The status of Academic or Teaching Fellow is awarded from time to time to a person who will render outstanding service to the academic life of the College.
Noel hails from the Guugu Yimidhirr community of Hope Vale on the South Eastern Cape York Peninsula, and he has spent decades advancing reform on native title, economic development and social policy for the people of Cape York. He is an Advisor for the Cape York Partnership and Chairman of Good to Great Schools Australia.
As a national voice in indigenous affairs, Noel will contribute to the life of the College through formal and informal interactions with Trinity students, including mentoring our indigenous students, hosting regular discussions with the wider student cohort and speaking at significant Trinity occasions.
Noel joins Professor Marcia Langton, the Foundation Chair in Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, who is a Fellow of the College, as a role model for the more than 25 indigenous students currently resident in the College.
Professor Hinchcliff said that Noel’s appointment illustrates Trinity’s continued commitment to education of indigenous students.
Tyson Holloway Clarke, Indigenous residential student and recipient of an ITNewcom Foundation Scholarship, said that the arrival of Noel Pearson at Trinity College only solidifies the college's position as the premier destination for Indigenous university students around the country.
Tyson, who took part earlier this year in ‘Outback to Icecap’, the world’s first Indigenous expedition in Antarctica, said that access to leaders like Noel Pearson, Marcia Langton, Ian Anderson and Richard Franklin, ‘showed that the University of Melbourne and Trinity College are second to none in their commitment to Indigenous excellence across Australia.’
‘As an undergraduate student, I eagerly anticipate meeting Noel and look forward to learning from him, as I have already from the great number of Trinity's visiting and residential scholars. For me, having Noel here at Trinity is a success above and beyond my expectations and serves to reinforce both my place and the place of Indigenous Australians at the College.’
