A retired Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic leader has been honoured in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.Emeritus Professor Ross Chambers has been awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to education through a range of senior academic roles, and for providing tertiary study opportunities in regional areas.
* Emeritus Professor Ross Chambers awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to education.
* Professor Chambers was central to the development of a number of major CSU initiatives and courses including the establishment of CSU in Port Macquarie.
A retired Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic leader has been honoured in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Emeritus Professor Ross Chambers (pictured) has been awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to education through a range of senior academic roles, and for providing tertiary study opportunities in regional areas.
When asked about the award Professor Chambers said he felt very fortunate and thankful for this honour.
“I have really valued being able to do the kind of things that I’ve done at Charles Sturt University,” Professor Chambers said.
“The honour is a product of the range of communities I’ve been able to work in; these are the Charles Sturt University community, the policing community, the Christian and Islamic faith communities, and in particular the Wiradjuri community, as well as the communities of regional Australia.”
Professor Chambers said he hoped the award reflects positively on all these communities.
“The honour stresses my role in regional Australia, and how much I value the role of universities in making successful communities and societies,” Professor Chambers added.
Professor Chambers was central to the development of a number of major CSU initiatives and courses including the establishment of CSU in Port Macquarie.
CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Vann described the award as a great and well deserved honour for Professor Chambers.
“The legacy that Professor Chambers has provided to Charles Sturt University and the higher education sector in regional New South Wales is one that will have impact for generations to come. The vision Professor Chambers bought to not only teaching and learning, but the opportunities for future development of higher education in the regions is and was profound. The University welcomes this announcement and congratulates Professor Chambers on this honour,” Professor Vann said.
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Career summary for Emeritus Professor Ross Chambers:
Commenced at Riverina CAE in 1979 as a lecturer in history and politics (following studies at University of Sydney and School of Slavonic Studies, London, in Russian history and history of political and social thought)
Taught political and social thought; Russian history; ethics; and social policy. Promoted to principal lecturer in 1988 (translated to Associate Professor on formation of CSU).
From 1990 to 2012 held senior leadership positions at CSU as:
* Head, School of Humanities and Social Sciences 1990-1992, overseeing the introduction of social work programs at CSU
* Dean, Faculty of Arts, 1992-2002
* Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) 2002-2012
Other achievements of Professor Chambers as a CSU Dean and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, in addition to the general growth of the University (from 20 000 to 40 000 students):
* CSU’s service to regional Australia, participation (especially low socio-economic status and Indigenous), and the professions;
* Development of CSU’s world-leading policing and security programs from 1992, including the successive contracts with NSW Police and CSU participation in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security (to date CSU’s only ARC Centre of Excellence);
* The CSU Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE), the first (and to date only) ARC Special Research Centre at CSU and the first established in a post-1989 university and the first established in a humanities discipline; and, more generally the development with Professor Seumas Miller of CSU’s strength in ethics;
* Establishment of the CSU School of Theology, and the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation;
* CSU’s Indigenous Education and Indigenous Employment Strategies, and the Wiradjuri language and heritage recovery programs developed at CSU with the Wiradjuri Council of Elders;
* Pathway and participation programs, especially those directed to low socio-economic status and rural and remote communities and TAFE articulation;
* Introduction of the CSU veterinary science program and the establishment of the National Life Sciences Hub (NaLSH) at CSU in Wagga Wagga in 2012;
* The establishment of CSU in Port Macquarie;
* Acted as Head of Campus for Port Macquarie on a part-time basis from 2013 to 2015 following retirement as DV-C in 2012.
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