Speaker 1 [00:00:11] Hello and welcome to Outlook Magazine, the University of Wollongong’s flagship publication for alumni. My name is Patricia Davidson and I'm the new Vice-Chancellor and president of the University of Wollongong. I'm a proud alumna of UOW, having studied here in the late 70s. My life and career have taken me in many directions, most recently to the United States, where I was the Dean of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. It's my great honour to have returned to UOW at this critical point in time, and I promise to do all I can to unashamedly promote the UOW I know and love, while adapting and refocusing our values going forward. For anyone in any leadership position at this time, it's a huge responsibility and I'm determined to get things right, to learn from the past and to be the leader that the University needs right now and into the future. I, like you, have watched UOW expand and flourish over the years, and I hope you will continue to come along the journey as we enter the next phase of this University's great history. As you may know, Outlook Magazine features stories about our alumni, students, academics and our latest groundbreaking research. This is a space to celebrate the diversity of our community and its achievements. This year's issue focuses on the inequalities and urgent issues facing women, and as UOW’s first female Vice- Chancellor, I feel a strong sense of duty towards this cause. Not only do I understand the huge role I play as a woman in leadership, but I also know that I have earned the opportunity in my role to make real and lasting change for women, not only in our University community, but more broadly and I do not take that responsibility lightly. With privilege comes great responsibility. Inside these pages, you will read some devastating statistics about domestic violence, the gender pay gap, a lack of women in leadership positions, and much more. We can't include or even begin to understand the full extent of the issues facing women with different backgrounds and at different life stages. But we do know that they are many and varying. Creating this space to talk about them, gain insight from experts in these fields and have open and honest discussion is a very good place to start. And I thank our UOW Advancement team for an incredible effort producing this work. However, I invite our alumni community to please take these stories further. Tell your family and friends about what you’ve read, donate to causes you think might help alleviate these issues. Stand up for women in the workplace, believe in women, hold them up, don't put them down and remember, kindness is everything. I would also like to encourage those able to put themselves forward as a mentor for young driven women studying in a similar field at the University of Wollongong. There is no denying the empowerment that mentorship and sponsorship can offer. I hope you will also take from these pages the incredible work being done to reduce the burden of these issues near, far and everywhere. Reading about the work of those in politics, in the not-for-profit sector, in law, and much more, it is encouraging to know that real people are investing their time and expertise to spur positive change. Anyone can do anything if you work hard and surround yourself with people who support and enable you. This University is a fantastic place to find those people, and I'm here to be one of those people, and I hope that the opportunities presented to me throughout my career will also be available and achievable for the staff, faculty and alumni of the University of Wollongong. Thank you for coming on this journey with us, I hope you're happy and healthy wherever you are in the world and from one UOW alumni to another, thank you for continuing to make us proud.