Kwong Lee Dow was born in Melbourne in 1938. After secondary education at Camberwell and Melbourne High Schools his enrolment at the University of Melbourne in 1956 began an association with the University which spans almost 50 years. In 1959 he graduated with an honours Science degree in chemistry, obtaining his Diploma in Education from the University in 1960 and a Bachelor of Education in 1963.

Kwong Lee Dow then taught chemistry at Melbourne High School and the Secondary Teachers College until his secondment in 1964 to the University’s Chemistry School as a team member on a major secondary school curriculum project which led to publication of the textbook Chemistry a Structural View. In 1966 he was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Education in The University Teaching Methods Project, forerunner to the University’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education. A Nuffield Foundation Travelling Scholarship took him to the University of London in 1972 to investigate developments in tertiary teaching and research methods.

He was appointed Professor of Education at the University in 1973 and Dean of Education in 1978, a position he held for 20 years during a time of great change in the education system. As Dean, Professor Lee Dow was responsible for implementing the Faculty of Education’s amalgamation with the Melbourne College of Advanced Education, initially through a new Institute of Education and ultimately through a restructured Faculty within the University in 1995. His capacity for managing complex personnel issues, planning for a changed organization with a different focus and emphasis, and building a new academic leadership team was fundamental to the success of the transformed faculty.

Throughout his association with the University Professor Lee Dow has shown an extraordinary level of commitment, taking an active role in central University processes and management. He has served as a member of Council, Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Academic Board, a member of the Council of International House for 20 years (as Chair for seven years), a member of the Board of Management of Melbourne University Press and Chair of the Board of Management of the Asia Education Foundation.

In 1998 Professor Lee Dow was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor with special responsibility for human resource management. He became Vice-Chancellor of the University on 1 February 2004.

In his role as Vice-Chancellor Professor Lee Dow has guided the University in formulating its response to the commonwealth government’s higher education reforms, placing particular emphasis on increasing the number of enrolments at the University by students from educationally, financially or socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

For a quarter of a century he has played a leading role in developing approaches to curriculum, assessment and standards for both the Victorian and Commonwealth governments. Professor Lee Dow has been appointed by successive Victorian governments to lead the various organizations responsible for curriculum and assessment of Victorian secondary education. His contributions include periods as Chair of the Victorian Universities and Schools Examination Board, the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education, the Victorian Board of Studies and the current Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. As founding Chair of the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education Professor Lee Dow had oversight of the development which reformed the curriculum and assessment for Year 12 students by introducing a more inclusive and representative system while maintaining academic standards. In 1997 he chaired a Review of the Victorian Certificate of Education.

Professor Lee Dow has also been appointed to numerous Commonwealth government bodies focused on issues ranging from higher education financing and policy to Indigenous education and was a member of the Australian OECD Advisory Committee on Education. Through his lengthy association with the Australian Vice-Chancellor’s Committee, he has participated in the development of university Academic Standards Panels, Codes of Practice for teaching and the supervision of research and membership of the Standing Committee on Education.

These appointments and reappointments are tribute to his deep and detailed understanding of complex systems; to his ability to gain the confidence of ministers and their departments, of universities and other higher education providers, of employers’ organizations and unions, and especially of the principals, staff and students in the state, independent and catholic systems. Above all they show his human skills in forging practical agreements that move towards greater equity.

International involvements include membership for ten years of the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation, advising the Hong Kong government on academic standards, assisting in the establishment of the Hong Kong Institute of Education and serving on its Council for the first four years.

Although Professor Lee Dow will step down early next year as Vice-Chancellor of the University, he will remain a presence in the education sector. From 2002- 2003 he was Chair of the National Review of Teaching and Teacher Education, which led to the three volume report entitled: ‘Australia’s Teachers: Australia’s Future – Advancing Innovation, Science, Technology and Mathematics’. The commonwealth government has adopted many of the recommendations in the report which will shape teaching for years to come, and has appointed Professor Lee Dow to the new National Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership.

The breadth of Professor Lee Dow’s expertise within the education sector is exceptional. As a teacher, an academic and an administrator he has made an outstanding contribution to the University, as well as to secondary and higher education within Victoria , nationally and internationally.

His contribution has been formally recognized outside the University through his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia in 1984 for services to education and the award of the Sir James Darling Medal of the Australian College of Education in 1994.

It is fitting that his contribution is now recognised by the highest award of the University.