Meet Griffith University’s sneaker-wearing, ocean-swimming VC, Carolyn Evans
Griffith University Vice Chancellor Carolyn Evans is a big believer in the transformational nature of education and is passionate about the universitys’s values and purpose.
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At dawn, when most of us are still fast asleep, Carolyn Evans is already on her feet. Clad in her swimsuit and walking gear, she makes her way briskly along the shoreline near her apartment in Main Beach on the Gold Coast before taking an early morning swim, letting the ocean do its work.
“It’s just fantastic for me both physically and psychologically. It’s a really good way to start the day,” Evans, 54, says.
As Vice Chancellor of Griffith University, Evans’ responsibilities are far-reaching.
The ocean helps her keep things in perspective and reminds her of what she can and can’t control. Over the past six years, there has been plenty of both.
Evans arrived in Queensland from her hometown of Melbourne in 2019. Prior to joining Griffith, she spent eight years at the University of Melbourne where she held roles including deputy vice-chancellor, deputy provost, dean and professor of law.
It was the same university where she obtained an arts and law degree, which she followed up with a doctorate from Oxford University where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Her course to greatness set, she was later awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholarship to study in the United States.
Coming to Griffith was no coincidence. Evans had heard much about its commitment to not only excellence in research and teaching but social justice and inclusion while working under the leadership of Professor Glyn Davis – a former VC of Griffith – when he was VC of UoM. He told her he thought Griffith would be a good fit for her if the opportunity ever arose.
“Griffith had a couple of things I really admired. One was it’s a comprehensive university, so it took the arts and social sciences seriously as well as health and science and technology,’’ she says.
“I think the problems that we’re going to solve in the future are going to require people with really different disciplinary backgrounds to come together, so we need universities that have lots of disciplines in them.’’
But the clincher?
“Griffith has a heart, and that’s a bit more intangible,” she says.
“It doesn’t show up in the statistics quite in the same way, though certainly our students have really positive things to say about our education and their sense of belonging.”
According to Evans, one of the things that distinguishes Griffith from other universities is its sense of value and purpose.
“It was set up by people who were really keen that it not be an ivory tower, that it addressed the real needs of the communities it was part of, and for me that was certainly one of the things that brought me here,” she says.
Now Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Davis is one of the people who inspires Evans the most to this day.
“He really was a very transformational vice chancellor, somebody who could have an incredible strategy to drive what was already a very good university to being a really outstanding university, but he also always would still have time to mentor and support people like me and many, many others.
“He was very generous with his time and advice and remains so. He’s certainly somebody I look up to,” she says.
The others are her mum, Tess, and dad, Terry. “My parents have certainly been an inspiration to me. They didn’t come from a wealthy background but both of them went on to do further education when they were in the middle of their careers, which I think gave me a great example of how important it was and how much education can change people’s lives not just when they’re 18 but right throughout their lives,” she says.
Tess studied a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English Literature part-time and went on to become a successful author while Terry studied to be a trade teacher at TAFE.
“There weren’t many people in my neighbourhood who had degrees when we were growing up, that wasn’t a common thing. Mum always loved reading and shared that love with me. Teaching was something Dad really loved doing.
“Both of them did things they found really fulfilling later in life,’’ she says.
“For me, it’s one of the reasons I think it’s really great that Griffith recognises and tries to make our courses flexible and open and available for people who might be home with a couple of kids, who might’ve progressed a certain way in their job and are now ready for something to get to the next stage of their career.’’
Evans’ achievements at Griffith so far have been many. As the university celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, her leadership initiatives are helping to ensure its future growth and success.
In 2019 she set to work developing a new strategic plan around the concept of creating a “brighter future for all”.
“We try and use that as our north star when we’re thinking about the big decisions we have to make when we’ve got limited resources, and how we can utilise them to try and make a better future not just for an elite group of people or a favoured group of people but for everybody,” she says.
In 2023 Evans launched the university’s first comprehensive philanthropic campaign, which has so far raised over $110m for scholarships and research.
This was followed by the savvy purchase of the heritage-listed Treasury Building in the CBD from The Star Entertainment Group in 2024 to open a new city campus for Griffith in 2027.
“It took a while, but it’s been worth the wait. I do think getting the city campus will be a game changing difference,” Evans says.
“We’re really excited by that. I think it brings all of the wonderful things Griffith has been doing for a long time to the attention of people north of the river, because we already have very active engagement south of the river.
“It will make it far easier for a much larger number of students to get to Griffith and do some of our programs and will make it easier for students to balance their work, which is often in the CBD. It also allows us to engage with our partners much better,’’ she says.
“We can have industry and government and community organisations that do tend to be based in the CBD very easily come to our campus or us come to them. It will be a short walk rather than a drive and that will really help to make sure our degrees are relevant and that our research is engaged with things that are important to those partners.’’
Bringing an iconic Brisbane building into the education fold was a major coup for Griffith.
“It’s one of the most extraordinary buildings in Brisbane which many people have not gone into and not engaged with while it’s been a casino,” she says.
“To turn it into a place where there’s public art exhibitions, public lectures, concerts, historical tours – I hope it will really return to being a public building for Brisbane and not just benefit us as a university.”
The new city campus will be home to the business, information technology and law schools, as well as a centre for postgraduate and executive education, with about 7000 students and 200 staff by 2035.
It will complement Griffith’s campuses in South Bank, Nathan, Logan and the Gold Coast, with Mt Gravatt set to close and be consolidated into Nathan by 2026. Evans is just as proud of the quieter achievements, such as simplifying the degree program to make it easier for people to change courses, move across from TAFE, get work experience recognised and access their degrees through different pathways. Research has also been a major focus.
Looking back at what Griffith has achieved in 50 years – helping to shape Queensland by reaching out to different communities and providing a higher education to many who otherwise might not have been able to access one - Evans couldn’t be prouder.
“We’ve graduated more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students than any other Queensland university, and have one of the largest cohorts in Australia,’’ she says.
“We now see the children of those graduates come back to Griffith, and occasionally grandchildren. Just to see the ongoing effect of the importance of education, for me, that’s what I’m incredibly proud of.’’
It hasn’t all been rosy of course. Living in another city to her husband, Australian Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue, has meant lots of weekend flights between Melbourne and the Gold Coast to see each other. Meanwhile, steering the university through the pandemic and navigating cuts to international student numbers are two of the biggest challenges she’s faced during her tenure.
“It was not on my bingo card dealing with Covid for two years and having to close the university down and teach online and all those things that happened. It wasn’t on my bingo card that we would have such problems with visas last year that would see another set of financial problems hit the university,” she says.
Evans is adamant universities must be funded in a way that is sustainable.
“Once you start reducing international student numbers quite dramatically, it’s really that there is not enough money in the system to provide good quality educational experiences for Australian students, high quality research, and all the things that we do in the community. We’re not funded for that,” she says.
Evans’ first year of university in 1989 coincided with the first year of the national student loan system, HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme).
“I do think it’s fair that students pay some of their fees, but some students are just paying far too much now and the government is paying almost none of their degrees, and that’s not fair. There should be a balance between public and personal funding,” she says.
As she continues to fight the good fight and lead Griffith into the future, Evans has her feet planted firmly on the sand.
This article was produced in partnership with Griffith University for its 50th anniversary.
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