Chancellor Bill Tweddell to retire after seven years at JCU

James Cook University’s departing chancellor has said he will ‘miss’ his role and duties, but is overjoyed to be handing the reins over. Hear what he sees as his legacy.

JCU Chancellor Bill Tweddell at the ‘turning of the first sod’ to mark the start of construction on the JCU Technology Innovation Complex (TIC). Picture: Shae Beplate.

James Cook University’s departing chancellor has said he will ‘miss’ his role and duties, but is overjoyed to be handing the reins over.

Bill Tweddell will be replaced in the role in April of this year after Professor Ngiare Brown was elected to replace him by the JCU council.

“This has been one of the joys of my life,” Mr Tweddell said.

“To come back to my hometown where I did all of my schooling and to get to be the chancellor of my old university that not only gave me my education, but also my first full time job is something special.”

Mr Tweddell has held the role for seven years after a lengthy career in the Foreign Affairs department where he served as Australia’s ambassador to Vietnam for many years.

JCU Chancellor Bill Tweddell will retire this year. Picture: Shae Beplate.

He said his feeling on stepping down was a ‘mixture of sadness and great happiness’ and said his successor was an ‘outstanding’ replacement.

“I’m handing over to someone who embodies the core values of James Cook University and the core values that I’ve tried to inhibit and observe myself while I chaired the council,” Mr Tweddell said.

Bill and Chris Tweddell

“I’m excited and I’m very happy for my university, which is very important to me.”

He said he saw universities like JCU playing a ‘key role’ in society in the years to come.

“Every university in Australia has faced problems, whether that’s financial sustainability and so forth, and it’s not unique to universities, but they’ve had a pretty tough time through Covid,” Mr Tweddell said.

“For society to move forward from this juncture, the universities are going to play a key role in what sort of Australia we become.”

Prime Minister John Howard with wife Janette are meet by Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Bill Tweddell, as exit their aircraft at airport after they arrived in Vietnamese capital Hanoi for APEC Summit.

Regional universities, like JCU, are even more important, he said.

“We have a huge responsibility to the workplace needs, the workforce needs and the communities we serve. It’s a huge responsibility that we take very seriously.

“It’s not like a capital city where you might be one of five or six institutions. It’s a big job, but we have an excellent leadership team in the form of the Chancellor-elect and the Vice Chancellor who started in February last year.”

Mr Tweddell said one of his chief undertakings he was most proud of during his seven-year tenure was in addressing Indigenous disadvantage, sexual assault and sexual harassment.

“It’s a very sensitive and important issue and I’ve been quite determined. We have moved our university from a point where I wasn’t pleased at all to a point, which is not perfect, but we’re in a position where other tertiary institutions look to us.

“We made a very strong push on this as an example of what could and should be done at the management and governance level.”

Mr Tweddell said he plans to remain in Townsville when his term ends in April.

Originally published as Chancellor Bill Tweddell to retire after seven years at JCU