Australian Academy of the Humanities turns 50

Happy anniversary to the Australian Academy of the Humanities which was founded 50 years ago today

Australian Academy of the Humanities president Joy Damousi

In today’s Higher Ed Daily Brief: happy 50th, business school appointment

Humanities’ golden age

Happy golden anniversary to the Australian Academy of the Humanities which was founded 50 years ago today on 25 June 1969 by Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth II.

“From its early beginnings, the academy has championed the contribution that the arts, culture, music, history, language and literature, philosophy and archaeology make to our national life,” it says in a birthday statement.

The academy also notes that three Australian giants of the 20th century — historians Sir Keith Hancock and Max Crawford, and former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies — were the ones most responsible for its creation.

The academy’s earliest fellows included historians Manning Clark and Geoffrey Blainey, and poets Judith Wright and A.D. Hope. It now has 620 fellows, all leading experts in their fields.

“It is important, on this significant anniversary for the academy, to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable contribution of the humanities to our nation dating back long before our formation in 1969,” says academy president Joy Damousi.

To mark the anniversary year the academy is running some free public events culminating with the Humanising the Future symposium on November 14-15 in Brisbane.

Wendy Stops to advise Melbourne Business School

Melbourne Business School has appointed technology leader Wendy Stops as the chair of the advisory board of its Centre for Business Analytics.

Ms Stops, who is also a non-executive director of Coles and the Commonwealth Bank, said the rise of data analytics had led to a seismic shift in strategic and operational thinking in business.

“Data analytics is a ‘non-negotiable’ in business today. It has become strategically critical for organisations wanting to grow, gain a competitive advantage and better understand their customers and business,” she said.

The Centre for Business Analytics was founded in 2014 and has launched several initiatives including the Master of Business Analytics and Master of Analytics Management degrees at Melbourne Business School.

Other members of the advisory board include vice president of SAS Australia & New Zealand David Bowie, chief data officer at ANZ Emma Gray, vice president sales and marketing at BP Australia Brooke Miller, and director of global matching and analytics at SEEK Antony Ugoni.