New chairman for NZMA academic advisory board

Professor Philip Sallis has joined NZMA as Chair of the Academic Advisory Board, bringing to it his wide international expertise across the tertiary sector.  This includes curriculum and institutional reviews in both the polytechnic and university sectors in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Chile.

NZMA’s Academic Advisory Board role is to provide guidance in terms of programme development, delivery and moderation so that students and other stakeholders can be confident that NZMA delivers its courses with the appropriate academic rigour and commitment to quality.

Now pursuing personal consulting work and leisure activities, Professor Sallis has recently reduced his full-time role at the Auckland University of Technology, which he joined as Deputy Vice Chancellor in 1999.  From 2009 -2014 he led a collaborative AUT research project in Chile and in recent years has held senior roles at AUT as Pro Vice Chancellor, while also continuing his research in Telemetrics and GeoComputation.  For 13 years prior to joining AUT, he was the Foundation Professor of Information Science at The University of Otago.  Before that he held academic positions in the United Kingdom and Australia.

NZMA Chief Executive Mark Worsop has praised outgoing Chairman, Dr Alastair MacCormick for his commitment and direction in this space over the past three years.

Mark says, “I’d like to thank Alastair for his leadership and guidance in his tenure as the Chair of NZMA’s Academic Board.  His experience and expertise across the tertiary sector was invaluable”.

He continued, “I’m looking forward to working with Professor Philip Sallis, as we continue to explore our transition to becoming a 21st century vocational provider, and what this means in terms of technology, product diversification, changes in student demand and expectation, and changes in industry and regional demand over the next 10-15 years.”

Professor Sallis’ academic background is in Mathematics and Computer Science with degrees also in History and Theology.  He holds a PhD from The University of London (TCU) in Communication Systems and Information Transfer Theory.  He is widely published in this area and has Fellowships from the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the UK Simulation Society, the International Association of Mathematical Geosciences (IAMG) and the New Zealand Institute of IT Professionals.

Professor Sallis has broad experience and expertise in tertiary education across four universities with appointments at all levels of the teaching, research and management spectrum.  He has participated internationally in curriculum and research development design and implementation, industry and commercial enterprise collaboration, and professional programme accreditation.  He continues to be an active researcher, writer and reviewer of publications, institutional processes and staff development procedures.