As a proud young Worimi/Biripai woman growing up on Darkinjung country on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Leanne Holt could not have imagined that she would eventually become a leader in higher education.

“In Year 11, I stood in the Deputy Principal’s office as he told me that school wasn’t for me,” she recalls. “My school report had stated that I was ‘wasting the educational resources of the school’.”

No doubt that Deputy Principal is now eating his words. Not only did Leanne attain a PhD, she has gone on to forge a 20-year career in higher education, culminating in her appointment as Macquarie University’s first Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy) in 2018.

Her outstanding impact in Indigenous education has now been recognised with the announcement of Leanne as a recipient of the 2020 Chief Executive Women and Roberta Sykes Indigenous Educational Foundation Scholarship, which will see her travel to Harvard University next year to complete their Women and Power: Leadership in a new world program.

“It’s an opportunity for me to build on my leadership performance and approaches for the further advancement of Indigenous education at Macquarie, which has so many positive flow-on effects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities more broadly,” Leanne says.

“In sharing experiences and insights with other global leaders in the program, it will also allow me to reflect on my current practice around mentoring future Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders.”

The Harvard scholarship is named after Roberta Sykes, the first Indigenous Australian to graduate from an American university. Leanne says the legacy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people like Roberta is something that inspires everyone in the Walanga Muru community.

“It’s their legacy that provides the amazing opportunities we now have the privilege to experience,” Leanne says. “And it’s our responsibility to take the baton and pave the next level of opportunities for the generations to come.”

Through the delivery of the Macquarie University Indigenous Strategy 2016-25, Leanne and her team are paving these roads to opportunity and she says she is proud of what they have been able to achieve in a relatively short period of time.

“I’ve witnessed so much passion, innovation and determination by our staff and students as we continually build on the success of the Strategy,” she says.

“We’ve increased our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student and staff numbers. We’ve significantly increased our Research Higher Degree student numbers and will soon launch our Indigenous Research Plan. We’ve implemented the Mudang-Dali Indigenous Connected Curriculum Learning and Teaching Framework, reaching out to all academic programs of the University, and we’ve delivered Manawari Cultural Safety Training to over 800 staff.

“Most importantly, the consistent feedback from our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students is that the quality of their university experience is positive.”

Leanne – who says she sometimes drives past her old school and feels a twang of the same ‘imposter syndrome’ she says many Indigenous students feel – will be able to hold her head high as her aeroplane flies over Worimi and Biripai Country en route to Harvard.

“I’m just proud to be in this position where I can influence agendas to open doors,” she says. “It’s a privilege to be part of a University community that’s making such a significant difference to these young peoples’ lives.”