Voting: Academic Board — election of Deputy Chair

Candidates in ballot paper order

• Shui Yu
• Josh Pienaar
• Sara Denize

Candidates' statements

Shui Yu

Professor Shui Yu has been in tertiary education more than 30 years. He has served different academic boards in Australian universities. He also served various boards at School and Faculty level. In the past two years, he served the UTS Academic Board as the Deputy Chair of UTS Research Committee, a member of the Executive Committee, and a member. Professionally, he is the elected member of the Board of Governors of IEEE Communications Society (a global organization with 35,000 members), overseeing the governance, policy, budget, vision, research transformation, and so on.

Professor Yu is passionate about tertiary education, research, and services. If elected, I shall work tirelessly under the UTS 2027 framework to: assist university leaders, listen the voices of our members, help junior and middle career colleagues to foster their career development, and promote transparency, diversity, fairness, and inclusiveness for each and every individual of the UTS family.

Josh Pienaar

Combining an ambitious vision with practical experience as Chair and Deputy Chair of Academic Boards and in previous senior roles, including PVC (Learning & Teaching), PVC (Students) and University Registrar, I understand the challenges and opportunities facing UTS during this period of transformation. In partnership with the Chair, I aim to strengthen our commitment to educational quality, impactful research, and integrity by fostering a collaborative governance environment where every voice is valued. I work to ensure our efforts align with UTS’s strategic priorities and enhance our reputation for academic excellence. Through this role, I aspire to inspire innovation and collaboration that delivers lasting impact across the university.

Sara Denize

I am the Associate Dean (Education) at the UTS Business School, Deputy Chair of the University Teaching and Learning Committee, and an ex-officio member of Academic Board and its Executive Committee. I previously held the position of Chair of the Courses Accreditation Committee (2019-2022).

Over the past five years, I have collaborated with academic colleagues and faculty teams on various course accreditation projects and policy initiatives. These include a review of postgraduate admissions practices, several policy reform projects and early work on implementing the Indigenous Graduate Attribute in our courses.

As Deputy Chair of Academic Board, I aim to continue this collaborative journey, addressing issues of vital importance to the academy, our students, and our communities. I am keen to strengthen the connections between Academic Board and Faculty Boards to provide further opportunities for inclusion and discussion of the university’s academic direction in alignment with our strategy.

How to vote in an online ballot

1. Note your candidate choices and preference order
2. Log in to UTS: Elections Online Polling Booth
3. Choose the election you wish to vote in
4. Select the candidates you wish to vote for
5. Check your vote
6. When you are ready, choose 'submit' to record your vote.

Conduct

Participants in elections (candidates, their representatives and voters) are expected to follow the same high standard of conduct and behaviour during the campaign process as is expected on campus generally. The behaviour of election candidates and their representatives should meet expected standards of conduct. See Code of Conduct for UTS Elections.

Concerns about security due to election-related conduct should be reported to UTS Security. Phone +61 2 9514 1192, or dial ‘6’ on any UTS phone.

Further information

The schedule for this election has information about the election rules, Returning Officer and Academic Board.

See Voting for information about votes, confidentiality and results.