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Firsts!

And heartfelt thankyous

It is almost Easter time, and it’s hard to believe that half of our trimester is almost gone. I was speaking with a colleague the other day about how busy everyone seemed, and we agreed that it felt like six months had passed since the beginning of the year rather than the three and a half months that have actually passed. There is never enough time in a week to get ahead, and with governments making changes and elections looming, I don’t think anything will slow down anytime soon.

One of the first things I want to say is a heartfelt thank you to everyone in Australia who sent their condolences to me and other colleagues in New Zealand in the wake of the terrorist attack in Christchurch on 15 March this year. The comments were very much appreciated and helpful to those of us with heavy hearts. It was, sadly, a first for New Zealand, but with the recent passing of gun control laws in New Zealand, we are hoping that it is truly the last time it will happen here.

Photo by michael schaffler on Unsplash

Wooden blocks with the letters THANK YOU with a gold heart in the middle

The other ‘first’ I wanted to mention has to do with our inaugural webinar organised through Charles Darwin University (CDU) and presented on 11 April. David Cawthorne from CDU presented ‘Lessons Learned from Starting Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Projects in Australian Universities. There were 39 participants involved in total; 26 AAIR members and 13 non-members. If you didn’t get a chance to sign up, please watch this space, as we hope to present more webinars in the future. These webinars will be free for AAIR members and have a nominal charge for non-members. Many thanks to Penny Szybiak and David Cawthorne from CDU and to our Executive Officer Liesha Northover for all their hard work in getting the webinar finalised. If anyone has any ideas for future webinars, please let Liesha know at info@aair.org.au

I have an idea for a webinar

Our final first for this month is our new ‘Soapbox’ feature in the newsletter. The intention is that members can raise issues or pose questions to the readers of the newsletter in order to canvas opinion and share ideas. Although open only to members in terms of the issues raised, any reader of the newsletter can respond. We hope, again, to make this a more regular feature.

Kicking off our first Soapbox is Jeff Bibby from Queensland University of Technology. Jeff has a few questions around reporting on adjuncts and visiting academics. I encourage everyone to give Jeff a hand and see if you can help him out with his questions.

Kathie Rabel

Acting AAIR President

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Read the April 2019 AAIR newsletter Right Here, Right Now!

April 2019 Newsletter

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  • About
    • Rules
    • Mission, Vision, Values and Strategy
    • Objectives
    • Code of Ethics
    • Organisational Structure
    • Executive Committee
      • Position Descriptions
      • Meeting Schedule
    • Annual Statements
    • Timeline
  • Membership
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    • Variation to Institutional Membership
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    • Proposed 2026 Calendar
    • Past AAIR Events
    • Awards
  • SIGs
    • Business Intelligence & Analytics
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    • Global University Rankings
    • Institutional Reporting
    • Load Management & Planning
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