![](/-/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.
10 August 2022
Share
A message from Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Ethics) Professor Hayden Ramsay:
I watched the President of Ukraine, His Excellency President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent address to the university students of Australia, including ACU students. I thought this was extraordinary; as if Churchill or Roosevelt or earlier leaders had taken an hour off wartime command to take questions from young people studying at the other end of the world. The President speaks with great authority at this time and his message commands utter respect.
What impressed me, however, was that students were not overawed or just praising Ukraine and demonising Russia. They asked critical and thoughtful questions, using reason and intelligence.
I sometimes feel it’s almost gone. In ethics, politics, arts and culture, corporate life, religion, academic work—sides are drawn up, views held with intransigence, people signal and cancel and refuse to listen to even a careful case against that year’s/season’s/month’s orthodoxies. Of course, this isn’t unprecedented. It’s a particular period in history; we’ve had it before, and it will recur.
Universities play many roles in complex, modern societies. Perhaps the key role, in solidarity with universities’ distinguished history, is to insist on rational critique and a careful hearing of every view based on reason and held with sincerity.
I’ve recently been reflecting on the resistance to this intellectual tradition, even in the Catholic Church which I attend, and in the great moral debates of our day.
What can we do? Catholic universities are generous in their interpretation of intellectual mission and outreach. Unlike institutions which effectively exclude unpopular academic perspectives, eg Catholic theology, Catholic universities are hungry to include every possible discipline perspective. As institutionally Catholic, they insist that the Catholic perspective on a topic, where it exists, be treated with at least as much academic respect as other perspectives. But we exclude nothing. No signaling, cancelling and demonising, particularly of the much-demonised Catholic and other Christian faiths.
My team is having a wonderful time engaging in ethics discussion and activity with academics across ACU and overseas, particularly in the US. We’re extending our activity with corporates and launching a second online forum, currently under preparation. As well as highlighting the centrality of ethical thinking and debate for an institution such as ours, we’ll be saying much more about rational critique within the broad intellectual mission of Catholic universities, how we can extend, promote and share it.
We’re always happy to speak to anyone about these things, and I’m grateful to the many staff who are already working with us.
Feel free to make contact.
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.