Australia's longest-serving VC bids farewell

University of Melbourne’s Glyn Davis today reflected on his tenure as the nation’s longest-serving Vice-Chancellor, as he prepares to step down from the role.

Professor Davis has been a Vice-Chancellor since January 2002, first with Griffith University and then at Melbourne.

During those years seven of his deputies have gone to serve as Vice-Chancellors in their own right.

In his farewell message to staff, Professor Davis noted that education is a project offering eternity – not for individuals of course, but as an unbroken transmission of ideas and mission, renewal and discovery across generations.

He thanked colleagues for their commitment – "the academics and professional staff, the student leaders, union representatives and even the occasional protestors, because each one cares about what happens here."

Professor Davis, the University’s 19th Vice-Chancellor, plans to return part-time teaching and research opportunities.

He has been appointed as a Distinguished Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University (ANU), a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute at Kings College London, and at the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford. Professor Davis has also been elected a Visiting Fellow at Exeter College, Oxford.

He will remain connected to the University of Melbourne, continuing in an honorary capacity as a professor of political science in the University’s Faculty of Arts.

Professor Davis wished the new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Duncan Maskell, well in the role from 1 October 2018.