Dodson appointed to Harvard chair

Indigenous rights expert Mick Dodson is hoping his tenure with Harvard University
will give him a better insight into why American Indians live longer than
Australia's Aboriginal people.

The 2009 Australian of the Year has been appointed chair of Australian Studies at
Harvard.
Professor Dodson plans to spend six months in Massachusetts next year as part of the
Indigenous Development Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
He hopes to learn why North American Indians live longer than Australia's indigenous
people by sharing experiences with Harvard experts.
"We do health and life expectancy a lot worse than the US and Canada do," Prof
Dodson told AAP on Friday.
"There are political, social and economic factors at play, some of which are not
present in Australia."
He will share the job with Dr Chris McAuliffe from the University of Melbourne, and
remain director of the Australian National University's National Centre for
Indigenous Studies.