Academic Governance

Dr Kenneth Douglas McConnell’s death in a climbing accident on the Organ Pipes on Mount Wellington in January 2006 brought to a close the life of a remarkable Scots-Australian.  At fifty-four, Ken had built a reputation as a consultant psychiatrist with the Tasmanian Community Mental Health System and the Royal Hobart Hospital.  But his passion was as an avid mountaineer, an adventurer and extreme technical climber. 

The challenges of climbing took him to the world’s great mountain ranges – he was team leader or doctor on numerous expeditions in the Himalayas and the Karakorams – and to trek in the footsteps of other adventurers like Mallory and Shipton.

Ken McConnell came to medicine late, graduating from the University of NSW in 1987, but he spent a decade working in Tasmania and was a well-respected and caring psychiatrist.  He was also considered an expert in high altitude medicine.

His family has determined to keep alive the memory of Ken McConnell by endowing a bursary in his name to support a medical student with similar passions to his – in psychiatry and in outdoor pursuits.

Rules:

1. An amount of $60,000 donated by his father, Mr Kennedy McConnell to the University of Tasmania, together with any income (by way of interest earned) from time to time forms the endowment of a bursary to be called the "Kenneth Douglas McConnell Memorial Bursary".
2. The bursary will be awarded for a period of one year to a student who is eligible to undertake a rotation, elective or selective in psychiatry, and who has demonstrated an interest in this area of medicine.
3. The bursary will be awarded by a selection committee comprising:
   1. the Head of the Discipline of Psychiatry or a nominee;
   2. a member of the School of Medicine nominated by the Head of the School of Medicine;
   3. two people, nominated by the donor or the McConnell family, while they wish to be involved
   4. after the end of the involvement of the McConnell family, one additional member of the School of Medicine nominated by the Vice-Chancellor.
4. The selection committee will set the detailed selection and performance criteria for the bursary having regard to the intention of the donor.  However, in its selection, the committee shall take into account the personal qualities and interests of prospective recipients and not purely their academic achievement.
5. The selection committee will set the annual value of the bursary from time to time, having regard to the income to the fund for the endowment.  
6. The selection committee will determine all other matters concerning the bursary, including advertising, application procedures and the method and time of payment.
7. In the event that the selection committee, in its absolute discretion, determines after twenty years or any other such period of time that may seem to them appropriate, taking into account the view of the donor and the spirit of the bursary, that the bursary is no longer viable or able to meet the original objectives determined by the donor, it may recommend to University Council that the capital of the fund be paid to