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Vice-Chancellor to leave USC in 2010
After 16 years of guiding the University of the Sunshine Coast from initial planning to a thriving campus of 7,000 students, USC’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Thomas AM has announced that he will not seek another contract.
Professor Thomas told last night’s University Council meeting that he would remain with USC only until his current contract expires in December 2010.
With accumulated leave entitlements, Professor Thomas is likely to finish up at the University by mid-2010, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Greg Hill will become Acting Vice-Chancellor for the remainder of the year.
USC will soon advertise for a new Vice-Chancellor to start in 2011.
Professor Thomas has been widely recognised for his work with a Fellowship from the Australian College of Educators, a Paul Harris Rotary International Medal, a Centenary Medal in 2001, and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) award in 2007 for services to higher education and the establishment of the University of the Sunshine Coast.
He said he would find it very difficult to leave USC.
“Since conveying my decision to the Chancellor in August, this has been a difficult period for me as I feel deeply about this place and the people within it, as well as for the many people in the community who have supported the University and me personally,” he said.
“I have really had to wrestle with this decision because, at a personal level, I would have liked to have continued for a couple more years.
“But I’m convinced that with changes afoot in the higher education sector, there is a unique opportunity for a new Vice-Chancellor to map an exciting long-term future for USC in the new sectoral environment.”
Professor Thomas started as Planning President in 1994 and became the inaugural Vice-Chancellor in 1996 when USC opened as a University College with only 524 students, two buildings and a choice of only two degrees.
It now has almost 7,000 students, 16 buildings and more than 100 undergraduate and postgraduate study programs.
“That span of 16 years has seen the University develop from a boggy cane field to an increasingly powerful regional university, growing rapidly, and with the potential to reach its strategic target of 15,000 students in the next decade,” Professor Thomas said.
“It has been a privilege accorded few Vice-Chancellors to have been associated with the creation of a new university, but I have no doubt in my mind about this growth having been a team accomplishment.
“There’s been an overwhelmingly positive culture here that has enabled us to make the progress at a pace few thought possible at the outset. In leadership positions across the world I’ve never known such a talented group of people work together so cohesively for the greater good than I’ve seen here.
“Leaving will be a huge wrench, with which I still fully have to come to terms.”
Professor Thomas said he was looking forward to spending more time with his family and pursuing his passion for photography and renewing his interest in golf.
— Terry Walsh