17 December 2013
Monash University Council has appointed Professor Margaret Gardner AO as the ninth Vice-Chancellor of Monash University, and the first woman to serve in the role.
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Professor Gardner will commence on 1 September 2014, succeeding Professor Edward Byrne, who will become President and Principal at King’s College London.
Professor Gardner is currently Vice-Chancellor and President of RMIT University. She previously held a range of senior academic roles, including serving as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at The University of Queensland.
Professor Gardner led RMIT from a near financial meltdown in 2005 to its current strong position and vibrant urban presence. During her Vice-Chancellorship at RMIT, she served also in a number of advisory and leadership roles, from President of the Board of Museum Victoria to membership of the federal government’s International Advisory Committee chaired by Michael Chaney AO.
University Chancellor Dr Alan Finkel said Professor Gardner will be an outstanding asset to Monash University.
Professor Gardner’s extensive academic career combined with her expertise in economics, industrial relations and organisational management will further advance Monash University’s position as a world-leading research institution, and continue to develop the opportunities offered to our students.
Professor Gardner said she is “delighted and honoured” to be joining Monash.
Monash University is one of the world’s top 100 universities. It has an international presence unique for Australia and rare anywhere in higher education. Monash is striving to be among the top research universities in the world has the expansive vision, the brilliant staff and outstanding students to succeed and make a distinctive contribution to the Asia Pacific and to the world.
With a first class honours degree in Economics and a PhD from the University of Sydney, in 1988 Professor Gardner was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow spending time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
In 2007, Professor Gardner was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of service to tertiary education, particularly in the areas of university governance and gender equity, and to industrial relations in Queensland.
She has also served on the boards of a number of bodies, including in the arts and education sectors.
She continues to serve on a number of arts and education boards. Alongside her work chairing the Museums Board of Victoria, Professor Gardner is Chair of the Strategic Advisory Committee, Office for Learning and Teaching and a director of Universities Australia, Open Universities Australia and the Fulbright Commission Advisory Board.
She has been a member of a range of other Committees including the Council of Australia Latin American Relations Board (COALAR), the ANZAC Centenary Advisory Board and International Education Advisory Committee (Chaney Committee), and has chaired government reviews into educational pathways and industrial relations.
