Almost 500 staff and students gained insight into how our new Shared Identity was reached – and were invited to unite behind this unified positioning – by Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Corporate Engagement & Advancement) Professor David Wilkinson and Push Collective Head of Strategy. Erminio Putignano at a launch event last week.

“This is about who we are as an organisation, what we stand for, and where we are going” said Marketing Director Kathy Vozella in her introduction to the event.

As an Our University: A Framing of Futures initiative, the Vice-Chancellor was keen to define the relationship of our Shared Identity to our other strategic priorities.

“It is the umbrella that sits over those initiatives and provides us that sense of beacon, that sense of light on the hill, of ‘What are we really all about?’ aspirationally, that defines who we are right now for hopefully the sustainable long term,” said Professor Dowton.

‘Nurturing to break free’ is the ethos that underwrites this new direction. The Vice-Chancellor suggested that initiatives like PACE epitomise this ideal and that we’ll likely see further expression of it in the new Learning and teaching Framework. Drawing on our significant history of boldness and disruption, it empowers today’s staff and students to take Macquarie’s story in to future via discovery and innovation in learning, teaching and research. “We want to be famous for this,” said Erminio, whose agency worked closely with the University to develop the concept.

Watch a short highlight clip of the event:

A new logo, arrived at as part of the Shared Identity discovery process, was also unveiled.

“I’m an alumni, and I was saddened when the lighthouse and Sirius star left this university, but I’m proud again today to see them back,” said Dr Leon McQuade from the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, whose sentiments were endorsed by a warm round of applause from the audience.

Professor Wilkinson spoke about the timeline and complexity of the Shared Identity roll out, and the questions he addressed about these aspects and more have been published in an FAQ.

See our Shared Identity story
If you weren’t able to attend the launch, a travelling exhibition about the project can next be seen outside the Macquarie Theatre on 3 October as part of the Our University: A Framing of Futures inaugural annual conference, and in the Library from 8 to 10 October.

Learn more about our new Shared Identity.