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University farewells long-serving academic
The University of the Sunshine Coast held a special farewell event last Thursday for one of its longest-serving academics, Professor Pam Dyer.
Professor Dyer started as a lecturer at USC when the University first opened in 1996 and progressed through the ranks to become Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in November 2005.
She will officially retire in early January 2011.
About 90 invited guests, including Professor Dyer’s husband Mike and other family members and former USC Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Thomas, attended the farewell event at the University’s Art Gallery.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Hill, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Elliot, academic Dr Elizabeth Eddy and faculty program adviser Dannielle Cochrane made speeches praising Professor Dyer’s work at USC.
Professor Dyer responded by thanking her colleagues, staff and family for their enduring support during her academic career.
“I am overwhelmed that I’ve had such a positive career,” she said. “Having commenced at 50, I have to pinch myself regularly to remind myself that it’s all been real.
“This University has been an incredible workplace and I’ll miss being part of it, and all of you.”
Professor Dyer has specialised in the areas of environmental and planning studies, natural resource planning and management, eco-tourism and interpretation, and the effects of human interaction with the natural environment.
She was instrumental in the introduction of a Bachelor of Regional and Urban Planning at USC in 2004 to help meet a national need for more urban planners in regional areas.
And in 2008, Professor Dyer’s contribution to Australian life was recognised by her inclusion in that year’s edition of Who’s Who in Australia.
Her PhD research into the breeding status of burrowing birds led Dr Dyer to develop a “burrowscope”, which allows a non-intrusive study of birds in the burrow – a tool now commonly used for monitoring burrowing species in Australia and overseas.
— Terry Walsh