ANU honours accidental academic »

A rare woman in a male-dominated profession, she opened the path to the international politics field for many women, especially as one of Australia's first female diplomats. The Australian National University (ANU) has honoured one of Australia's greatest international relations thinkers, the late Coral Bell AO, by naming the former School of International, Political and Strategic Studies after her. Foreign Minister the Hon Julie Bishop MP launched the new Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, in tribute to an academic who spent 30 years working on issues as important as the Cold War, power politics, diplomacy, and Australian and US defence and foreign policy. Coral Bell was an accidental academic dedicated to avoiding Armageddon and a pioneer in a field long dominated by men. She was once approached to spy for the Soviet Union, and was a source of inspiration for Henry Kissinger. ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young AO said that Coral Bell, who died in 2012, embodied everything the school and its work stood for."Coral Bell AO was one of the world's foremost academic experts on international relations, and perhaps Australia's most eminent and respected international security scholar," Professor Young said. "Academia wasn't her first choice for a career.