Deakin University appoints new Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

Deakin University today (15 June 2009) announced the appointment of Professor Philip Clarke as its new Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic). Professor Clarke is currently the University's Pro Vice-Chancellor (International).

Deakin University's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sally Walker, said: "I am delighted with this appointment. Professor Clarke has always been passionate about teaching and learning, both in his leadership roles as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin University and in his own teaching as a very highly regarded Law Professor. I am sure that he will use his knowledge and enthusiasm, and the outstanding leadership skills he has demonstrated in his current role as Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), to ensure that Deakin offers excellent, contemporary undergraduate and postgraduate programs that are attractive to students. He will continue the work of Professor John Rosenberg in establishing Deakin University as a leader in flexible education."

Professor Clarke joined Deakin University in February 1989 as an Associate Professor of Commercial Law. In 1992, he was appointed as the University's Foundation Professor of Law and in 1993 as the inaugural Head of its Law School. In that position he played a leading role in developing Deakin's Law program which was the first in Victoria to be available, not only on campus, but also via distance learning, and the first in Australia to have a deliberate and distinct orientation towards commercial law.

In 2004, Professor Clarke was a finalist in the Australian Awards for University Teaching. In 2006 he was awarded a Carrick citation for 'Outstanding leadership in course design, development and delivery that has expanded the accessibility of legal education and enhanced graduate outcomes'. In 2007 he was appointed as an Auditor for the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA).

Together with Deakin's Institute of Koorie Education, he was also responsible for establishing a Law program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

In 1999 Professor Clarke was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin University and in 2008 as Pro Vice-Chancellor (International).

Professor Clarke is a graduate of the Universities of Western Australia and Auckland; he was the James Nelson International Fellow at Northwestern University in Chicago from 1986-87. For a number of years Professor Clarke was the Director of the Western Australian Law Reform Commission.