Marc Wilson, PRESIDENT

Marc Wilson is the President of the Ako Aotearoa Academy Executive Committee. He was elected President in March 2018. 

''I am intellectually indigenous to Victoria University, having come here straight from School and never leaving. I am now fully institutionalised, and seek to understand this “real world” people speak of through my research and teaching… 

More seriously, however, I have been a member since 2008, and was a member of the first and second generation of the Academy Executive. I’ve been away for a wee while, being Head of School of Psychology at VUW, and I am currently Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) for the Faculty of Science. I teach from pre-degree to PhD, but the highlight of my year is coordinating and teaching first-year psychology – seizing on the enthusiasm these yet-to-be-jaded almost-adults have for a subject most of them have never formally studied, and showing them they made the right decision. ''

What might I bring to the Exec? I’ve been there before in the heady days when we were starting up, and have built my understanding of the tertiary sector through my roles since. If I have a particular positive, it’s a long track record of working through and with media (I currently write a weekly column in the NZ Listener, among other things). I believe this may be helpful in making the vision expressed at the 2016 Symposium real, at a time when there have been changes at both Board and Operational level in the broader Ako machine.