Campion College Australia has had its first change of the guard since 2013 as current president Dr Paul Morrissey announced he will be stepping down at the end of the year.
Leading the Catholic liberal arts college since 2014, he has seen hundreds of students matriculate, graduate, and go on to use their degrees. Two of his own children, Jacques and Charles Morrissey, have passed through Campion.
Although sad to be vacating the role, Morrissey said it was time for both him and the college to have a change of pace.
“Twelve years is, as they say in cricket, is a good innings, and I think Campion is in a pretty good place for somebody else to take on the role,” he told The Catholic Weekly.
“It’s a little bit personal in terms of thinking it’s a good time after 12 years and also thinking it’s probably a good time for the institution as well.”
One of the things Morrissey is proudest of is raising the small college’s profile.
“Not only building Campion internally but externally, so trying to increase the profile of Campion in its stability and standing in the community, in higher education in general, and not only in the Catholic community,” he said.
Under Morrissey, Campion College has expanded from taking in scant dozens of undergraduate students to expanding to house 70 students on campus and host 500 more through the online postgraduate courses.
“We’ve got our postgrad programs in religious education, which have been very successful and we’re really happy with those. They align very much with the Campion mission,” he said.
“Also our honours program has been developed which I think is also a natural fit for the liberal arts college.”
The college has also expanded its reach overseas. Most international students come from New Zealand, but one new student this year hails from Germany.
Morrissey credits this to the week-long summer and winter programs, which give prospective students a taste of Campion life and study. About 150 attend the programs annually.
“Having these summer and winter programs does spread the message of Campion,” he said.
Over the past decade, just about every aspect of Campion has expanded, with more students taking advantage of more offerings and resources to get the most out of their unique college experience.
In Morrissey’s first years as Campion’s president, the college looked very different, with one house each for female and male students, one dormitory for each, only one lecture hall, and a small library.
He leaves behind increased accommodation for the largely residential college, more spaces for learning, a large, beautifully designed library, and six halls.
“We’re just very happy with that development; it fits in really nicely with the heritage buildings on campus and that sense of being a unique liberal arts college,” he said.
Despite the physical transformation the college has undergone since its establishment in 2006, Morrissey says Campion’s culture, which borrows from longstanding traditions from universities such as Oxford, has remained similar.
“I think the basic idea of students studying together, living on campus, being close to each other, and for the academics and a real good social setting with some traditions there at the heart of what we do, that hasn’t changed too much,” he said.
Although Campion has been the focus of his career for the past 12 years, Morrissey is more than just the president of Australia’s only liberal arts college. He and his wife Soizic have nine children – the youngest is two years old and the eldest a Campion graduate.
“My personal point of view is that the key to a good and integrated life is to ensure a healthy prayer life and connection to God,” he said.
“My number one vocation is as a spouse and father and then obviously my work is part of that in a certain way.
“Being president of Campion, there’s a lot of things often to juggle, so there’s never really a dull day.”
At the end of the year, his duties as president will pass to John Roskam, a fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs. Morrissey is “very happy” with his successor. However, he hopes to continue contributing to Catholic education and seeing the careers of Campion graduates unfold.
“Seeing students come in post-school into Campion, and then really flourishing outside Campion, it’s such a delight,” he said.
“There’s the priesthood, religious life, marriages, doctors, lawyers, teachers, journalists, politics, all flourishing. That’s the real joy.”
