In Principio v17 no4 (2006)

& Dr Peter Tannock, Archbishop Barry Hickey and the Hon Justice Neville Owen. offering in a highly competitive market place. Again, the challenge will be for all of us to make sure that we deliver to our students and our community what we promised. We will do this if we are faithful to the Objects of the University as defined in our legislation. The academic re-structure of the University, designed to accommodate the expansion to Sydney within our overall framework, and to adjust to growth and changes in demand in different areas, is now in place and is working very successfully. We have also introduced some new buildings to the Fremantle Campus. The 'Fremantle Hotel' has been largely renovated and restored, and now houses our School of Business. This is a very big move for the University which will ensure that we have a major Business School in Fremantle for the long term. We regard Business as being particularly important within the curriculum offerings at Notre Dame. In this regard, I am also pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Geoffrey Kiel, Professor of Management at the University of Queensland, and a long time member of our Board of Governors, as our new Dean of Business. Professor Kiel takes up his appointment in August of this year. He succeeds Professor Derek Parkin, who will remain as Associate Dean, with particular responsibility for the accounting area within the University. Professor Kiel, in addition to his duties as Dean of Business, will be Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University on the Fremantle Campus. We are fortunate to obtain the services of a person of the quality and reputation of Professor Kiel to contribute to the advancement of our Business School, and to the overall leadership of our University in Fremantle. Since my last report, a major development has occurred in respect of our research profile in the areas of Health and Education. The Commonwealth Government has announced & Professor Geoff Kiel that it will fund a new Health and Education Research Centre on the Fremantle Campus with a grant of nearly $3m. The University will contribute $2m. This will enable the University to construct a new facility on one of its vacant carpark blocks in the West End of Fremantle, to house this new Health and Education Research Centre. The Centre will support the research training, clinical and research work of our Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Health Sciences, and Education. This is an exciting development. We expect the building works to commence within the next three months, and the new facilities to be available for use towards the end of 2006. This will be the first new building the University has constructed on its West End Fremantle site. We are grateful to the Commonwealth Government for its belief in us, and the financial support for this project. Finally, I would like to report that at our last graduation ceremony, the University conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws to His Grace, Archbishop Barry Hickey, Archbishop of Perth. This award recognises his exceptional contribution to the leadership of the Church in Western Australia, and the very significant backing which he has given The Universit y of Notre Dame Australia since its inception. The Universit y has an excellent relationship with Archbishop Hickey, who has been a true visionary in his approach to Notre Dame. He has belief in its potential to make a significant contribution to the advancement of the Church in this State and, indeed, to our society as a whole. He has been both a generous benefactor and unobtrusive counsel to the University in this crucial stage of its foundation and development. We are delighted to welcome him as an alumnus of our University. d