CDU has a new Vice Chancellor – Professor Scott Bowman AO and is entering an exciting new phase as a University with a new strategic plan [2021-2026] recently endorsed by Council. The College of Nursing & Midwifery held a strategic planning session on September 16 to bring all staff together from across Australia and begin to plan the future.
Graduations were held in Darwin on September 17 and our guest speaker was 2021 Nurse of the year Lisa Vermeulen who is Director of the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility in the Northern Territory and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer of our College who teaches on the Aeromedical Retrieval courses in Darwin.
Our staff spotlights in this quarterly newsletter feature Dr Daniel Liu based at our Brisbane Campus and Georgia Beven based at our Darwin Campus. We also feature the very important PhD research on inpatient suicides being conducted by our Lecturer in Nursing Penny Sweeting, based at CDU Sydney Campus.
CDU academic staff Kabir Sattarshetty and Sarah Mills are working with Wiley Publishing to develop training videos for students in surgical nursing. The project involves videos at the CDU Sydney Campus clinical simulation laboratory.
Our new Master of Nursing pre-reg students are enjoying their course and we feature one of these amazing Darwin based students embarking on a career change to nursing. The course currently operates from both our Darwin and Sydney Campuses.
Our successful indigenous midwifery researchers work on reducing pre-term birth weights in Arnhem Land is showcased in the ABC article included in this newsletter. Please scroll through to read about their amazing work.
College staff and students are still showing their incredible resilience as we navigate our way through the COVID-19 pandemic and rolling lockdowns, restrictions on classes and clinical placements and the requirement for all of us to be fully vaccinated. The last 18mths have been especially challenging for all of us and I would like to acknowledge sincere thanks to all College staff and students for your commitment and patience during these difficult times.
I am stepping down as Dean at the year end and by this time have had the honour and privilege of leading the College as the inaugural Dean for three and half years. Together we have achieved a great deal and the College is performing well across all teaching, research, international, engagement and indigenous leadership areas. My role as Dean is to support the excellence you all deliver as students, staff and alumni through teaching, research and clinical practice.
I wish each of you all the best in your future professional and personal lives.
Professor Catherine Turner AM
College Dean |
