News

Health Sciences Pro Vice Chancellor Don Roberton will retire in February next year when his five-year contract comes to an end.

In his role, Roberton is responsible for students enrolled in dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, and physiotherapy. In total, students taught in the health sciences division number more than 5300, including those at the Christchurch and Wellington campuses. 

The position is being advertised internationally. 
Roberton is one of seven senior academic managers at the University of Otago along with the Vice Chancellor, two Deputy Vice Chancellors, and the Pro Vice Chancellors for Humanities, Sciences, and Business.
 The news of Roberton's retirement comes barely a month after Vice Chancellor Professor Skegg announced his resignation, which will take affect in July next year. The employment of a new Health Sci top dog will mean the fifth change in senior academic staff in the past 18 months. The other changes included a reshuffle with the Science Pro Vice Chancellor position in which Professor Keith Hunter replaced Professor Vernon Squire, who in turn was promoted to Academic and International Deputy Vice Chancellor. Despite salacious reporting from the ODT, there is nothing suspicious about the various reshuffles.
Roberton is a qualified paediatrician who graduated from Otago University in 1971. He has co-edited four editions of the textbook Practical Paediatrics. Prior to his role as Health Sciences Pro Vice Chancellor at Otago, Roberton was the McGregor Reid Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Adelaide from 1989 to 2006.