Quality staff key to future

New vice-president on what brought him back to Avondale

Kathy Readford
Student support officer
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

The quality and the innovation of its teaching could earn Avondale College an international reputation, says the higher education provider’s new vice-president (research).

Professor Tony Williams comes to the position after almost 21 years at the University of Newcastle, most recently as head of the School of Architecture and Built Environment. “It was time for a change,” he says.

An understanding of Avondale’s ethos has eased the transition, although “entering a new culture has been difficult.” Tony, a graduate of 1978, has served as a member of council, which commissioned him to review Avondale’s faculties, structures and courses. The report includes this statement: “The quality and enthusiasm of the staff has created an environment which is probably the most supportive of students in Australia.” Some staff are peers from Tony’s student days. It all makes working at Avondale “very pleasant,” he says.

The opportunity to enhance Avondale’s “considerable potential” for research and scholarly activities across multidisciplinary domains interests Tony. It also fits well with his own expertise in design cognition—Tony has studied the skills designers need to collaborate in virtual teams and the curriculum models, teaching methods and assessment models supporting the creative process of design.

Designing a good meal also appears to be an area of expertise. “I learnt a great deal about cooking while working with Bruce Cantrill at Sanitarium,” says Tony. “Creating something from nothing in a short amount of time is a great way to unwind after a day’s work.”—with Brenton Stacey