High honour for CEO

By Lia Bichel
CHISHOLM Institute CEO Virginia Simmons was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2010 Australia Day Honours for her significant contribution to education.
The appointment recognised her service to education as a leader and advocate for vocational education and training, through reform of the Victorian TAFE Association, contributions to professional organisations, international advisory roles and as a mentor to women.
Ms Simmons was one of only 27 people across Australia appointed in this year’s list.
“I was surprised but I was thrilled,” she said.
“I don’t take it personally – I think of it more as an acknowledgment of Chisholm.”
Ms Simmons was the first woman to be appointed as director of a TAFE Institute in Victoria and was a pioneer in her work to provide access for educationally disadvantaged groups of learners.
She helped develop the first Recognition of Prior Learning project in Australia, establishing a Victorian Assessment Centre establishing the Caroline Chisholm Education Foundation in 2006 to support disadvantaged students in south-east Melbourne; and contributed to the integration of corrections education into the TAFE system assuming responsibility for education in the major prisons in Victoria.
Chisholm board president David Willersdorf said Ms Simmons was very deserving of the recognition. “Virginia has not only devoted her energies to the restructure and advancement of Chisholm to the standing and financial stability that it has now reached, but has also been instrumental in the promotion of education through the TAFE structure both nationally and internationally,” he said.