James Cook University
Encyclopedia
James Cook University is a public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...

 university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 based in Townsville, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia. The university has two Australian campuses, located in Townsville and Cairns respectively, and an international campus in Singapore. JCU is the second oldest university in Queensland—proclaimed in 1970—and the first tertiary education
Tertiary education
Tertiary education, also referred to as third stage, third level, and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, university-preparatory school...

 institution in North Queensland
North Queensland
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the state of Queensland in Australia. Queensland is a massive state, larger than most countries, and the tropical northern part of it has been historically remote and undeveloped, resulting in a distinctive regional character and...

. JCU is one of only 17 Australian universities that was listed in the ARWU
Academic Ranking of World Universities
The Academic Ranking of World Universities , commonly known as the Shanghai ranking, is a publication that was founded and compiled by the Shanghai Jiaotong University to rank universities globally. The rankings have been conducted since 2003 and updated annually...

 top 400 academic world universities in 2008. Main fields of research include marine sciences, biodiversity, sustainable management of tropical ecosystems, tropical health care and tourism. JCU was one of the first Australian universities to offer tourism studies, and is recognised as a global leader in tourism education. The university's scholars have been ranked among the world’s top tourism academics by the prestigious Tourism Management Journal.

History

The university is named after the British sea captain James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

 who popularised the discovery and potential colonial value of the east coast of Australia and whose exploratory vessel HM Bark Endeavour
HM Bark Endeavour
HMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a British Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771....

 ran aground for repairs in North Queensland.

After being proclaimed on 20 April 1970 as an Act
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 of Queensland Parliament, The University College of Townsville became James Cook University of North Queensland on 29 April 1970. The official opening of the university was conducted by Queen Elizabeth II. On 1 January 1982, JCU amalgamated with The Townsville College of Advanced Education located adjacent to the main campus in Douglas. The university established a presence in Cairns in 1987 and moved to its current location in the suburb of Smithfield in 1996. On 1 January 1991, the School of Art and Design of the Townsville College of TAFE was transferred to JCU. The current name of James Cook University became official on 1 January 1998. In 2003 the University opened an international campus referred to as JCUS
James Cook University Singapore International Campus
James Cook University Singapore is an overseas campus of the Australia's James Cook University and its full-fledged offshore campus in Singapore.- Programs Offered :Currently, JCU Singapore offers programs to students from various JCU Faculties....

 in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. The university further expanded its presence by establishing another campus in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 in 2006.

A year after JCU's proclamation, Cyclone Althea struck the Townsville region. This, together with the destruction caused by Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974...

 in Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

 1974, prompted the establishment of a cyclone research facility. The Cyclone Testing Station started out as a small project of Professor Hugh Trollope and began its operations on 1 November 1977 as James Cook Cyclone Structural Testing Station. The facility has since grown and changed its name to Cyclone Testing Station in 2002 to better indicate its scope of testing and services provided. The Cyclone Testing Station operates as an independent unit of The School of Engineering and serves as an advising member to the Australian Standards committee in areas of structural design, more specifically wind actions.

JCU Townsville redevelopment

The Discovery Rise project was announced in September 2007. The $1 billion project is aimed at completely redeveloping the University campuses, faculties and attracting more students to JCU. Initial stages of planning and design are currently under way and the project is estimated to be finished in 2015. Included in the project will be major upgrading of student facilities, creation of extra on-campus residential housing, commercial site-leasing, a student village and upgrading of sports facilities.

Douglas Campus (Townsville)

JCU's main campus moved from a small campus in the coastal city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

 of Townsville (Pimlico suburb) to a 386-hectare area of bush land in the suburb of Douglas
Douglas, Queensland
Douglas is a suburb of Townsville, Queensland, Australia south of the Ross River and west of the city centre.Though mainly residential, it does contain James Cook University and the Townsville Hospital...

, near the army base and the lee of Mount Stuart, during the early 1970s. It has a widely spread out area of buildings in between remnant patches of trees. Close to the university is the new Townsville Hospital
Townsville Hospital
The Townsville Hospital is a public tertiary care hospital in the city of Townsville and serves patients from the entire North Queensland region, with patients from as far as Mount Isa and Cape York being airlifted or transported to the Hospital on a daily basis. The hospital is relatively new and...

 and Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE.

Cairns Campus

The Cairns Campus of James Cook University is located 15 kilometres NNW of Cairns CBD, a city on the east coast of Australia, in the suburb of Smithfield
Smithfield, Queensland
Smithfield, about 15 km to the north of Cairns, Queensland, Australia that was first established in 1876, was a rival for dominance of the area to Cairns at that time...

. Opened in 1996, this campus is situated in a mountainous rainforest area of tropical North Queensland.

Singapore International Campus

The James Cook University Singapore was opened in 2003 as JCU's first offshore campus. There are currently around 2200 students studying with JCUS.

On 18 July 2008, JCU Singapore relocated to a new campus at 600 Upper Thomson Road.

Other facilities

Apart from the three main campuses, JCU has more than 20 specialist research centres and institutes throughout Queensland and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 with the most prominent ones being in Mount Isa, Thursday Island, Mackay
Mackay, Queensland
Mackay is a city on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia because its region produces more than a third of Australia's cane sugar....

, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

 and Sydney.

The university is home to the "Cyclone Testing Station" which operates as a self-funded unit within the School of Engineering and is a contributing member of the Australian Standards with regards to Wind Actions.

Academia

The university serves as a catchment area for students in the whole region and in 2007 its student population was at 16,338 which includes 3,450 international students.

The university is well known for its medicine, marine sciences, comparative genomics, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

. In 2001 the university took in its first medical students in its then-new School of Medicine. An undergraduate veterinary degree was added to the university for the first time in 2006. The university is also offering degrees in astronomy, including a Doctor of Astronomy degree, through on-line courses.

In 2010, James Cook University ranked in the list of the top 400 world universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University or SJTU), sometimes referred to as Shanghai Jiaotong University , is a top public research university located in Shanghai, China. Shanghai Jiao Tong University is known as one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China...

.

James Cook University became the seventh member of Innovative Research Universities Australia
Innovative Research Universities Australia
Innovative Research Universities , formerly Innovative Research Universities Australia, is a network of seven comprehensive universities committed to conducting research of national and international standing....

 in 2007.

Organisational structure

The university is organised into faculties, schools and departments/divisions.

Faculty of Art, Education and Social Sciences

  • School of Art and Social Sciences
    • Department of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology
    • Department of Humanities
    • Department of Psychology
    • Department of Social Work & Community Welfare, including Centre for Women's Studies
  • School of Education
  • School of Journalism
  • School of Indigenous Australian Studies

Faculty of Law, Business and the Creative Arts

  • School of Law
    James Cook University School of Law
    The School of Law is a constituent body of James Cook University, and is the only regional law school in Queensland.The JCU Law School offers a comprehensive course that provides entry to the legal profession...

  • School of Business
    James Cook University School of Business
    The School of Business is a constituent of James Cook University which is responsible for Accounting, Economics, Business, Tourism, Marketing, Management, Development and Information Technology disciplines offered by James Cook University. The School of Business is located between the University's...

  • School of Creative Arts

Faculty of Medicine, and Health and Molecular Sciences

  • Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine
  • Indigenous Health Unit
  • Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health
  • School of Medicine and Dentistry
    James Cook University School of Medicine and Dentistry
    -History:Originally opened as the School of Medicine in February 2000, this was Australia's first new medical school in 25 years and the only medical school in northern Australia. It was the first of a wave of new medical schools that were accredited under the Howard Government that include the...

  • School of Nursing, Midwifery and Nutrition
  • School of Pharmacy and Molecular Sciences
  • School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences
    • Public Health and Tropical Medicine
    • Occupational Therapy
    • Physiotherapy
    • Speech Pathology
    • Institute of Sport and Exercise Science
  • School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences

Faculty of Science and Engineering

  • School of Earth and Environmental Science
  • School of Engineering and Physical Sciences
  • School of Marine and Tropical Biology
  • Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research
  • ARC Centre of Excellence - Coral Reef Studies

Rankings

Research produced by the Melbourne Institute in 2006 ranked Australian universities across seven main discipline areas: Arts & Humanities, Business & Economics, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, and Science. For each discipline, James Cook University was ranked:
Discipline R 1 No. R 2 No.
Arts & Humanities 23 38 20 38
Business & Economics 30 39 32 38
Education 26 35 22 34
Engineering 18 28 25 28
Law 23 29 25 28
Medicine 12 14 13 13
Science 10 38 10 35

  • R1 refers to Australian and overseas Academics' rankings in tables 3.1 - 3.7 of the report.
  • R2 refers to the Articles and Research rankings in tables 5.1 - 5.7 of the report.
  • No. refers to the total number of institutions in the table against which JCU is compared.

Student Association

Students are represented by the James Cook University Student Association which used to include sub organisations of Cairns Campus Student Association and the James Cook University Postgraduate Student Association, a member of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations
Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, or CAPA, is the peak representative body for postgraduate students in Australia. Founded in 1979, CAPA provides member associations with representation to the Federal government, and peak bodies such as the Australian Research Council and...

. However, the Student Association Council has since merged into one representative body with seven elected members, with the positions of Townsville and Cairns Campus Officer, and Postgraduate Officer replacing the former campus and Postgraduate bodies.

Among the services provided by the Student Association are academic support, general administrative help, student welfare and non-academic activities. The Student Association publishes the student newspaper, The Bullsheet, fortnightly while the university is in session.

The current president of the Student Association is Justin Ganzer .

Residential colleges

The Douglas Campus has eight on-campus residential college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

s which can accommodate about 1,400 students. Student accommodation
Dwelling
Dwelling, as well as being a term for a house, or for living somewhere, or for lingering somewhere, is a philosophical concept which was developed by Martin Heidegger. Dwelling is about making yourself at home where the home itself is a building that is a house...

 at the Cairns Campus can accommodate 240 students. However, this accommodation is not located on the campus grounds, being directly opposite the campus. The halls of residence/colleges are:

Douglas Campus

List of colleges
College Affiliation
St Mark's Colleges 1965
University Hall 1967
The John Flynn College 1968
St Paul's Colleges 1969
St Raphael's Colleges 1971
Western Hall 1981 - 2007
Western Courts
Rotary International House 1990
George Roberts Hall 2002


Accommodation is also available when the university is not in session.

The individual colleges provide different services and support to students and are also situated in the tropical gardens of the campus.

Notable alumni and staff

  • Andrew Stoner
    Andrew Stoner
    Andrew John Stoner is an Australian politician, Deputy Premier of New South Wales and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the seat of Oxley since the 1999 state election, and the Leader of the New South Wales National Party since 31 March 2003...

    , National Party
    National Party of Australia
    The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

     Member for Oxley in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
    New South Wales Legislative Assembly
    The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

  • Bruce Kapferer
    Bruce Kapferer
    Bruce Kapferer is a prominent Australian social anthropologist. He was raised in Sydney, and studied anthropology at the University of Sydney...

    , Australian social anthropologist, Foundation Professor, 1996–1999
  • Dale Spender
    Dale Spender
    Dale Spender is an Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant.-Early life:Spender was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, a niece of the crime writer Jean Spender . The eldest of three, she has a younger sister Lynne, and a much younger brother Graeme. She attended the Burwood...

    , Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant
  • Eddie Mabo
    Eddie Mabo
    Eddie Koiki Mabo was a Torres Strait Islander who is known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights and for his role in a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius which characterised Australian law with regards to land and...

    , indigenous community leader and human rights activist employed at JCU as a gardener-groundsman between 1967 - 1971.
  • George Musgrave
    George Musgrave
    Dr George Musgrave was an elder of the Kuku Thaypan clan and a famous Australian bush tracker. He was a Agu Alaya speaker.He was born in his own country, near Lakefield National Park...

    , awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters for his knowledge of traditional law
  • Henry Reynolds
    Henry Reynolds (historian)
    Henry Reynolds is an eminent Australian historian whose primary work has focused on the frontier conflict between European settlement of Australia and indigenous Australians.-Education and career:...

    , Australian historian
  • John Newfong
    John Newfong
    John Newfong , Aboriginal Australian journalist and writer, was the first Aboriginal person to be employed as an journalist in the mainstream print media.Newfong was born in Wynnum, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, in 1943...

    , Aboriginal Australian journalist
  • Margaret Reynolds
    Margaret Reynolds
    Margaret Reynolds served as an Australian Labor Party Senator for Queensland from 1983 to 1999.Reynolds had two ministerial appointments during her time in the Senate, serving as Minister for Local Government from September 1987 to April 1990 and as Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the...

    , former Australian Senator
  • Mike Reynolds
    Mike Reynolds (politician)
    Michael Reynolds is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2009, representing the district of Townsville. He served as Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2009.- Biography :Reynolds has first elected to...

    , former Australian Labor Party
    Australian Labor Party
    The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

     member for Townsville and Speaker in the Queensland Legislative Assembly
    Queensland Legislative Assembly
    The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...

  • Paul Fairall, founding dean of University of South Australia
    University of South Australia
    The University of South Australia is a public university in the Australian state of South Australia. It was formed in 1991 with the merger of the South Australian Institute of Technology and Colleges of Advanced Education. It is the largest university in South Australia, with more than 36,000...

     was a law professor at JCU and the Dean
    Dean (education)
    In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...

     of Law between 1998 - 2002 before becoming the Dean of Law at the University of Adelaide
    University of Adelaide
    The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...

     in 2002.
  • Percy Trezise
    Percy Trezise
    Percy Trezise AM was an Australian pilot, painter, explorer and writer as well as, notably, a discoverer, documenter and historian of Aboriginal rock art. He was born in Tallangatta, Victoria but is associated especially with Far North Queensland and the rock art galleries of the Cape York Peninsula...

    , Awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters in recognition of outstanding service to the community of Far North Queensland
  • Robert M. Carter
    Robert M. Carter
    Robert M. "Bob" Carter is an adjunct research professor in the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, Queensland, and the University of Adelaide, South Australia. He is a geologist specializing in palaeontology, stratigraphy, marine geology, and environmental science...

    , Geologist and climate change skeptic
  • Silma Ihram
    Silma Ihram
    Silma Ihram is an Australian pioneer of Muslim education in the West, founder and former school Principal of the 'Noor Al Houda Islamic College' in Sydney, and a campaigner for racial tolerance....

    , Pioneer of Muslim education in Australia
  • Tommy George
    Tommy George
    Dr Tommy George Senior is an elder of the Kuku Thaypan clan. He is a Agu Alaya speaker.-Biography:He was born in his own country, near Lakefield National Park...

    , Awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters for his knowledge of ecological expertise
  • Tony Mooney
    Tony Mooney
    Anthony John "Tony" Mooney AM is an Australian politician and was a City Councillor of the City of Townsville, Queensland from 1977 to 2008, and the Mayor from 1989 to 2008.-Overview:...

    , Former mayor of Townsville
  • John Quiggin
    John Quiggin
    John Quiggin is an Australian economist and professor at the University of Queensland. Quiggin studied at the Australian National University, obtaining bachelor's degrees in Arts and Economics in 1978 and 1980 respectively, and completing a master's degree in Economics in 1984. Quiggin was awarded...

    , Australian economist
  • Sonny Thoss
    Sonny Thoss
    Joachim Gunther Thoss, better known as Sonny Thoss, is a Filipino-Papua New Guinean professional basketball player of the Philippine Basketball Association in the Philippines playing for the Alaska Aces...

    , PBA
    Philippine Basketball Association
    The Philippine Basketball Association , is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 10 company-branded franchised teams. It is the first and oldest professional basketball league in Asia and the second oldest in the world after the NBA...

     Player of Alaska Aces
    Alaska Aces (PBA)
    The Alaska Aces is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association since 1986 under the ownership of the Alaska Milk Corporation and the owner of 13 PBA championships with the 2010 PBA Fiesta Conference as their latest...

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