Celebrating 10 years of leadership excellence: Professor Yixu Lu
Professor Yixu Lu
A Germanist by training, Professor Yixu Lu has a deep passion for multilingualism and a commitment to the imperative of fostering knowledge of languages and cultures to forge meaningful and long-lasting intercultural awareness.
She has dedicated her career to developing an outstanding record of teaching and research, and building a community of scholars who share her commitment to multilingualism in all its diversity.
Under her leadership, the University has cemented its position as 2nd in Australia and 31st worldwide in the QS World University Rankings by Subject in Modern Languages. The school has consistently achieved outstanding teaching outcomes and also attracted major donations from the community. It offers the most language majors in the state and receives the highest research income in multilingualism – consistently outperforming competitors in Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grants.
Professor Lu’s distinctive leadership is characterised by her passionate advocacy in defending and supporting the teaching of languages. In her 10 years as Head of School, she has demonstrated remarkable strategic and tactical skills to advance the school and embed its contributions more thoroughly in the whole University, such as raising the school’s research profile. The 'Opening the Multilingual Archive of Australia' ARC Discovery Project grew from an idea she conceived – harnessing the combined expertise of members of the school and faculty with many experts in more than one language other than English, which set the framework for the project and has created an open process for participation.
Across the period of her quiet and confident leadership, Professor Yixu Lu has significantly transformed the educational and research performance of the School of Languages and Cultures. Understanding that the sum is always more than the parts, she has enabled a collective strength and sense of purpose across the different language disciplines.
Professor Lu has also nurtured a culture of teaching excellence through mentorship. This is exemplified through the championing and guidance of the school’s Pedagogy Working Group that has modelled cutting-edge pedagogic practices which have delivered real outcomes in individual teaching success in teaching awards at the faculty and university levels, as well as consistent student satisfaction. This support has seen the development of outstanding pedagogists who model excellence in multilingual education across our university and nationally.
Her astute sense in selecting the best people for different tasks demonstrate her strategic abilities and sharp insight into people’s capabilities. The same combination of good judgement and strategic thinking has seen her make a mark in the University as a whole.
Professor Yixu Lu has been an outstanding leader in the school and faculty. Committed, steady, present – and, above all, a master strategist. She developed and implemented a distinctive, integrated strategy focused on multilingualism, diversity and cross-culturalism.
Despite her tireless work and great attention to detail devoted to administration matters, she has also remained true to her scholarship. Professor Lu concurrently held two ARC Discovery Projects, and has maintained her active role in the international community of German Studies. Her election to the Australian Academy of the Humanities and to the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities also demonstrates the esteem in which she is held by the scholarly community.
Professor Lu’s consistent achievement has shone in all areas of leadership across a decade. The scale of this achievement in today’s university environment testifies to her passion and determination, generosity of spirit and resilience.
Associate Professor Avril Alba will serve as Head of School from 7 January 2025. She brings over 10 years of leadership experience within the school through a variety of roles, including as Chair of Discipline and Deputy Head of School in Education and Research.