James Cook University

James Cook University
Coat of Arms of James Cook University
Former names	University College of Townsville (1961-70)
Motto	Crescente Luce
Motto in English	Light ever increasing
Established	1961[1]
Type	Public
Chancellor	Lieutenant General John Grey AC (ret'd)
Vice-Chancellor	Sandra Harding
Undergraduates	14,185 (2012)
Postgraduates	4,109 (2012)
Location	Cairns, Townsville and Brisbane, Queensland,  Australia  Singapore 19°19′40″S 146°45′30″E / 19.32778°S 146.75833°E / -19.32778; 146.75833Coordinates: 19°19′40″S 146°45′30″E / 19.32778°S 146.75833°E / -19.32778; 146.75833
Campus	Suburban and Regional
Affiliations	IRU
Website	http://www.jcu.edu.au

James Cook University (JCU) is a public university and is the second oldest university in Queensland, Australia. JCU is a teaching and research institution. The University's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairns, Singapore and Townsville. JCU also has study centres in Mount Isa, Mackay and Thursday Island. A Brisbane campus, operated by Russo Higher Education, delivers undergraduate and postgraduate courses to international students. The University’s main fields of research include marine sciences, biodiversity, sustainable management of tropical ecosystems, genetics and genomics, tropical health care and tourism.

History

In 1957, Professor J.D Story, Vice Chancellor of the University of Queensland proposes a regional university college be established to cater to the people of North Queensland. At that time, the only higher education providers were located in the state capital Brisbane. On 27 February 1961, the University College of Townsville was opened.

After being proclaimed on 20 April 1970 as an Act of Queensland Parliament, the University College of Townsville became James Cook University of North Queensland on 29 April 1970.^[2] The official opening of the university was conducted by Queen Elizabeth II.^[3] The namesake is British sea captain James Cook, who is best known for discovering Australia. A year after JCU's proclamation, Cyclone Althea struck the Townsville region. This, together with the destruction caused by Cyclone Tracy in Darwin 1974, prompted the establishment of a cyclone research facility.^[3][4] The Cyclone Testing Station started out as a small project of Professor Hugh Trollope and began its operations on 1 November 1977 as James Cook Cyclone Structural Testing Station.^[4] The Cyclone Testing Station operates as an independent unit of The School of Engineering and serves as an advising member to the Australian Standards committee in areas of structural design, specifically wind actions.^[5]

On 1 January 1982, JCU amalgamated with The Townsville College of Advanced Education located adjacent to the main campus in Douglas. The university established a presence in Cairns in 1987 and moved to its current location in the suburb of Smithfield in 1996. On 1 January 1991, the School of Art and Design of the Townsville College of TAFE was transferred to JCU.^[2] The current name of James Cook University became official on 1 January 1998.^[6] In 2003 the University opened an international campus in Singapore. The university further expanded its presence by establishing another campus in Brisbane, Queensland in 2006.

Coat of Arms explained

As a corporate body, James Cook University bears arms comprising four main elements – shield, crest (Captain James Cook’s ship, HMS Endeavour, in full sail), supporters (a pair of brolgas with open wings), and motto.

The University motto is Cresente Luce, which means light ever increasing. This motto was first proposed by Professor FW Robinson, professor of English at the University of Queensland, in 1962 for the then University College of Townsville. The university college was established as a college of the University of Queensland. Adopted in 1963, the motto remained unchanged after James Cook University of North Queensland was established and incorporated in April 1970, and later became James Cook University.

Campuses and other facilities

James Cook University operates three main campuses, located in the tropical cities of Cairns and Townsville in Australia, and the international city of Singapore. Russo Higher Education delivers JCU courses at its Brisbane centre on behalf of the University. The University also operates study centres in Mackay, Mount Isa and Thursday Island. These study centres provide programs and support for students living in rural and remote areas.

Cairns Campus

The Cairns Campus of James Cook University is located 15 kilometres north of the Cairns central business district, in the suburb of Smithfield. JCU moved to this location from its original inner-city site in 1996. Also located on the campus grounds are Queensland Tropical Health Alliance (QTHA) facilities, Australian Tropical Herbarium (ATH), the Australian Tropical Forest Institute (ATFI), JCU Dental, and The Cairns Institute. Over 4 000 students study at JCU Cairns, including about 410 international students.

Townsville Campus

JCU's Townsville campus is the University’s largest campus and is located on 386 hectares in the suburb of Douglas, near the army base and the lee of Mt Stuart. Around 12 300 students study at JCU Townsville, including over 1 400 international students. Close to the university is the new Townsville Hospital and Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE.^[7] Originally located in the suburb of Pimlico, the University moved to its current site in 1967. The Discovery Rise^[8] project was announced in September 2007.^[9] The $1 billion project is aimed at redeveloping the University's Townsville campus.^[10] Construction is currently under way and the project is estimated to be completed in 2015.^[11]

Singapore International Campus

James Cook University's Singapore campus was opened in 2003. In February 2015, James Cook University Singapore relocated to a new campus at 149 Sims Drive, ceasing operations at its previous campus on Upper Thomson Road, where it had been operating since July 2008. In 2012 there were 2,984 students studying with JCU Singapore. Courses offered include business, education, information technology, psychology, environmental science, and tourism and hospitality, to international and domestic students. James Cook University Singapore fully adapt Australian curriculum and all degree certification is awarded from James Cook University Australia.^[12]

Other facilities

JCU Brisbane, operated by Russo Higher Education, delivers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in business and information technology to international students, on behalf of James Cook University. JCU’s study centre in Mackay is called the Mackay Education and Research Centre (MERC) and is located at the Mackay Base Hospital. It accommodates the teaching of the Bachelor of Social Work and Bachelor of Nursing Science (pre registration) as well as provide facilities for medical and dental placements. The Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health (MICRRH) provides training, development and support of the rural and remote health workforce and the management of key health issues in the rural and remote setting. The centre offers the Bachelor of Nursing Science with a special emphasis on rural, remote and Indigenous health care. There is also a study centre is located in the heritage courthouse building on Thursday Island, providing teaching and learning facilities for nursing and education students in the Torres Strait region, including the northern tip of Australia. The Thursday Island study centre opened in 2003.

Academia

The university serves as a catchment area for students from this region and beyond. In 2012, JCU's student population was at 20,913, which includes 6,348 international students.^[13]

In 2001 the university took in its first medical students in its newly formed School of Medicine. An undergraduate veterinary degree was added to the university for the first time in 2006 and in 2009 the Bachelor of Dental Surgery commenced. Today the university offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in arts, social sciences and psychology, business and information technology, creative arts, education, engineering, law, medicine and health, multimedia journalism and languages, and science. Some courses are available externally.

James Cook University in 2007 became a member of Innovative Research Universities Australia (now called Innovative Research Universities). Innovative Research Universities (IRU) is a network of seven comprehensive universities committed to conducting research of national and international standing.

Organisational structure

The university is organised into faculties, schools, departments, research centres and institutes.

Faculty of Arts, Education and Social Sciences

• School of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Department of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology
  • Department of Humanities
  • Department of Psychology
  • Department of Social Work and Community Welfare, including Centre for Women's Studies
• School of Education
• School of Indigenous Australian Studies

Faculty of Law, Business and the Creative Arts

• School of Law
• School of Business
• School of Creative Arts

Faculty of Medicine, Health and Molecular Sciences

• Indigenous Health Unit
• Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health (MICRRH)
• School of Medicine and Dentistry
• School of Nursing, Midwifery and Nutrition
• School of Pharmacy and Molecular Sciences
• School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences
  • Public Health and Tropical Medicine
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Physiotherapy
  • Speech Pathology
  • Institute of Sport and Exercise Science
• School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences

Faculty of Science and Engineering

• School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• School of Engineering and Physical Sciences
• School of Marine and Tropical Biology^[14]

Centres of Excellence

• ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
• Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) in the Prevention of Chronic Conditions in Rural and Remote Populations
• NHMRC National Centre of Research Excellence to Improve Management of Peripheral Arterial Disease

Institutes

• Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine
• The Cairns Institute

Research centres

• Centre for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics
• Centre for Biodiscovery and Tropical Infectious Diseases
• Centre for Disaster Studies
• Centre for Research and Innovation in Sustainability Education
• Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture
• Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change
• Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Sciences
• Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER)
• Comparative Genomics Centre
• Cyclone Testing Station
• Economic Geology Research Centre
• eResearch Centre
• Language and Culture Research Centre

Rankings

University rankings
James Cook University
QS World[15]	350
QS Life Sciences & Medicine[16]	274
ARWU World[17]	301-400
CWTS Leiden World[18]	158
Australian rankings
CWTS Leiden National[18]	5

JCU has consistently ranked in the top 400 academic universities world wide since 2010, as measured by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU),^[19] achieving position 351 globally in 2013.^[20] For 2012, JCU ranked in the top four percent of universities in the world by ARWU.^[21]

In the Commonwealth Government's Excellence in Research for Australia 2012 National Report, JCU research received the highest ranking of 'well above world standard' (rating 5) in the areas of environmental science and management, ecological applications and medical microbiology.^[22] The University also received an 'above world standard' ranking for research in the areas of materials engineering, immunology, tourism, biological sciences, agricultural and veterinary sciences, fisheries sciences, veterinary sciences, inorganic chemistry, earth sciences, geochemistry, and geology.

Residential colleges and halls of residence

JCU's Douglas Campus in Townsville has seven on-campus residential colleges, which can accommodate 1,478 students. Services offered by these facilities vary from self-catering to fully catered, and support to students. They are situated in the tropical gardens of the campus.

Residential colleges

• Saints Catholic College was formed in 2011 with the amalgamation of the Catholic Colleges of St Raphael and St Paul and the addition of a third wing, St Mary MacKillop Wing, in honour of Australia’s first Saint.
• Saint Mark's College is an Affiliated Residential College of JCU and can accommodate 153 male and female students. The College enrols JCU students, primarily from regional and rural Queensland, but also from across Australia and overseas.
• The John Flynn College was established in 1968. It is a privately run residential college providing accommodation for more than 200 Australian and International JCU students.

Halls of Residence

JCU manages four non-denominational halls for 770 students

• George Roberts Hall opened in 2002 with 250 residents in unit style accommodation. Each unit consists of either three or four bedrooms located around an air-conditioned lounge and kitchenette and include modern bathroom facilities.
• Rotary International House was established in 1990, with the assistance of Rotary Clubs. This small facility can accommodate 38 residents, about half being from overseas.
• University Hall was the first residence to be established at the University and is at present the largest of the student residences with 291 rooms. It was established in the 1960s with the amalgamation of Dungragan for women, Stuart House for men and Olsen House for men.
• Western Courts can accommodate 112 students and was established in early 2008 to offset the closure of Western Hall, a former Residential Hall at JCU.

Notable alumni and staff

This is a list of alumni and former faculty and staff of James Cook University, including preceding institutions such as Townsville University College and Townsville College of Advanced Education.

Notable alumni

• Porfirio Miel Aliño, Professor, University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI), head of the Community Ecology Laboratory, Deputy Director for Research.^[23]
• Rachel Carling-Jenkins, Australian politician
• David Crisafulli, Australian politician
• Anne Clyde, Chair of the Standing Section for School Libraries and Resource Centres for the International Federation of Library Associations 2003-2005
• Wendy Darke, Head of BBC Natural History Unit^[24]
• Rose Evaster-Aderolili, Chief of the Human and Social Development Program for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ^[25]
• Brentley Frazer, author
• Philip Freier, Anglican clergyman and current Archbishop of Melbourne
• Colin Grant, former head of Biosecurity Australia ^[26]
• Phillip Gwynne, author
• Silma Ihram, activist
• Natalie James, appointed Fair Work Ombudsman in 2013 ^[27]
• Dimitri O. Ledenyov, a 2002 IEEE Microwave Society Award winner, an Australian physicist and a professional engineer in Queensland, who co-authored a book on the nonlinearities in microwave superconductivity,^[28][29][30] an econophysicist,^[31][32][33] and an econometrician ,^[31][32][33] makes the innovative research at James Cook University in Townsville since 2000.
• Joanna Mather, Australian Financial Review, Canberra bureau, 2013 Higher Education Journalist of the Year by Universities Australia and the National Press Club (Australia) ^[34]
• Sue Meek, Chief Executive of the Australian Academy of Science
• Jan McLucas, Australian politician (Townsville CAE)
• Tony Mooney, former Mayor of Townsville
• Christina Ochoa, Spanish actress and marine biologist
• Margaret Reynolds, Australian politician
• Henry Reynolds, Australian historian
• Glen Richards, founding Managing Director of Australia’s leading veterinary services company Greencross Vets, and a Non-Executive Director of Lyppard Australia Pty Ltd, one of the largest wholesalers of veterinary and pet products in Australia ^[35]
• Mark Robinson, Australian politician
• Kate Russo, Assistant Course Director, Doctoral program in Clinical Psychology, School of Psychology at Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland; Principal Clinical Psychologist at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children; Regional Coordinator of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Northern Ireland; and an independent consultant and author ^[36]
• Lindsay Simpson, journalist
• Andrew Stoner, Deputy Premier of New South Wales, National Party Member for Oxley, New South Wales, in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
• Women in Docs, an Australian folk pop duo, Chanel Lucas and Roz Pappalardo^[37]
• Ian Young, Vice Chancellor, Australian National University ^[38]
• Julie Hall, World Health Organization Representative in the Philippines, and principal coordinator of international medical relief efforts for Typhoon Haiyan^[39]

Recipients of honorary degrees include:

• Tommy George, Awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters for his work in ecology
• David Hudson, Aboriginal musician
• Silma Ihram, pioneer of Muslim education in Australia
• George Musgrave, awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters for his work in traditional law
• Percy Trezise, Awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters in recognition of outstanding service to the community of Far North Queensland

Notable faculty and staff

• Jim Burnell, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, winner of Australia’s Lecturer of the Year 2011 ^[40]
• Robert M. Carter, former head of JCU's School of Earth Sciences
• Lesley Clark, Australian politician, former lecturer at JCU
• Charles Clarke, ecologist and botanist
• Anne Clyde, educator, teacher and librarian (Townsville CAE)
• Stephan Dahl, adjunct professor
• Robert M. W. Dixon, professor of linguistics, The Cairns Institute
• Rhondda Jones, former professor of zoology
• Colin Lankshear, researcher language and literacy, adjunct professor
• William F. Laurance, biologist, recipient of the Australian Laureate Fellowship
• Leonard Francis Lindoy, chemist, professor emeritus
• Harry Lourandos, archaeologist, adjunct professor at the School of Social Sciences
• Eddie Mabo, indigenous community leader and human rights activist, was employed at JCU as a gardener/groundsman between 1967 and 1971.^[41]
• Ken McElligott, politician and civil servant, previously worked as an administrative office at JCU
• Ken McKinnon, interim Vice-Chancellor
• Lindy Nelson-Carr, Australian politician, former lecturer
• John Newfong, Aboriginal Australian journalist
• Mike Reynolds, former Australian Labor Party member for Townsville and Speaker in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
• Henry Reynolds, Australian historian, also alumnus (PhD)
• Albert Schram, adjunct professor
• Jamie Seymour, toxinologist
• Dale Spender, Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant
• Robert Stable, physician, adjunct professor

See also

• List of universities in Australia

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Cook University.

• Official website