Charles Darwin University has appointed a Territorian and Indigenous person to the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Leadership.
CDU Vice-Chancellor Professor Helen Garnett said Steven Larkin, currently Principal of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra, has been appointed to the position, making him the highest ranking Indigenous person in an Australian university.
“We believe this is the first time that an Indigenous person has been appointed to such a senior level in an Australian university,” Professor Garnett said. Mr Larkin will report directly to the Vice-Chancellor.
Mr Larkin has extensive leadership experience in Indigenous organisations including the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, the Aboriginal Health Strategy Unit in the NT Health Services and the Community Development and Social Health Branch of the Federal Department of Health and Aged Care.
He holds a Bachelor of Social Work, a Master of Social Science (Welfare and Social Policy) and is completing his PhD on the topic “Race matters? Indigenous employment in the Australian Public Service”.
Professor Garnett said Mr Larkin would join the University Executive and would be responsible for the Indigenous components of CDU activities.
“Indigenous participation and relevance is one of the five key areas we have identified in our Futures Framework to be benchmarked in the top band of Australian public universities progressively over the next 10 years,” she said. “Indeed we aim to be the best.”
The Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Leadership responsibilities are considerable and will include incorporating Indigenous perspectives into mainstream University core business, enhancing key relationships between the University and its Indigenous stakeholders, fostering relationships between CDU and the United Nations University IAS Centre of Excellence in Traditional Knowledge as well as ensuring CDU is the leader in providing outcomes for Indigenous students.
“Steven Larkin has a record of strong and innovative leadership, and proven academic standing. He is currently an Adjunct Professor with CDU and has fostered close working relationships between CDU and AIATSIS. We are delighted to announce his appointment to CDU,” Professor Garnett said.
Mr Larkin said he looked forward to working with his colleagues to position CDU as Australia's leading university in Indigenous studies. He said this would be achieved “through strategic and effective incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems throughout the University, improving Indigenous enrolment and graduation rates, Indigenous staffing numbers and levels, and also through the strength of its relations with the NT and national Indigenous community”.
“I want to see CDU as the university of choice for students, academic staff, researchers and significant others who work or research in the discipline of Indigenous studies throughout Australia,” he said.
Mr Larkin will take up the position in January 2009.