Dean's Report

Awards Evening 2019

Last Tuesday saw our annual MGSE Awards evening held again this year in the impressive Copland Theatre.  We celebrated the achievements of 122 of our students and staff with a full house of colleagues, family and friends. Before the formal part of the evening, a donor event was held to acknowledge the generosity of MGSE’s donors where we heard from Jenny Leaper whose Leaper Foundation has funded our new Research in Effective Education in Early Childhood (REEaCH) hub. Along with two videos we had presentations from the Doctoral Research prize winner Kate O’Connor on Remaking the university curriculum: what counts as knowledge in new forms of online learning and a presentation from Dr Lisa McKay-Brown and Chrystie Mitchell (from the Royal Children’s Hospital) on their In2School project which focuses on young people who have not been attending school due to their mental health needs and re-engaging them with education. The ceremony concluded with the MGSE Distinguished Research award being given to Professor David Clarke whose brief but inspiring speech was followed by a standing ovation demonstrating what a respected and beloved colleague he is to so many.

Thanks to all the dedicated staff involved in the production of this important night for MGSE but most particularly Liz Carter, our event organiser and Maxine McKew for her excellent work as our Master of Ceremonies for the evening.

In the last couple of weeks, the University has opened two new important additions to the broader campus. The launch of the new $63 million Learning and Teaching building and U-Vet Werribee Animal Hospital extension will greatly strengthen the veterinary campus in Werribee which currently hosts about 500 students per week. The opening of the $109 million Ian Potter Southbank Centre, which provides a new home for the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in the heart of the arts precinct, was launched by the Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley with the Vice-Chancellor and the ABC’s Virginia Trioli conducting proceedings.