Woman on a mission: deputy vice-chancellor Professor Cobie Rudd set to evolve ECU’s regional education

She has shattered the glass ceiling in the Australian education sector, been at the forefront of national research projects, led more than a dozen boards of governance and even become a trailblazer for gender equality. And now this acclaimed professor is on a mission to expand and develop the State’s biggest university outside the metro area in a bid to bolster regional education and attract more people to the South West. Edith Cowan University deputy vice-chancellor (Regional Futures) and vice-president Professor Cobie Rudd assumed her new role in October and has already made major changes as she wastes little time in her plan to develop and grow the uni. Professor Rudd, who chose to base herself in Bunbury, has come into the position with a wealth of experience, moving through 13 different career paths including registered nursing, State and Federal government policy advisory roles, and in 2011 was one in five National Teaching Fellows appointed by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The fierce advocate for gender equality also runs the ECU Athena Swan initiative, promoting equity and opportunities for women to change the societal discourse around gender discrimination. She made headlines years ago when she lifted the lid about the overt sexism she had faced in her senior positions across health and education, which included having to convince a taxi driver that she was the professor he was waiting for, then giving him a crash course in inequality and unconscious bias training during their trip together. Now Professor Rudd has turned her attention to the South West, where the university has already penned an agreement with the City of Bunbury to provide research initiatives for students and opportunities for graduates, while the two organisations will also team to promote the uni nationally and globally. The university is also on track to expand further south after securing a deal with the City of Busselton, while also signing a 20-year memorandum of understanding with the Boyup Brook Shire for all research for its Rylington Park Farm. Professor Rudd has also exclusively revealed to the South Western Times she plans to develop a high-performance health centre that would run as an exercise medicine clinic and be used by the West Coast Eagles, which utilise a similar facility at the university’s Joondalup campus. Professor Rudd said it was an exciting time for education in the region. “I have been working with the City of Bunbury, the South West Sports Academy, the West Coast Eagles and other collaborators regarding a high performance health centre, which will be like an exercises medicine clinic,” she said. “We have been successful securing the tertiary learning centre in Busselton and have been working with the City of Busselton as well with their preforming arts prescient, including the new preforming arts centre. “We have signed a 20 year memorandum of understanding with the Shire of Boyup Brook to do all the research for Boyup Brook’s Rylington Park Farm, and an MOU with the City of Bunbury so ECU research gets the first bite of whatever the City wants. “We have been forging a clinical school fellowship with WA Country Health Service and the Bunbury Hospital, so that will be a partnership program for nursing students so they can go into graduate employment there. “We are looking at opportunities for what is called the University Department of Rural Health, providing clinical training and supervision for all health disciplines throughout the whole South West region. “We have a number of learning hubs that are already funded throughout the regions, including Mandurah, Collie, Witchcliffe and the City of Busselton, they exist to provide easy access for remote students to receive academic support.” These developments are only some of the changes expected for ECU in coming months, however Professor Rudd has also become a crucial member in the South West community, bringing her expertise to a number of committees across the region. “I’m quite involved in the South West Development Commission, in the South West Advanced Manufacturing and Technology Hub,” she said. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve been invited into a number of committees, the Bunbury Hospital Redevelopment Advisory Committee, I chair the South West Regional Workforce Collaborative, I’m on the South West Health and Education Precinct Leadership group.” Professor Rudd said the South West could expect to see some of these exciting innovations in the next six to 12 months and expected to reshape the understanding of regional tertiary education. “The combination of those things will totally change the perception of the campus and access of the campus by the community, and just the excitement and inspiration we will be able to provide for young people in the region,” she said. “I would like to say in 12 months time, ECU has developed to a point where people can say ‘this has opened it all up, I can really see a future here’.” Professor Rudd also spoke with the South Western Times about her journey to senior leadership at the university and said it had not always been easy. “I think I have been president of impostor syndrome, I sometimes think people are going to come along and tell me I’m a fraud,” she said. “I have learnt to pull myself up and stop negative self talk and try to teach other woman those techniques, which is cognitive restructuring, to intervene those negative thoughts coming to your head.” However Professor Rudd said impostor syndrome could be based in reality with repeated doubt and discrimination against women based on their gender. “I am a former marathon kayaker and I remember being at the start of a 40km race in Queensland, and I remember the organiser over the loud speaker saying ‘will the girl get out of the way, this is a serious race’,” she said. “I didn’t get out of the way and I stayed and did the race and I ended up getting bronze, because it was sheer rage not skill that propelled me through the water. “That imposter syndrome is based in a lot of reality because people would try and tell me I couldn’t do what I wanted to do and that I would make a fool out of myself. “ “I often talk to woman about the number of times they introduce what they are going to say with an apology, or they ask for permission to speak,” she said. “We know that woman often think ‘I’ll make a fool of myself if I speak up,’ or if they want to say something they think they won’t get heard.” “It’s very important to make sure when women do speak, they are heard, and they don’t need to introduce their point with an apologetic remark. “It’s 2022, woman shouldn’t be needing to ask for permission to talk.” Now residing in Bunbury with her trusty companion Harper, Professor Rudd said the move to Bunbury was the best decision she had made for a long time. “Harper has a lifetime registration now with the City, so I don’t think we will be moving for a long time,” she laughed.