Professor John Rickard, Vice Chancellor and President of Southern Cross University, has been appointed to succeed Professor Glenice Hancock who retires later this year as Vice Chancellor and President of Central Queensland University (CQU).

Professor Hancock has been with CQU since 1997 as Deputy Vice Chancellor and 2001 as Vice Chancellor and President.

Professor Rickard is expected to take up his new position by August.

“Professor Rickard shares CQU’s values of being regionally relevant in all that we do, especially in teaching and learning and well-focused research. He’s run a solid operation at SCU and has been able to build research funding quite dramatically,” said CQU Chancellor-designate Rennie Fritschy.

Mr Fritschy, former Queensland Alumina Managing Director and CQU Council member, will succeed the Honourable Justice Stan Jones, CQU’s long-time Chancellor who retires in March.

“I’m enormously enthusiastic about this opportunity. Central Queensland University is a bold, energetic, entrepreneurial, unique University that is recognised nationally as a leader in international education with a strong base in Central Queensland,” said Professor Rickard.

“Professor Rickard is a highly respected leader in tertiary education. He has an established record of achievement in his vice-chancellorship of an emerging regional university and considerable experience in international education,” said CQU Chancellor Stan Jones.

“Thus he brings to CQU a high level of skill and wide experience which promises a solid and exciting future for this university,” he added.

Rickard was named Vice-Chancellor and President at Southern Cross University in 2000, where he implemented structural changes and entered in strategic partnerships with academic and other organisations, which enhanced the University’s reputation for research and student services especially in the areas of rural health, business studies and tourism, and plant and marine science.

CQU’s current Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Glenice Hancock, has welcomed the appointment of Professor Rickard as her successor.

“Professor Rickard is a good colleague, a very credible leader in higher education and a person who will bring to CQU experience and understanding of multi-campus regional universities. I think CQU will benefit greatly from his experience and the freshness of vision he will bring,” Professor Hancock said.

“When I leave CQU in a few months, I will feel confident that it will continue to go from strength to strength under Professor Rickard’s leadership. I wish him and his wife, Veronica, great happiness and success,” she added.

Professor Rickard will oversee operations at CQU that cater to more than 21,000 students across a network of locations across Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, five campuses in Central Queensland, and overseas in China, Singapore and Hong Kong.