VC- Professor IAN O'CONNOR, Griffith University Vice Chancellor and President

IN JUST 40 years, Griffith University has accomplished much to be proud of. Named in honour of Australia's first Chief Justice and Queensland pioneer, Sir Samuel Griffith, we have earned a reputation as a leading, research-intensive, comprehensive university of the Asia Pacific region.

 

Given our unique, relatively young heritage, we have from the outset been distinctively interdisciplinary, refusing to be fenced in by traditional boundaries. And we remain deeply committed to our community, delivering a social dividend through collaborative projects locally and across the globe.

 

2011 marks an extraordinary year of accolades for our top researchers. The much awaited Excellence in Research for Australia report demonstrated more than 90 per cent of our academics are working in fields assessed at world-standard or better--positioning us with the top ten of Australian research universities.

 

This has inspired us to launch our 'Know More, Do More' campaign which demonstrates the benefits for students of the 'research-teaching nexus'--in plain language, that means the benefit of learning from teachers and lectures who are also high performers in their research fields.

 

We are intensely proud of our 120,000 alumni who are making their mark across the world.

 

If you take the opportunity to come back to our campuese as part of our anniversary celebrations, which I sincerely hope you do, you will witness frenetic building activity in the order of $320 million revitalising our research, learning and community spaces.

 

I hope you will help us celebrate our 40th anniversary in the coming weeks, and stay connected to the University, our staff, students and alumin.