![](/-/media/feature/micrositesnewsandevents/staffnews/suzanne-chambers-460px.jpg)
Innovation in practice
News 24 JulyA message from Executive Dean of Health Sciences Professor Suzanne Chambers: Winter has so far been a season of future-thinking and action for the Faculty of Health Sciences.
17 June 2021
Share
A message from the Executive Dean of Theology and Philosophy Professor Dermot Nestor:
Common sense would condition one to read the conjunction in this article’s title as indicating a direct and positive relationship between the verbs it sits between. Surely what we see is precisely what appears? There is however a wide body of literature which suggests the verbs do not in fact address the same concept – that seeing and appearing are categorically discrete things. In this light, our conjunction indicates not similarity but difference.
Admitting such a distinction does not point us towards the phantasms of pareidolia but rather the possibilities inherent in strategy: that which Peter Drucker once caricatured as the breakfast of culture. There are many who salivate and sneer at Drucker’s prognosis, but strategy is precisely what provides organisations with their direction, and their focus. Strategy is what is designed to hold the gaze, to centre it and to captivate it. Strategy is what provides us with the necessary liberty and authority to allow things to come fully into view. Strategy is what frames and informs that choice between the many things we see and might intuitively grasp, and the fewer things we focus on and decide to hold to.
Effective strategy can never then be a wholly external imposition: a requirement to look left rather than right, up rather than down. Such Orwellian peremptories are destined to fail in the most spectacular ways. Rather, effective strategy evidences trajectories of coherence between transformative ways of seeing and of doing, whether traditional or novel. Effective strategy is what organises vision: individual or institutional. It is what enables a correspondence between what we all might see and what we all can share.
In this university, effective strategy is organised around and gives expression to our Mission and our purpose. It is a way of seeing and doing that is simultaneously an orientation to the past and a means of animating the future. At ACU, this strategy is parsed in a variety of forms: course innovation and digital uplift, student experience, and revenue diversification. Each is a distinct yet interrelated way of framing the bigger picture that depicts success. Each is a way of understanding our future, and each provides an impetus to bring that future into being.
At ACU, the strategies established and communicated by the Vice-Chancellor, detailed in our strategic plan, and cast through the overarching lens of Mission are not simply what makes us different but are what casts us in a hue that others can recognise. In that act, we appear. In that action, we are seen. The distinction is subtle, and to some imperceptible. To others, it is clear, and it is obvious. What do you see?
A message from Executive Dean of Health Sciences Professor Suzanne Chambers: Winter has so far been a season of future-thinking and action for the Faculty of Health Sciences.
From Monday 22 July to Friday 9 August, Service Central will be available for extended hours to support staff.
A message from Vice President Father Anthony Casamento csma: From 5 – 9 August we will celebrate Mission Week across our campuses. This is an opportunity for us to come together as a community to cele...
Are you going to be a grandparent soon? Did you know ACU offers personal leave for staff to care for their child or grandchild after birth or adoption?
Discover the learning and career development opportunities that are available online, including the brand-new leadership development program, 'The Edge Series'.
Join ASCILITE and become a member of one of Australasia’s most vibrant professional technology enhanced learning communities, with more than 2200 members from tertiary institutions across Australia an...
Phones will be removed from all classrooms over the mid-semester break, from 23 September to 27 September.
Include an additional survey item in the Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching (SELT) survey for units that are offered in Professional Term 5 (202455).
Australia’s first five-time diving Olympian, a Kiwi gymnast and the woman who taught actor Chris Hemsworth to row will be among 15 ACU students and alumni to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Para...
A message from acting Executive Dean of Theology and Philosophy Associate Professor Richard Colledge: Recently, the faculty has hosted opportunities for reflection on the possibilities for reconcilia...
Are you on your parenthood journey? A practical guide is now available to support staff, and their supervisors, through the stages of becoming a parent and transitioning back to work.
Embark on an exhilarating journey into the mysterious world of enrolments. Register to attend an enrolment information session for Semester 2, 2024.
Join upcoming online workshops in preparation for Semester 2. Secure your spot today to learn how you can utilise Canvas and its features to enhance your teaching practices.
A limitless professional horizon awaits ACU students after its three IT programs were awarded certification by the nation’s most trustworthy player in the tech sector, the Australian Computer Society.
Following evaluation and voting by a panel of ACU judges, Co-Lab is delighted to announce Thomas Clark and Xavier Chalkley as the winners of the $1000 prize for the ACU Co-Lab Social Enterprise Pitch ...
ACU Library staff will participate in professional development activities on Thursday 18 July. While away from their usual posts, they'll be working together across three locations to plan our future ...
Applications for 2024 Teaching Development Grants, Citations and Awards are open. Explore guidelines and resources to enhance your teaching project’s impact or gain recognition for your contributions.
As we sit in this small window of the winter break gearing up for Semester 2, it's important to recognise that not everyone experiences this period as downtime. For many, workloads and busy lifestyles...
This week is NAIDOC Week, an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
ACU staff who are also members with UniSuper can now access free expert medical advice and services to support their health and wellbeing through MetLife 360Health.
Visit Service Central to access Corporate Services.