New Zealand's third oldest university - Lincoln - celebrates its 125 th jubilee at Labour Weekend. (24-27 October).
Founded in 1878 as the School of Agriculture at Lincoln, affiliated initially to Canterbury College, Lincoln University is pre-dated only by the universities of Otago (1869) and Canterbury (1873). It is also the third oldest "agricultural university" in the Commonwealth after Britain's Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, (1842), and Canada's Ontario Agricultural College (1874) now part of the University of Guelph.
The jubilee will be marked with -
- a special Convocation (formal assembly of Chancellor, Council members, academics and other dignitaries) on Friday 24 October;
- a series of seminars with top invited speakers on the Friday and Saturday;
- a special campus cricket match on the Saturday between the student survivors of the Wahine disaster and an invitation XI;
- a 125 th anniversary party for alumni, staff and supporters on Saturday night;
- individual class reunions;
- campus and city tours;
- a golf tournament at Templeton Country Club, and a sporting clays event at Waihora Gun Club;
- a church service in Memorial Hall on the campus.
Highlights of the Convocation will be the inaugural award of a Lincoln University International Alumni Medal for distinguished services by an alumnus in their home country; the posthumous award of an honorary Doctor of Science degree; and the presentation of 61 special 125 th anniversary "Merit Medals" to a group of outstanding contributors to the life and well-being of the University over the past 25 years since Lincoln marked its centenary.
Among the guest speakers at the seminars is Dr Bryan Sykes, Professor of Genetics at Oxford University's Institute of Molecular Medicine. Professor Sykes is well-known for theories that the human male could be doomed to extinction because of chromosomal weakness and that through DNA identification all women should be able to trace their genetic makeup back to seven primeval females - the "seven daughters of eve", the name given to his best-selling book.
Top New Zealand businesswoman Peri Drysdale, founder and CEO of Snowy Peak Limited, operators of Untouched World, is another of the seminar presenters along with Professor Ann Smith of LandcareResearch, ACT MP Rodney Hide, Lincoln University's Professor of Plant Pathology and Director of the National Centre for Advanced Bio-Protection Technologies Alison Stewart, Professor of Tourism David Simmons, media personality Jim Hopkins and Te Mata Estate Winery CEO John Buck.
Alumni are coming from throughout New Zealand and from Australia for the jubilee celebrations. Over 25,000 students have been through Lincoln since it opened its doors in 1880, two years after its foundation in 1878.
For further information contact
Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury
Tel: (03) 3252811 ext 8549.
Email: Ian Collins