Two new PVCs bring international experience

 

Published by the Communications and Development Department

 

18 December 2003

 

 

Two new appointees to Pro-Vice-Chancellor positions at the University of Canterbury have strong international records of academic leadership.

 

Professor Nigel Healey, currently Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Britain’s largest university business school, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School (MMUBS), has been appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the new College of Business and Economics.

 

Professor Scott Davidson, currently Dean of Law at the University of Waikato and formerly Director of the Law School at the University of Hull, has been appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the School of Law.

 

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Roy Sharp, said he was impressed by the field of applicants and pleased to be able to announce two further high-calibre appointments.

 

“The international experience both have had in academic leadership roles was a major factor in their appointment,” he said.

 

The latest announcements follow the appointment last week of Professor Kenneth Strongman as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the College of Arts, the first of five new positions to head four Colleges and a School of Law in a new structure to take effect from 1 January 2004.

 

Decisions on the final two PVC positions, in the Colleges of Engineering and of Science, will be announced late in January when the interview processes are completed.

 

Professor Healey was born in Britain and holds degrees in economics and business administration from the Universities of Nottingham, Leeds and Warwick. He lectured at University College Northampton and Leeds Metropolitan University, before joining the University of Leicester in 1989, where he set up the Centre for European Economic Studies. In 1994, he was awarded a Jean Monnet Chair by the European Commission.

He became Professor and Head of the Department of Business Studies at MMUBS in 1996 and took on his current roles in 2000. As Dean, he is responsible for all aspects of the strategic and operational management of the Business School and is a member of the University’s senior management team.

Professor Healey’s research interests include European economic and monetary integration and economic transition in post-communist states. He has published 15 books, 20 book chapters and 40 articles in refereed academic journals and served as an economic policy advisor to the governments of Belarus and Russia.

Since 1990, he has managed a dozen major multinational research and consultancy projects and he is presently an executive board member of the Association of Business Schools.

 

Professor Davidson was born and educated in Britain, completing BA and MA degrees in law at Cambridge University’s Downing College.

 

He lectured in law at the University of Hull for 10 years before taking a position at Canterbury’s Law School, where he rose to Associate Professor level.

He returned to Hull as professor of international law and Director of the Law School in 2000 and recently took up the role of Dean of Law at Waikato University. In both positions he had executive responsibilities, serving on the Faculty Executive at Hull and the Senior Management Team at Waikato.

 

Professor Davidson has an international reputation in his specialist areas of the international law of human rights and the international law of the sea. He has published nine books, 11 chapters in books and 43 articles in refereed journals, and is still active in research and supervision, currently supervising seven PhD students.

 

Starting dates for the appointees are still being negotiated.

Note: Electronic copies of photos of both appointees are available from the University’s Director of Communications and Development, Jeff Field, phone +64 3 364-2838 or email jeff.field@canterbury.ac.nz

 

For further information contact

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Roy Sharp

Phone +64 3 366-7001, ext 8812.