Vice-Chancellor
Rufus holds degrees in law, politics, economics, ethics, and theology from the University of Melbourne and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
During his time at Oxford, Rufus started his teaching career working as a tutor at Keble and Magdalen Colleges. He returned to Australia to undertake a post-doctoral fellowship where he continued deep interdisciplinary interests, publishing in the fields of both ethics and economics.
This led to a career in the consulting world, after which Rufus returned to academia at the University of Melbourne. He co-led the creation of a Master of Entrepreneurship and taught into the program as an Enterprise Professor in the Department of Management and Marketing. He was also a Principal Fellow in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Philosophy and taught as lead faculty for the Centre for Ethical Leadership. During this time he was Master of Melbourne University’s Ormond College.
Rufus’s research and writing have been published widely, including by Oxford University Press and Routledge. Most recently, he has completed a chapter on the Ethics of War, which will appear in a forthcoming book by Routledge.
He has also authored a number of major public reports for the Australian Government, drawing on his expertise in ethics, management, and strategy.
Rufus work on economic issues and his commercial experience has included being a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he worked on strategy, organisation, and public sector issues in Australia and Asia, being a Board Member of the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia, a Board Member of Innovation Science Australia, and a Director of the national law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
Rufus’s educational and social sector experience includes being President of Museums Victoria, the Deputy Chancellor of Victoria University, the founding Chair of the Board of Teach for Australia, a Director of the New York-based Teach for All, a Director of the Cranlana Foundation, and a Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
University Executive Team
The UET's purpose is to make collective decisions on key matters with University-wide impacts, including matters submitted for Council consideration. UET meets weekly. University staff can access more information on the UET (staff intranet).
- Making decisions on emerging strategic and significant operational matters with cross-University impact, including research, teaching and learning matters, emerging issues related to academic functions and student activities, key matters that impact on staff performance and organisational culture, and decision papers for consideration by University Council and its committees.
- Endorsing University strategies, plans, budgets and performance measures, as developed through other University bodies and portfolios, for submission to Council.
- Monitoring KPIs and performance reports for key University strategies, plans and associated targets in order to identify emerging issues and resulting actions that will enable the University to achieve its objectives, and to report on performance to Council.
- Approving operational policies and endorsing policies, Ordinances, Governance Principles etc requiring Council approval
UET is chaired by the Vice-Chancellor or, if absent, the Vice-Chancellor’s nominee. Membership comprises:
- Vice-Chancellor: Professor Rufus Black
- Chair of Academic Senate: Professor Natalie Brown
- Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic: Professor Ian Anderson
- Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research: Professor Anthony Koutoulis
- Executive Dean and Pro Vice-Chancellor, College of Arts, Law and Education: Professor Kate Darian-Smith
- Executive Dean, College of Business and Economics: Professor Stuart Crispin
- Executive Dean, College of Health and Medicine: Professor Denise Fassett
- Executive Dean, College of Sciences and Engineering: Mr Terry Bailey
- Vice-President Strategy, Finance and Marketing & Acting Chief Operations Officer: Mr Craig Barling
- Chief People Officer: Ms Kristen Derbyshire
- Executive Director Strategic Communications: Ms Kate Huntington
- Secretary: Mr Rick Inglis