Two new Deputy Vice Chancellors have been appointed to Murdoch University.Professor David Morrison will take on the role of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), while Professor Ann Capling will be Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education). Both will take up their appointments in February 2012.
Announcing the appointments, Vice Chancellor Professor Richard Higgott, who joined Murdoch in August, said: “Professors Capling and Morrison are not only very well and appropriately experienced for the portfolios they will occupy; they are both also significant scholars with outstanding international reputations in their respective disciplines in their own right.
“Their decision to join Murdoch is testament to the vibrancy of the institution.”
Professor Morrison is currently Winthrop Professor and Head of the School of Psychology at the University of Western Australia, a post he has held since 2006. He previously had appointments at the University of Queensland and the University of Wales.
Like Professor Higgott, he lectured at Murdoch in the early years of his career, and is looking forward to returning.
He said: “Research and the generation of new knowledge is a fundamental part of university business. The international reputation of a university hinges very much on its research.
“As the last ERA showed there are many research strengths at Murdoch but, like all universities, there are areas that could and should do better. I am looking forward to making the most of Murdoch’s natural advantages as well as developing organisational structures to further encourage and support research to take productivity and quality to new levels.”
Professor Capling joins Murdoch from the University of Melbourne where she is currently Professor of Political Science.
Prior to joining Melbourne in 1993, she had appointments at Australian National University, Monash University and the University of Calgary.
Professor Capling said she was impressed by the quality of Murdoch’s teaching, its innovative approach to curriculum and delivery, and its emphasis on student-centred learning.
“I have been especially struck by the ways in which Murdoch’s institutional values are reflected in its approaches to teaching and learning. Particularly impressive is Murdoch’s genuine commitment to equity and social justice, as evident in its broad range of programs to encourage and support students from under-represented groups to aspire to a university education,” she said.
“With the appointment of its new Vice Chancellor, Murdoch has signalled that it is entering a period of dynamic and exciting change, and it is a great privilege and pleasure to join Murdoch at this stage in its history.”