The University of Newcastle announced last month that Professor Mark Hoffman will join the University’s executive leadership team as the Academic Deputy Vice-Chancellor in March 2020.
Professor Hoffman has held the position of Dean of Engineering at UNSW for the past five years and before that was the institution’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science.
Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Alex Zelinsky said Professor Mark Hoffman’s interests and achievements were a great fit for the University of Newcastle.
“Professor Hoffman’s commitment to serving the community through cross-disciplinary education and research, along with his achievements in work integrated learning programs, will be an enormous asset as we move forward with our strategic plan for the next five years,” he said.
At UNSW, Professor Hoffman established Design Next – a school that provides design education to students across four faculties.
He has also led new approaches to work integrated learning at UNSW with 4,500 students now engaged each year.
The Maker Games project-based learning initiative he championed with industry received a 2018 AFR Education Innovation Award.
Under his leadership, the number of students studying engineering disciplines at UNSW increased by 30 per cent, to 16,000 in 2019.
Mark Hoffman said he was looking forward to bringing his approach and ideas to the University of Newcastle.
“The University of Newcastle has a great reputation for innovation and doing things differently. I look forward to contributing my ideas to help take the institution forward,” he said.
“I see the role of a university as being to support and serve our communities, and communities’ challenges are cross-disciplinary, so we need to be sure we are working in a way that aligns to their needs,” he said.
Mark started his schooling at Gateshead Primary School in the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie area, and is looking forward to closing the loop with a return to the region.
IMAGE | Professor Mark Hoffman comes full circle with his acquisition at the University of Newcastle.
