First days can be hard or weird in any job, but when Carolyn Evans was handed the keys to the Chancelry at the University of Melbourne on Monday, it was more of a homecoming.
A proud alum of the University, ever since she graduated with a law degree (in the good old days when it was an undergraduate pastime) in 1993. After a side excursion to Oxford, where she knocked off her PhD and then lectured for a couple of years, Professor Evans spent more than 22 years working at UoM, finishing up as DVC before she headed north to run Griffith University in 2019.
Of most interest to observers will be the contrast in first day posts. The only blues evident were the different hues of blue tops sported by Professor Evans in her personal and official portraits.
For her personal post, Professor Evans looked relaxed, choosing to stand in front of the most controversial building on campus, the John Medley building, which is slated for demolition in 2027. Future Campus speculates that the location was chosen more for the welcome archway than making a statement about the future of the building, which despite masses of publicity over many months seems to have still only generated a touch over 2,200 signatures. If one wants to change the hearts and minds of the stewards of the university masterplan of a multibillion dollar campus, one would think you would need to at least recruit the majority of staff to your cause to get a chance of a hearing.
In contrast, the official UoM portrait was a polished, some would say generic looking shot in the much safer cloisters of the campus (safer from the wrecking ball and also fans of ageing Stalin-era architecture).
However, in a lesson to academics and professional communications people everywhere, the relatively uncoiffed shot with personal message was receiving likes at approximately three times the rate of the official snap, despite the more than 600,000 followers of the UoM LinkedIn account.
Just shows, while follower counts and professional polish are nice, authentic snaps and messages pay some serious dividends if you really want to connect with the punters.