Charles Sturt University (CSU) will recognise Professor Jennifer Sumsion’s academic career and contribution to early childhood education at the August graduation ceremony.

Professor Sumsion will be conferred with the award of Emeritus Professor at a ceremony to be held in Sydney on 31 August. The award reflects her esteemed academic career and the influence of her research on government early childhood education policy.

CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Vann said the University holds enormous respect for Professor Sumsion.

“Professor Sumsion is an outstanding role model as an academic leader, recognised nationally and internationally for her expertise,” Professor Vann said.

“Professor Sumsion’s leadership, mentoring and commitment has enabled the University to undertake ground-breaking research in early years’ education, and Charles Sturt University is proud to confer the title of Emeritus Professor.”

Professor Sumsion described the award as a great personal honour and culmination of her 40-year career in early childhood education.

“It’s also a wonderful recognition of our success over the past decade at Charles Sturt University in building a team of world class early childhood education researchers who are making outstanding contributions to early childhood education policy and practice,” Professor Sumsion said.

Professor Sumsion has made a significant contribution to CSU especially in the development of a rigorous, collaborative and high-quality research culture both within the discipline of early childhood education, and across the University more broadly.

Her commitment to building strong, effective and ongoing collaborative partnerships with industry has contributed to CSU’s early childhood researchers forging strong relationships with many organisations across the University’s regions and the nation.

Professor Sumsion has consistently shared her knowledge and experience with the University particularly in the mentorship of emerging researchers, early career academic staff, doctoral students, and post-doctoral fellows.

Her work and her contribution have supported CSU to achieve above world standard ranking in Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, in the most recent Excellence in Research for Australia round in 2015.

The doctorate will be conferred at the CSU graduation ceremony in Sydney 31 August at Rosehill Gardens.

More information

• In 2008 and 2009 Professor Sumsion led the development, trial and validation of the first national early childhood curriculum, Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia.
• Professor Sumsion prepared the successful application for the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research funded Excellence in Research in Early Years Education Collaborative Research Network (2011 to 2015), and as co-director of the Network with colleagues from Queensland University of Technology and Monash University.The academic and industry collaborations generated by the Network are now an ongoing part of the fabric of early childhood research at Charles Sturt University.
• Professor Sumsion has led significant externally funded studies, which have attracted more than $3.3m in research funding. She has been a Chief Investigator on six Australian Research Council Discovery and Linkage Grants, four as lead Chief Investigator.
• Professor Sumsion has undertaken research for the Victorian Government Department of Education and Early Childhood and the South Australian Government Department of Education and Children’s Services, and for key stakeholder organisations in early childhood, including Goodstart Early Learning, the Professional Support Coordinator’s Alliance, Victorian Children’s Protection Society, and the Scanlon Foundation.