Opening Address: Professor Sherman Young – Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education), RMIT University

Professor Sherman Young is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) and Vice-President of  RMIT University. As DVCE, Sherman is responsible for the Student journey from enrolment to graduation. He leads the Education Portfolio which includes the Students Group, RMIT Library, Academic Registrar’s Group, the Centre for Educational Innovation and Development, the Centre for Academic Quality and Enhancement and RMIT Vietnam’s Student and Academic group. Sherman was formerly Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Executive Director of RMIT Studios where he was responsible for leading learning and teaching strategy, practice and innovation across the university, including RMIT’s educational response to COVID-19. 

Prior to joining RMIT, Sherman was the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Learning & Teaching) and a Professor in the Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University. He held academic leadership roles in the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie where he undertook teaching and research in the field of new media theory and production. 

Sherman’s research focuses on the impact of new technologies on media policy, cultures and industries. That research focus has more recently been applied to the higher educational sector. 

He is the author of The Book is Dead, Long Live the Book (UNSW Press, 2007), co-author of Media Convergence (Palgrave, 2012) and Beyond 2.0 – the Future of Music (Equinox, 2014)—all of which analyse the impact of new technologies. He has published, presented, supervised and peer-reviewed in both Media Studies and Education disciplines. 

Sherman has a Bachelor of Science in Design (UNSW), a Masters in Media, Technology and Law (Macquarie) and a doctorate in Media and Cultural Studies (UQ). 

Prior to becoming an academic, Sherman ran a multimedia production company building interactive media for a range of corporate and publishing clients. 

Sherman holds a number of external positions in addition to being a Board Member of Open Universities Australia. These include Board Chair for the Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre and Board Member for RMIT Online.