutions have achieved an Athena Swan Bronze award in Australia to date.
(*Professor Jessica Vanderlelie has been appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, Deakin University, with effect from 31 March).
Find out more about the Australasian Strategic Advisory Board
