Friday, 31 May 2013

The newly created Perth USAsia Centre at The University of Western Australia is holding its first board meeting and events this week.

The board meeting being held today, Friday 31 May 2013, will be chaired by Malcolm Binks AO, chairman of the Centre's sister institution, the United States Studies Centre at The University of Sydney (USSC) and Chairman of the American Australian Association (AAA).

Other members of the Perth USAsia Centre's founding board of directors are Professor Bates Gill, Chief Executive of the USSC, Professor Paul Johnson, Vice Chancellor of UWA and Peter Curtis, Registrar of UWA.

Mr Binks said that he was proud to be chairing the first board meeting of the new institution, which is a partnership between the AAA, UWA, and USSC with major funding from the Australian and West Australian Governments and US corporations.

He said the Centre launched last November by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton aimed to become a leading policy think tank on the Australia-Asia-US strategic and economic relationship, a teaching and research centre, and a conduit for a deeper understanding in Australia of US business, culture, history, politics and foreign policy.

Mr Binks announced that Ms Madeleine King from UWA has been appointed as the Centre's Chief Operating Officer and that the recruitment firm Heidrick and Struggles has been engaged to conduct a global search for a Chief Executive Officer.

The Centre this week has been hosting a visit by Bonnie Glaser, a senior analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, while 25 UWA students are about to go to Los Angeles to take part in the USSC's study and intern program.

Media references

Nina Fudala (USSC)      (+61 8) 409 321 918
Madeleine King (Perth USAsia Centre at UWA) (+61 8) 408 900 060
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs  (+61 8) 6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

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