ACE/ACEL Annual Dinner on the Downs

Guest Speaker

Professor Geraldine Mackenzie, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southern Queensland

Professor Mackenzie comes to USQ from Southern Cross University where she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research). At SCU she had strategic responsibility for all research functions, including government and industry partnerships, and research training. She was directly responsible for the Office of Research, the Graduate School, the Institute for Innovative Agriculture, the Institute for Development, Environment and Sustainability, and the Environmental Analysis Laboratory.

Professor Mackenzie returns to USQ having been Foundation Head of the University’s School of Law in 2007 and 2008, before she took up senior executive positions at Bond University: Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business and Community Engagement), and Executive Dean, Faculty of Law. Prior to joining USQ in 2007 she held various senior roles at QUT, and served on QUT Council for nine years. In addition to her extensive organisational leadership, Professor Mackenzie has an international reputation in her own academic background in law, with a PhD in sentencing law from the University of New South Wales. A Barrister-at-Law, she is a member of the Queensland Bar Association, American Bar Association and the International Bar Association.

Professor Mackenzie is currently Chair, Regional Universities Network (RUN) Executive Women, and has held a number of senior positions at State and Federal level including Deputy Chair, Universities Australia Deputy and Pro Vice Chancellors (Research) Committee; Co-Chair, Universities Australia Executive Women; Chair, NSW DVC/PVC (Research) Committee; Chair, Regional Universities Network Research group; Chair, Humanities and Creative Arts panel, Australian Research Council College of Experts; Chair, Queensland Selection Panel American/Australian Fulbright Commission, and was an executive member of the Council of Australian Law Deans.

She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Australian Institute of Management, as well as a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and is an experienced company director. Her research interests are in law and public policy, particularly sentencing.