CQUniversity appoints new Vice-President (Academic)
CQUniversity has welcomed the appointment of Professor Michelle Bellingan as the University's new Vice-President (Academic).
The appointment was announced to university staff late last year' following a competitive recruitment process that attracted more than 20 high-quality applications from Australia and overseas.
After serving five years as CQU's Dean of the School of Health' Medical and Applied Sciences' Professor Bellingan commenced her new position of Provost in January 2023' bringing three decades of tertiary teaching' academic management and research experience to the role.
In her role as Dean of the University's largest School' Professor Bellingan oversaw the delivery of several transformative projects' including the establishment of CQUniversity's Regional Medical Pathway in partnership with the University of Queensland and local hospital and health services.
The Townsville resident has also been responsible for developing several industry collaborations and partnerships to deliver seamless Vocational and Higher Education opportunities which support health workforce growth in regional and remote Australia.
Professor Bellingan said she is excited to continue to provide strategic and academic leadership in her new position as Vice-President (Academic)' with a focus on educational design and delivery that meets the ever-evolving needs of students and industry.
"I am grateful for this new opportunity to work with the University's wider communities as we shape the future for CQUniversity to be Australia's most supportive and engaged University'" she said.
"As Provost' I hope to encourage and facilitate the development and delivery of high quality and innovative courses and learning experiences for our students."
As part of the Senior Executive team' Professor Bellingan will drive this agenda through institutional strategy and operations' including oversight and implementation of relevant organisational systems and quality assurance processes' budget allocation' and general management across CQU's Tertiary Education Division (TED).
Her leadership team comprises of the University's Deans and Deputy Vice-Presidents who guide close to 4'000 staff to deliver 340 HE and VET courses to 31'900 students' with two-thirds of those students being from regional and remote backgrounds.
Professor Bellingan replaces CQUniversity's former Vice-President (Academic) Professor Helen Huntly OAM' who announced her retirement at the beginning of 2022 after seven years as Provost.
