Michael Spence

Michael James Spence (born 10 January 1962) is an Australian university administrator who serves as the vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Sydney.

Spence has a background in intellectual property theory and was also ordained as an Anglican priest in 2006.

Spence's father was a high-school headmaster and his mother was a manager of the Bjelke–Petersen School of Physical Culture. He attended Knox Grammar and the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in English and Italian in 1985 and a Bachelor of Laws degree with honours in 1987.

At Oxford, Spence obtained his DPhil degree in law and became a fellow of St Catherine's College. In the 20 years he spent at the college, Spence lectured for the university, obtaining a Postgraduate Diploma in Theology from the university.

Spence served as head of the law faculty at the University of Oxford and would eventually head the Social Sciences Division, one of the four divisions that constitute that university. One of Spence's priorities at Oxford was to actively encourage fundraising and sponsorship from benefactors and corporate groups. He was a driving force behind the establishment and financial support of a number of Oxford's new research centres and institutes, such as the Oxford Centre for Educational Assessment and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. His responsibilities included oversight of research units, including the James Martin 21st Century School and the Oxford-Man Institute for Quantitative Finance.

In 2008, Spence returned to Australia to take up the position of vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Sydney. The campus has been transformed by "the corporatisation of the University, as he oversaw the restructuring of the University which led to increasing casualisation of staff". His salary, at 1.4 million AUD the highest of an Australian vice-chancellor, was a subject of frequent critical comment. In 2012, the university's Faculty of Arts and Social Studies "teaching staff overwhelmingly endorsed a motion of no confidence" in Spence, in response to staff cuts.

The university has taken an active role with government and in the press to encourage a more measured debate about Australia's relationship with China. Spence has been unapologetic in his support for continued institutional engagement with China and the financial benefits of more international students. In 2013, when a visit from the Dalai Lama was planned, "the university warned organisers not to use its logo, allow media coverage or entry to the event by Tibet activists." When the event was forced off-campus, Spence described it as "in the best interests of researchers across the university", leading Tibetan activists to declare that the university had " compromised their academic freedom and integrity" and sent "a disheartening message to the Tibetan people".

In emails obtained by Australian television, the university vice-chancellor Michael Spence expressed relief at the outcome, reportedly praising it as "in the best interests of researchers across the university".

Spence has been an advocate of fundraising and, in May 2013, launched the "Inspired" fundraising campaign.

In November 2018, Spence and the Premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, announced that the University of Sydney was in negotiations with the state government to establish another campus as part of a leading international health, education and research precinct in Western Sydney.

In June 2020, Spence complimented Chau Chak Wing on his multi-million dollar donation to the university to construct the Chau Chak Wing Museum.

Spence trained for ordination at St Stephen's House, Oxford, an Anglo-Catholic theological college, graduating with a Postgraduate Diploma in Theology. He was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 2006 and as a priest in 2007. From 2006 to 2008, he was a non-stipendiary minister in the Parish of Cowley, Oxfordshire in the Diocese of Oxford. He continues to minister part-time as a priest in an honorary capacity. He is fluent in French and Italian.

Spence met Beth Ann Peterson at the University of Oxford, where Spence was reading for a DPhil. Petersen, originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, was reading philosophy and theology after studying and rowing at Smith College in Massachusetts. Spence and Petersen were married and had five children. Beth Spence was also ordained as an Anglican priest and served as a curate in the Cowley parish, at the churches of St James and St Francis from 2005 to 2008 and at a parish in Waverley, New South Wales, from 2008 until her death in 2012, aged 47, from bowel cancer.

In 2014, Spence began dating artist Jenny Ihn, whom he later married. The couple have three children together.