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.
03 August 2022
Share
A message from the Executive Dean of Theology and Philosophy Professor Dermot Nestor
Travel and change of place impart vigour to the mind – Seneca
A recent trip to Bogota, Colombia gave me pause to reflect on the significance and experience of travel. While my passage on a Qantas Dreamliner was quantitively different from those terms that define the etymological origin “travel” (torment, labour, strife), what concerned me over the week was less the experience of travel than the motivation for it and the benefits that accrue from it.
We often travel because we have to: an experience familiar to anyone living on an island where the gulf between population centres and extended family members is conceptualised under the rubric of 'tyranny'. Yet we also travel because we want to and, because we need to. Travel is a basic desire of what is fundamentally a migratory species. Travel is also borne from the existential necessity of separating ourselves from the familiar. Distance and difference are the secret elixirs of creativity. They loosen the chains of cognition, making it easier to see something new in what is otherwise old. The mundane and the habitual is grasped from a slightly more abstract and speculative perspective. Efficiency is traded for creativity. Where proximity conditions us to always address the operational requirements of the 'problem at hand', distance sanctions us to activate our imaginations, to think laterally and to embrace the sometimes-errant ideas that can inform strategy.
As an essential habit of effective thinking then, travel and distance – whether physical or cognitive – provides an antidote to the solitary and introverted nature of the traditional academic enterprise. It allows us to recapture the original spirit of exploration that informed our decision to become academics and scholars. The change is decisive.
This trajectory was signaled by Pope Francis in his recent visit to Canada. It is also something we are witnessing closer to home as a firm feature of the eco-systemic framework that defines the Research and Enterprise Plan. This has been embraced by colleagues in discussions of themes that can inform the university’s work; themes that conceive of research and learning and teaching as inherently related rather than activities to be related. The experience of another culture, of another perspective, of other ways of working and thinking leaves us open to the provocative effect of realising all that we do not know.
As I prepare to bring my 16-year-old son to Ireland to undertake a term of high-school, it is my hope, and his, that the experience will change something in his mind: and that will change everything.
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.