{"id":17636,"date":"2010-09-23T05:01:37","date_gmt":"2010-09-22T21:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/curtin-honours-respected-wa-businessman\/"},"modified":"2010-09-23T05:01:37","modified_gmt":"2010-09-22T21:01:37","slug":"curtin-honours-respected-wa-businessman","status":"publish","type":"media-release","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/curtin-honours-respected-wa-businessman\/","title":{"rendered":"Curtin honours respected WA businessman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Curtin University will tonight award respected West Australian businessman and former Chancellor Gordon Martin with an Honorary Doctorate of Technology.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Martin was invested as Chancellor of Curtin in 2006, a position he held until 2009. He has more than 30 years experience as a chemical engineer and as Chair of Coogee Chemicals, one of Western Australia\u2019s most successful companies.<\/p>\n<p>Curtin Vice-Chancellor Professor Jeanette Hacket said Mr Martin, as Chancellor, had significantly strengthened the strategic governance of Curtin, taking the University to a new level of performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis influence and facilitation allowed Curtin to noticeably enhance its engagement with Western Australian industry, particularly in the areas of science and engineering,\u201d Professor Hacket said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA number of strategic initiatives he has championed \u2013 such as the establishment of the Australian Sustainable Development Institute and several major building projects \u2013 will have long-term benefits for the University.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis endeavours will also help facilitate the growth of the University into a leading university in the South East Asia region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Professor Hacket said Mr Martin had been instrumental in the establishment of the Curtin University Foundation, launched in April.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Foundation will seek to raise funds on a number of fronts to support key research and teaching initiatives at the University,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Martin, who holds qualifications in chemical engineering and economics, joined Coogee Chemicals in the 1970s, significantly restructuring it after buying equity in the company.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1980s, he diversified the company by entering joint agreements with Wesfarmers and Nufarm, and he has continued to build on Coogee Chemical\u2019s business success into the new century.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Martin is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). In 2005, he was awarded the AICD Gold Medal for his exemplary contribution to good governance in the private and community sectors. In 2008, he received Ernst and Young\u2019s Champion of Entrepreneurship award for Western Australia. Mr Martin was awarded Rio Tinto\u2019s award for Excellence in Chemical Engineering in 2000.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Martin has not just confined his considerable skills to the business sector. He has contributed enormously to the community in the non-profit and higher education sectors.<\/p>\n<p>As Chair of the Royal Flying Doctor Service Aircraft Replacement Campaign, he helped raise around $15 million to replace ageing aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr Martin has been willing to share his abilities in leadership and entrepreneurship with organisations for which he has volunteered his time,\u201d Professor Hacket said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Martin said he was delighted to accept the Honorary Doctorate of Technology, particularly from a university which was committed to innovation and excellence in both teaching and research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCurtin plays an enormous role in shaping the future of our community through its research and graduates and I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to be involved with the University,\u201d Mr Martin said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Martin will be awarded the Honorary Doctorate at tonight\u2019s graduation ceremony at the Curtin Stadium. The ceremony is for students graduating from the Graduate School of Business Management, Information Systems, Centre for Aboriginal Studies, Centre for Regional Education and the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy<\/p>\n<p>Contacts:<\/p>\n<p>Denise Cahill, Public Relations, Curtin<br \/>\nTel: 08 9266 1931, Mobile: 0401 103 683, Email: <a href=\"mailto:d.cahill@curtin.edu.au\">d.cahill@curtin.edu.au<\/a><br \/>\nWeb: <a href=\"http:\/\/curtin.edu.au\/\">http:\/\/curtin.edu.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Curtin University will award respected West Australian businessman and former Chancellor Gordon Martin with an Honorary Doctorate of Technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-17636","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","hentry","category-campus-and-global-community"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":false,"author_meta":{"first_name":"Curtin","last_name":"University","display_name":"Curtin University"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/17636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/17636\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17636"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=17636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}