January 28, 2015
Australia Day Honours recognise outstanding achievement at UOW
University of Wollongong recognised in the Australia Day 2015 Honours List for achievements and service to the community for the betterment of fellow Australians.
Three UOW-affiliated researchers and a member of the Vice-Chancellor's Advisory Committee were among 615 Australians honoured on Australia Day by The Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove (Retd).
Since 1975 the Honours List has recognised more than 40,000 women and men who have made a diverse range of contributions and service across all fields, including professional endeavours, and community service while upholding values of “professionalism, compassion, dedication, generosity, tolerance, and energetic ambition”.
“On behalf of all Australians, I thank them for their contributions. They are a source of courage, support and inspiration, and we are a stronger, safer and more caring nation because of them,” the Governor-General said.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Wellings CBE congratulated those who were named in the 2015 Australia Day Honours List.
“All these colleagues have made immense contributions to the their fields of research, the University and importantly, the lives of the community in which they live.
“The Australia Day Honours are fitting recognition for their professionalism and dedication that will inspire the thousands of students who are following in their footsteps.”
Professor Hugh McKay, Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
Professor Mackay (pictured above) is one of Australia’s leading social researchers and has been an Honorary Professor of Social Science at UOW since 2010.
His Order of Australia recognises his “distinguished service to the community in the areas of social research and psychology, as an author and commentator, and through roles with visual and performing arts and educational organisations.
Professor Mackay established, The Mackay Report', 1979-2003, Australia's longest running qualitative social trends study. He has been a newspaper columnist and media commentator, since the 1970s and has written 16 books in the fields of social analysis, communication and ethics.
The psychologist and social researcher, he has spent his entire working life asking Australians about their values, motivations, ambitions, hopes and fears.
In a 2013 book, The Good Life, he concluded that ‘the good life’ is not measured by wealth, status, career success and levels of happiness, but is defined by our capacity for selflessness, the quality of our relationships and our willingness to connect with others in a useful way.
Professor Linda Tapsell, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Professor Tapsell (above, right), from the School of Medicine and the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI), is an international authority on nutrition and dietetics. She was awarded an Oder of Australia for her "significant service to health science as an academic and clinician specialising in diet and nutrition".
She has been a School of Medicine faculty member since 1990 and authored more than 200 scientific publications.
Professor Tapsell is a lead researcher on the HealthTrack Illawarra Shoalhaven Healthy Lifestyle Study, an initiative designed to test new approaches to weight loss.
The study combines expertise in nutrition, psychology, public health, exercise physiology, medicine, social sciences and statistics to develop personalised health programs for weight loss and a healthier lifestyle.
Professor Tapsell said she was grateful for the recognition for work in nutrition and dietetics, a field that addressed complex health problems.
“The study of food, nutrition and diet alone covers a very wide area of knowledge and expertise. This goes right to the individual because eating food is part of everyday life,”she said.
Professor John Rossiter, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Professor Rossiter (pictured above) has been Research Professor of Marketing in the Faculty of Business since 1999.
He was recognised for his “significant service to education and the social sciences as an academic specialising in marketing theories and television advertising”.
Professor Rossiter designed a new theory specifically for the social sciences, which can be used for research in sociology, psychology, organisational behaviour, management, and marketing, as well as in public opinion and public health research.
The innovative new approach received international acclaim and is one of Australia's most-cited marketing scholars. He has written eight books and numerous journal articles.
Stephen Loosely, Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Mr Loosely has been an inaugural member of the Vice-Chancellor's Advisory Committee since 2003.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for “significant service to the community through the development of public policy, to international relations, and to the Parliament of Australia”.
Mr Loosely was a NSW Labor Senator from 1990-1995, as well as serving as General Secretary of the NSW Labor Party and Australian Labor Party National President.