Women set Lincoln College record

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 3

Women set Lincoln College record

Two women will sit on the Lincoln College Council next year, setting a record in the annals of the college. Mrs Margaret Austin, the Labour member of Parliament for Yaldhurst, joined the 19-member council for the first time yesterday. The acting principal, Professor R. H. M. Langer, said that Mrs Austin was the second woman to have sat on the council. Her predecessor was the 1978 president of the Lincoln College Students’ Association, Miss Jan Atkinson. Professor Langer said it was fitting to have a woman on the council because about 20 per cent of the students at the college were female. Mrs Austin will be joined next year by the recently elected 1985 Students’ Association president, Miss Kirsty Burnett. Miss Burnett, aged 20, a bachelor of agriculture student, is also honorary secretary of the association. Research Nine research contracts worth almost $160,000 have been awarded to Lincoln College. The largest contract is $33,500 for research into surface soil structure and moisture effects on wind erosion. The smallest is $3BOO for research into distribution and handling in the New Zealand wheat industry. The wind erosion project for the National Water and Soil Conservation Authority, will be carried out by Dr D. J. Painter, of the agricultural engineering department, and Dr'R. B. Reid, of the soil science department. The authority has . awarded a second Contract of $23,000 to Dr M. ; ; J. Noonan, of the microbiology department, for research into faecal streptococci in water. The second-largest contract, worth $31,500, has gone to Dr R. G. McLaren, of the soil science department, for research into pasture responses and trace elements in Southland soils. Funding Lincoln College took a big share of the research funding allotted to universities in spite of its comparatively small size, said Professor Langer. ’ This year the college was granted $329,000 for research out of a total of $1,862,000 allotted to all universities. It took third place after Canterbury and Waikato universities. The big share of funding indicated how much Lincoln College contributed to research, he said. The college received a grant of $71,500 for the purchase of scientific equipment from the University Grants Committee. A shortfall of almost $31,000 had been incurred because of devaluation, said Professor Langer, but would be made up from the laboratory research equipment fund. He said that a close relationship had been estalbished with a number of Government departments, and a number of research contracts had been secured. Lincoln College received $212,000 from Government departments for research in 1983, the highest out of the total of $1,386,700 paid to all universities.