Testimonials
I want to tell you how impressed I’ve been with the way you have led SLAM [School of Language, Arts and Media]. You have been very open about your willingness to discuss any issue with staff, and to work together to advance our work and to tackle problems … of which we have had a few! My biggest regret is that you have been HoS during my Future Fellowship, when I have been away from teaching for the most part, and often away on conference or fieldwork travel. It has meant I didn’t get to share life in Woolley with you as much as I would have liked, which is a pity. I still remember your presentation to us during the interview process, and how utterly impressed I was with your generosity and openness. This is a rare quality, and a leader who possesses such warmth and humanity is a huge asset to their workplace and to colleagues.
Professor Mark Byron
University of Sydney
Prof. Umberto Ansaldo’s work in functional linguistics, language typology and especially contact linguistics (creolistics) exhibits a profound commitment to serious scholarship. For over two decades, his insights have enriched our understanding of linguistic theory and practice in admirable fashion.
Professor Emeritus Armin Schwegler
University of California, Irvine
I'll be very sad to see you go. In a short time you mastered a hellishly difficult brief and were taking the School in positive directions culturally and intellectually. As I know from my stints as Chair of several departments, even at that level initiating change is a tough and sometimes thankless assignment. I shudder to think of the pressures you have been under in these unique times, what with endlessly- and sometimes rapidly evolving/dissolving university policies, the myriad needs of a changing School (and of a School that needed to change) as well as the minor matter of a global pandemic. I always felt certain that you were trying to be empathetic to staff needs, and that you had a genuine desire to help people develop their capacities individually and collectively, perhaps in ways they had not realised.
Professor Emeritus Peter Marks
University of Sydney
Umberto is a visionary and a true leader. The people lucky enough to work with him benefit from his deep intellectual knowledge, his intercultural experiences, and his insistence that we ask not just why things are the way they are, but how they might be different. He inspires and empowers teams, he is charismatic without being flash. He is a joy to work with
Professor Miriam Meyerhoff
University of Oxford