Received this today:
Thoughts?I am writing to you today to tell you that Professor Steven Schwartz has informed the University Council that he will be retiring as Vice-Chancellor at the end of next year after seven successful years in the role.
We are very sorry we have not been able to entice him to saddle up for another term, but after more than 15 years as a Vice-Chancellor at three universities here and in the UK it is not surprising that he and his family have other plans.
Professor Schwartz has had a brilliant career both as an academic and as a university administrator and will leave huge shoes to be filled.
During his leadership the University has grown enormously both in size and stature. We have recently been ranked 4th in Australia in terms of research at the highest level, almost a billion dollars has been invested in infrastructure designed to either improve student learning or promote research collaboration with industry and our curriculum has been redesigned to foster practical wisdom in our graduates.
The University will now conduct a world-wide search for a new Vice-Chancellor. We are looking for an inspirational leader, with strong management skills, who can continue to build Macquarie University as an ideal community of scholars, renowned around the world for the quality of its teaching and research.
We are expecting to have an impressive field of both internal and external candidates to choose from.
Michael Egan
Chancellor