Professor Millicent Poole, now retired, was Vice-Chancellor of Edith Cowan University. She has held appointments at the Australian National University, the Queensland University of Technology, the University of New England, La Trobe University, Macquarie University and Monash University. Professor Poole is a distinguished researcher and author of more than 150 refereed journal articles, 20 books and 26 edited book chapters, with major interests in life-span development, language and cognition, policy research and higher education.