News

Dean wins national honour
January 26, 2008

AM medal Member of the Order of Australia medal

Almost four decades of distinguished research, teaching and public promotion of science and conservation by Professor Mike Archer have been publicly recognised in the Australia Day honours list. Professor Archer, who is Dean of the UNSW Faculty of Science, has been appointed as a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM).

In the Australian honours system appointments to the Order of Australia confer recognition for outstanding achievement and service. His citation reads: "For service to science as a palaeontologist, to the promotion of sustainable management of animal and plant life, to scientific education and research, and through mentoring and administrative roles."

Professor Archer is perhaps best known for leading research into the extraordinary Riversleigh fossil deposits in Queensland, which led to the site being listed on World Heritage Register as an outstanding example of "major stages of the earth's evolutionary history and significant ongoing ecological and biological evolution".

So far, Riversleigh has yielded more than 40,000 specimens from over 200 sites, representing some 300 species of animals of all kinds. Scores of scientists around the world are involved in ongoing studies into the Riversleigh and the related Murgon fossil fields.

Professor Archer said he was pleased and honoured to be recognised but added: " The honour is really shared by all of my colleagues at UNSW and elsewhere around the world, but in particular Dr Suzanne Hand, Henk Godthelp and Phil Creaser."

Professor Archer graduated from Princeton University in geology and biology in 1967 and, after coming to Australia as a Fulbright scholar, was awarded a PhD in zoology in 1976 by the University of Western Australia.

Since 1970, Professor Archer has authored and co-authored more than 300 publications, including four in the prestigious journal Nature and authored more than 14 books and four reports for the Federal Government. He has named and studied (sometimes with co-authors) more than 120 new species, genera, families and orders of both living and extinct mammals discovered as a consequence of his research.

His career includes stints at the Western Australian, Queensland and Australian museums. He was director of the Australian Museum from 1999 to 2004. He joined UNSW in 1978, where he has taught continuously, mainly in biology and geology, and was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Science in 2004.

He has supervised 35 doctoral and 28 honours projects and won a Eureka Prize for his active and entertaining promotion of science and conservation in schools, the media and in public forums.

For a detailed account of his career and activities, see:

http://www.science.unsw.edu.au/leaders-in-science/

For a description of the award and its significance, see:

http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/awards/medals/member_order_australia.cfm#significance

Media contact: Bob Beale.  Mobile: 0411 705 435