Professor George Earl has been appointed Dean of the Bond Business School, Technology and Sustainable Development at Bond University.
Formerly Deputy Dean of the Faculty and Head of the School of Sustainable Development, Professor Earl was appointed to Dean at the end of June.
His appointment follows the appointment of former Dean, Professor Garry Marchant, to Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost in May.
Professor Earl said his plans for the Faculty revolved primarily around consolidation, following the significant expansion and growth undertaken in the previous two years.
“My plan is to consolidate and grow the initiatives of recent years,” Professor Earl said.
“We now have four Schools – two of which are relatively new – plus a Centre for Executive Education that all operate well as individual entities, but which I believe can benefit from being brought together to a singular focal point.
“We have a great opportunity within this Faculty to create new areas of study that combine elements of the different schools.
“For instance, our School of Sustainable Development puts us in the privileged position of being able to create majors within the School of Business that focus on sustainability in business, such as carbon trading and corporate sustainability.
“These are the issues that will be at the cutting edge of business in the future.”
Professor Earl said he would also look to grow the external links of the Faculty.
“Already, we have strong, established partnerships with high-level corporates including Mirvac, the Macquarie Group and IBM, and we’ll be looking to expand those types of partnerships across the Faculty.
“I’ll also be looking to refocus our MBA offering to ensure it continues to be aligned with the future demands of both students and industry,” he said.
Professor Earl said the increasing frailties of international markets would provide some challenges for the Faculty in the future.
“But by offering unique programs, we can combat those challenges and overcome the problem of a lot of people competing in the same space,” he said.
Professor Earl says at the heart of his decision to join Bond University was the small and flexible nature of the university.
“The beauty of being a small university is that we have the flexibility to change and adapt our programs so they are always reflecting what industry wants.
“If you want to lead a diverse Faculty, it’s much better to do it in an organisation that can adapt to change and be more closely aligned with the needs of the profession and industry, than one where it can take up to two years simply to change the name of a program!
“What appeals to me here is the flexibility, and ability to move fast. It’s an encouraging and exciting place to be.”