Global business leader Andrew N. Liveris is spearheading an extraordinary effort to provide $40 million to support University of Queensland (UQ) innovation and leadership initiatives across the state and around the world.

UQ alumnus Mr Liveris and his wife, Mrs Paula Liveris, have donated $13.5 million to help establish the Liveris Academy in the University’s Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (EAIT).  They have also pledged to raise an additional $26.5 million dollars to support UQ’s Not If, When philanthropic campaign.

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Høj said the academy would be housed in the Andrew N. Liveris Building, an 11-storey engineering education and research hub to be built at the St Lucia campus.  “Naming the building after Mr Liveris is a fitting acknowledgement of one of UQ’s most successful alumni, honouring his exceptional career and his role as a consistent, visible and enthusiastic advocate for UQ,” Professor Høj said.

“The Liveris Academy will teach and develop future generations of leaders, equipping them to discover and implement technology driven innovations that address grand challenges related to sustainability in a time of dramatic social, technological, economic and environmental change.”

Mr Liveris said he was delighted that the Liveris building would provide a new home for chemical engineering and related disciplines at UQ.   “Paula and I hope the Liveris Academy will attract, support and develop many of the planet’s smartest young people and finest minds in engineering and science, enabling them to reach their full potential while addressing major challenges facing society today,” he said.

Professor Høj said the initiative bolstered UQ’s efforts to empower student success, transform teaching and learning and drive discovery and impact through the Not If, When campaign, and was the largest contribution to the campaign to date.  “This gift will create leadership and change-making opportunities for students who might otherwise have had limited access to higher education,” he said.

A rigorous selection process for the Liveris Academy will identify promising students with leadership potential and a passion to address sustainability issues involving clean water, safe food and modern energy services.

Mr Liveris – who is Chairman and CEO, The Dow Chemical Company and Director and Former Executive Chairman, DowDuPont – said he hoped the donation, initiative and building housing cross-disciplinary activity, would allow students to garner a real-life understanding that many global challenges required large-scale innovation and leadership to create positive change for society.

Andrew N. Liveris
Mr Liveris holds a UQ Bachelor of Engineering (honours, 1975) and a Doctor of Science honoris causa (2005). He is president and founder of The University of Queensland in America Foundation, and was named UQ Alumnus of the Year in 2005.

In addition to his work at Dow, Mr Liveris’ breadth of experience and expertise is broadly represented across business, government, academic and non-profit sectors, including as a member of the Board of Directors of IBM, as Vice Chair of the Business Roundtable, an Executive Committee Member and Past Chairman of the US Business Council, and a member of the Concordia Leadership Council, the Australian government’s Industry Growth Centres Advisory Committee and a Trustee of the California Institute of Technology.

High profile foreign correspondent Peter Greste will help guide the future of journalism education after accepting an appointment at The University of Queensland.

Mr Greste will join the UQ School of Communication and Arts as the UNESCO Chair of Journalism and Communication early this year.

An internationally recognised journalist with numerous awards for his work, Mr Greste spent two decades reporting from the front line in the world’s most dangerous countries before making headlines following his own incarceration in an Egyptian prison.

Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj said Mr Greste’s appointment demonstrated UQ’s commitment to the study and practice of journalism in a changing world.

“Charged with threatening national security and held in solitary confinement and detention for 400 days, Mr Greste himself became a victim of the ever-present dangers to journalists seeking to establish and report facts,” Professor Høj said.

“By bringing a leading practitioner into the classroom as an advocate for the fundamental principles of free speech and a free press, we are helping prepare students to work with passion and integrity in a rapidly changing media landscape.

“We are delighted that Mr Greste has accepted this role and we believe his experience working as a foreign correspondent for several global media outlets will provide our journalism and communication students with many wonderful new opportunities.”

Mr Greste said that after spending more than a quarter of a century on the road, covering international affairs for the BBC, Reuters and Al Jazeera, it felt like the right time to change gears and give something back to journalism.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining UQ to pass on some of what I’ve learned over the years to the next generation of journalists,” he said.

“With the University’s incredible research capacity, and the platform that the UNESCO Chair of Journalism and Communication gives me, I am also looking forward to using those resources to help shape the future of an industry that is so vital to a functioning democracy.”

Mr Greste’s role will include a range of teaching, research and engagement activities and he also plans to continue as a commentator, speaker and campaigner around key issues in the media, as well as advocating for the need to defend journalists and freedom of expression.

He has recently published The First Casualty, a memoir from the front lines of the global war on journalism, and produced the upcoming ABC documentary series General Monash and me.

Mr Greste will join UQ in early February.

The role is supported by the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Program, which involves more than 700 institutions in 116 countries.

Media: Melinda Kopanakis, m.kopanakis@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3365 2632.

University of Queensland graduates have garnered some of the highest levels of employer satisfaction in Australia in a survey released today.

The Australian Government’s Employer Satisfaction Survey is the largest survey of its kind. The 2017 report released today is based on 4348 employer responses on the attributes of recent graduates from Australian higher education institutions.

Eighty-eight per cent of respondent direct supervisors of UQ graduates said that they would consider hiring another UQ graduate for a relevant vacancy, placing UQ sixth nationally and first among Australia’s global top-100 universities.

UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj said the University prioritised producing workforce-ready graduates.

“This positive feedback about employer appreciation of UQ graduates is extremely affirming,” he said.

“UQ’s teaching, learning and research is closely informed by its engagement with business and industry, so our graduates leave with considerable hands-on experience in their fields of study.

“They can hit the ground running, and employers are building a solid understanding of the high-quality of graduate they can expect from us.”

Professor Høj said the University aimed to produce capable, globally minded graduates who could create positive change in the world.

The Australian Department of Education and Training states that the Employer Satisfaction Survey is the first national survey that directly links the experiences of Australian graduates to the views of their direct supervisors.

Contact: Fiona Cameron, communications@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 7086.

The University of Queensland is hosting our annual Australia Day get-together for UQ alumni and friends in the DC Metro Area at  Oz Restaurant & Bar (Modern Australian cuisine infused with American flavors).

Come and enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks courtesy of UQ North America.

Date
Friday, January 26, 2018

Time
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Location
Oz Restaurant & Bar
2950 Clarendon Blvd.
Arlington, Virginia

RSVP 
http://uqaustraliaday2018.eventzilla.net/

Please RSVP by Thursday, January 25th.
We look forward to seeing you!

For more information please contact:
Tabitha Powell  The UQ North America Office

Ph: +1 202 495 3671
Email: northamerica@uq.edu.au
Website: northamerica.uq.edu.au 
CRICOS provider: 00025B