http://www.deakin.edu.au/div_comm/news/headline/index.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)
Woolstores - open for business but not yet opened
City skyline gains a landmark
Enrolments 96
Deakin - the popular choice
Business program boosts commerceBurwood campus - as seen from a bucket
Deakin wins foreign affairs contract
Nutrition research gets a boost
Woolstores - open for business but not yet openedThe Library opened its doors to the general public on Wednesday 14 February, and the first students start classes in the building on Monday 4 March.
Planning is well underway for the formal opening of the Woolstores campus, and academic and general staff as well as members of the community will have the opportunity to play a major role in proceedings.
The formal inauguration will be held at 11 am on Wednesday, 3 April in the Great Hall, when the Governor of Victoria, the Honourable Richard McGarvie, will offically open the campus.
The opening will be preceded by an academic procession through Geelong, commencing at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre. Following the ceremony in the Great Hall, a reception will be held in the courtyard.
City skyline gains a landmark
A new landmark now dominates the Geelong skyline. In early December, a 17.5 metre communications tower was installed on the roof of Deakin's Woolstores campus.The tower has become the most prominent feature on the Geelong foreshore. The Deakin University banner flies on all four sides of the tower and is floodlit at night. Deakin will be installing a microwave radio link between the Woolstores and the main Geelong campus at Waurn Ponds, enabling high speed digital voice, data and video to be transmitted from the Woolstores between the Geelong, Melbourne and Warrnambool campuses.
Work is nearing completion on the first stage of the $30 million redevelopment of the former Dalgety Woolstores building. Deakin staff have begun the move into the Woolstores and classes for students in the School of Architecture and Building will commence in March.The official opening of the Woolstores will take place on 3 April with a performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the new 1500-seat Great Hall.
Pictured above, in front of the new tower is the building officer at the Woolstores, Mr Eddie Heit.
Enrolments 96This follows a successful, high profile 1995, when Deakin was named as University of the Year and was given a level one ranking for teaching and learning by the Federal Government's Quality Assurance committee.
Deakin attracted the biggest rise in first preference applications from school leavers than any other Victorian university - and now, has recorded a higher than predicted number of returning students. It has already exceeded, by a considerable margin, the overall target set for new enrolments in 1996.
The University has also successfully attracted greater numbers of high quality students, and the Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) cut-off scores for many courses have increased significantly from 1995 levels.
Of the 66 participants in the 1995 ABW program, 44 applied for Deakin courses, with nine listing Deakin as their first preference. fourteen students were offered a place in the first round of offers.
Community liaison officer, Ms Karen Weedon, said it was obvious that Deakin performed well in competing for these high performing students.
"One of the great successes of ABW was the amount the reputation of Deakin's Commerce course was enhanced. Anecdotal information suggests that this was by far the most successful promotional outcome of the ABW program."
The community liaison office is also capitalising on Deakin's strong performance, with the first residential careers teachers orientation program being held on Thursday 29 February-Friday 1 March at Warrnambool.
Burwood campus - as seen from a bucket
Deakin photographer Simon Fox ventured into the metal bucket which hangs the crane which adorns the Burwood skyline and can be seen for several kilometres around the campus. He took several shots.We trust he didn't succumb to the temptation to drop water balloons over the side. Work on the Burwood campus is progressing well as we head towards the last phase of the construction program. All roof and floor slabs are now completed. The heights of the buildings now give a true indication of the final scale of the buildings.
Stage 1 is still on time for completion by mid-July 1996.
The University has submitted a development plan for the entire campus to the City of Whitehorse and my office is now receiving written feedback from staff and the public. Copies of the plans are on display on all Deakin campuses for viewing by staff, students and interested members of the public.
Public information sessions will be held on the evenings of 13 and 14 March on the campus. They will give staff and local residents an opportunity to discuss details of the campus plans with Deakin representatives.
Deakin wins foreign affairs contractThe undergraduate program is delivered by distance education to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officers in Canberra, other parts of Australia and at overseas missions. The course replaces the Associate Diploma in Policy Studies (Foreign Affairs and Trade) previously taught by the Australian National University in Canberra.
Students have enrolled from as far afield as Stockholm, Pretoria, Kathmandu, Tokyo, New York and Mexico City.
Professor Joan Beaumont, Head of School of Australian and International Studies at Deakin University is the course director, and Dr David Lowe is the course coordinator.
The program will be administered in Canberra by Course Administrator, Dr Dave Cox. He is based in the Tertiary and Language Studies Section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The Advanced Diploma consists of 12 credit points and is taken part-time over six semesters. Half the program is a compulsory core of units in Australasian politics, Australian foreign relations, Economics, Management, International Law and Accounting.
Professor Beaumont said the Advanced Diploma of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a further illustration of Deakin's commitment to teaching students at all stages of their professional development.
Nutrition research gets a boost
The Deakin Institute of Human Nutrition will be revitalised by the appointment of research co-ordinator, Dr Stella Clark. Dr Clark's appointment signals a leap forward for the Institute, with a strategic plan to emerge in the next couple of months. The plan is expected to include a broader research focus for the Institute, drawing on the staff and resources of the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences.
The Institute was established in 1985 to provide a focal point for research in human nutrition in Australia, especially in the fields of dietary links to the development and treatment of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and bowel cancer, Aboriginal health and food science.
Dr Clark said while the Institute would continue to concentrate on cardio-vascular disease, diabetes and cancer research, a new multi-disciplinary approach would be adopted.
"The Institute will incorporate basic bio-medical research with nutrition, public health, exercise and behavioural research," she said.
"This is very exciting, I don't know of any other institute which successfully encompasses bio-medical and behavioural research in this way."
Formerly co-chief investigator at the Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Dr Clark has a successful research background, specialising in diabetes and cancer.
Media Enquiries:David Bruce
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