Friday, 23 March 2012

Whether it was through agriculture, medicine or innovative outreach programs, the winners of Chancellor's Medals dedicated most of their working lives to the University.

Five medals are being presented during the current graduation season for "outstanding service and significant contribution to the University over many years".

On 13 March , Winthrop Professor Neil Turner was honoured for his work in dryland crops and soils. He was part of a team that developed a successful bid for the Cooperative Research Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA). He later helped to establish CLIMA as a UWA centre. CLIMA research has benefited farmers in Australia and all over the world in the face of drought and land degradation.

Professor Turner was instrumental in securing Federal funds for the new Faculty of Agriculture building on the Crawley campus. He helped to establish research partnerships with India and China and is still an active member of the UWA Institute of Agriculture.

Cathy Tang came to UW A in the 1980s to study Classics - and never left. With her first class Honours degree, she became a tutor in Latin, then a conference organiser, then the Manager of University House where her charm and organisational skills shone. She became a member of the Council of Convocation, then joined the University Senate in 1996, on which she served until 2010.

Mrs Tang is involved with the Friends of UW A Music and the UW A Centenary Trust for Women. Her Chancellor's Medal was presented on 14 March.

Roger Dickinson had a significant impact on community perceptions of the work and role of UW A. He was a pioneer in the use of multimedia for science education and those skills were used to reach out to high school students, to inform them about UW A and Indigenous art.

He has forged enduring connections with State Government departments and schools, one of the highlights being the SPICE program, a hugely successful and popular secondary teachers' enrichment program, which has benefitted both teachers and the University. He will receive his medal on 22 March.

Another agricultural scientist, Emeritus Professor Craig Atkins , will be honoured on 28 March. He had a distinguished career in the area of plant biochemistry and physiology, making an outstanding contribution to the knowledge of molecular and cellular functions of legumes, and improving the field performance of these agriculturallyimportant plants.

The final Chancellor's Medallist (4 April) is Adjunct Professor Peter Flett who enabled strong and ongoing partnerships between the University and the State Health Department. In various roles including Chief Executive of PathWest, Director of the South Metropolitan Area Health Service, and Director- General of Health, he advocated and engineered close cooperation between the two institutions.

He secured funding for academic posts at the Armadale- Kelmscott and Rockingham-Kwinana hospitals, which, with the increase in numbers of medical students, have become critical to providing quality medical education.

Published in UWA News , 19 March 2012

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