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Judith Kinnear (born 1939) is an Australian academic, a geneticist, and was the first woman to head a New Zealand university.


Academic career

Kinnear was educated at Kilbreda College in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metr ...
, Australia, and holds a
BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
, an MSc and a PhD in Genetics from the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
. Her PhD was titled "The origin and inter-relationships of larval and imaginal proteins in Calliphora: a contribution to the study of gene action in insect metamorphosis." She also has a
Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order fo ...
from
La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 196 ...
. While a senior lecturer in biology at Melbourne State College in the 1970s, Kinnear wrote computer programmes to help teach genetics through simulations of animal breeding. To further her understanding of the underlying mathematics of her programmes, she applied for the Graduate Diploma of Computer Simulation at
Swinburne University of Technology Swinburne University of Technology (often simply called Swinburne) is a public research university based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1908 as the Eastern Suburbs Technical College by George Swinburne to serve those without access ...
, and was initially refused entry until she demonstrated her prior mathematical experience. She persuaded a friend and Professor of Biology Marjory Martin to join her in the classes, and the two became the only two women in the class. They went on to write an award-winning series of textbooks together, the Nature of Biology series. Kinnear's education programmes for genetics include CATLAB, BIRDBREED and Heredity Dog. Kinnear was a Professor of Biology at the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...
, and then Deputy Vice-Chancellor, before moving across the Tasman to become the first female Vice-Chancellor of a New Zealand university in 2003. As Vice-Chancellor of
Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
, Kinnear's relationship with the university council was reported to be strained at times. She retired in 2008 and returned to Australia. In 2017 Kinnear was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's " 150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.


Selected works

*


References


External links


Video profile of Judith Kinnear from Swinburne University in 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinnear, Judith University of Melbourne alumni University of Sydney faculty Massey University faculty 1939 births Australian geneticists Living people