A touch of gold
| | Alistair Lloyd and Brooke Hanson |
The Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University has a proud history of celebrating and supporting excellence with gold medals awarded to its highest achieving students in each undergraduate course since 1885.
On Thursday 21 August 240 students, staff, former staff, alumni and representatives from the pharmacy profession and pharmaceutical industry joined with gold medalists from as far back as 1945 to unveil the faculty’s new gold medal honour boards.
Guest speaker was swimming Olympic champion Brooke Hanson who spoke about her own journey and passion for success. She described missing out on both the Atlanta and Sydney Australian Olympic swimming teams by fractions of a second. Determination to make the Athens Olympics team, she outlined her four year training regime plus the many sacrifices she made to achieve this goal. She stated that she had detractors telling her she was too old at twenty-six to be an Olympian. With great self belief and focus she went on to win gold and silver in Athens.
During the Beijing Games it was a great thrill to hear insights into what it is like to be an Olympian and what our athletes have experienced in Beijing. Ms Hanson urged the gathered crowd to follow their own dreams, with the prize not being the medal itself but the resolve to give everything you do your best.
A further thrill was provided by Ms Hanson when she generously handed her precious gold and silver medals to the audience for all to touch and handle.
Professor Bill Charman, dean of the faculty, spoke about the faculty’s own striving for excellence, stating that “as a faculty, we embrace our responsibility to inspire, and to extend, tomorrow’s generation of students, researchers and leaders within pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences.”
Mr Mark Feldschuh, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (Victorian Branch) spoke of his pride in the faculty (formerly the Victorian College of Pharmacy) since its inception by the Society.
The excellence of the faculty’s staff was also celebrated at the event with the unveiling of Professor Colin Chapman’s portrait to honour his many years as dean from 1991 through to 2006. During his time as dean, Professor Chapman had a tremendous impact on the profession, the faculty and the standing of pharmacy within the community. He strategically led the faculty through its amalgamation with Monash University and played a pivotal role in nurturing the excellence for which the faculty, its staff and students are so well respected.
The new gold medal honour boards are now mounted in the foyer of Cossar Hall. Professor Chapman’s portrait hangs alongside the portraits of the faculty’s other past deans in Cossar Hall.
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