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Hi everyone,

I have been thinking a lot about cadences recently, and about time. I did foolishly ask Google’s AI tool how many working days until the end of the year, and that was sobering – a little bit of eek, and a bit of wow how did we get here already…

Of course, there are more sensible ways to think about the passage of time at the University. For instance, it is the final week of teaching for Semester 1, which feels and is a milestone for so many of us. Yes, it happens every year, and for many of us, it helps structure our days and weeks. It is also a huge accomplishment for our students and our staff and our thanks goes to both. For our staff for committing to that intellectual journey and for all the work that goes into each semester both visibly and invisibly, we should offer our enthusiastic THANKS!!! ! Of course, there is still more to do, before the semester is finally and officially over – including completing the Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) survey so we can better understand the experience of our classrooms, and call out our excellent teachers. Details were shared yesterday via email with students and staff directly, or you can visit the . And finally, for our students, GOOD LUCK with your final assessments. 😊

It is also the middle of a cycle of sub-committees for the ANU Council, including Campus Planning, Audit and Risk, Finance, as well as participating in conversations about the moment we find ourselves in and what comes next. My thanks to my colleagues in the ANU College of Science and Medicine who happily hosted members of Council for a visit on Friday afternoon, and whose students and staff graciously shared their work and their spaces! We are planning to do more of these informal tours and meetings as the year rolls on and so you’ll see Council out and about. This is part of our ongoing experiment to have Council around campus, not just in meeting locations, but part of conversations with all of our staff and students.

Also this week, you may have seen the news that we are welcoming Dr Francis Markham to Council as the Academic staff (Faculties) member. On Campus will also be profiling Council members through this year as we have an extraordinary group of internal and external members who help oversee the University, and bring lots of life and professional experience to ANU. In the meantime, you can read about our members on the ANU website.

As I mentioned last week, I have been thinking a lot about strategy, and I am working with the leadership team to update our Strategic Planning webpages. This is so that we can share more of the work we are doing, the work we have done, and I am hoping to publish some new material over the coming weeks – so stay tuned. And as 2025 continues to tick further along, we will also need to start the process of closing out the ANUby2025 strategy, evaluating its impact, and setting ourselves up for what comes next. This is going to take both internal and external perspectives – I believe objective opinions are needed to best evaluate ourselves and what we have achieved, and what work we still have to do.

Finally, next week is National Reconciliation Week – a time for all of us to not only think about but to actually do things that support truth, justice and reconciliation. We have a program of activities, and we’ll also be sharing the work from our Acton Peninsula neighbours who also do good things. And for those who can brave the cold weather, there will be a special Stargazing evening at Mt Stromlo.

Good thoughts to where this may find you,
Genevieve