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Pioneering partnerships with US shares wealth of ideas

February 14, 2005

Postgraduate research into sexual responses of Middle Eastern women and mid-life career changes are just some of the projects benefiting from a new residential school set up by the University of New England with a US counterpart.
Professor Victor Minichiello, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies at UNE will this week return from the first, four-day residential school held at the Fullerton campus of California State University (CSU).
In that time, he worked with colleagues and PhD students on how to design research questions.
“Some of the research projects of interest to the students include how therapists experience, conceptualise and treat sexually reactive adolescents; cross-cultural parenting experiences; the midlife career transitions of scientists and engineers; the impact of childhood wounds on couple relationships; the cultural influences on the sexual responses of middle Eastern women; and the therapeutic applications of art for women and children,” Professor Minichiello said.

The residential school brought together a cohort of PhD students and academic staff from CSU’s Department of Counselling. The sessions were co-ordinated by Professor Jeffrey Kottler, Head of Counselling at CSU (see photo).
Dr Jay Oh, Chair of the Department of Counselling at Cheonan University in Seoul, Korea and one of the PhD students taking part in the residential school, said: “This counselling program is unique in terms of its multicultural and international emphasis and its focus for working professionals such as myself,” Dr Oh said.
Another PhD student, Cheryl Crippen, a Research Associate at University of California Irvine, said: “My research interest is in cross-cultural parenting and I was drawn to this program because of the unique opportunity to collaborate with scholars across cultures. In this transnational academy I benefit from local support and supervision at CSUF as well as an international community at the University of New England. The experience has been extremely supportive and collaborative and I look forward to my continuing journey.”
Professor Minichiello said it was a pioneer program for UNE in that it supported students through residential schools offered three times a year, two of which are delivered at CSU.
Professor Jeffrey Kottler, Co-Director of the program with Professor Minichiello, said: “I was so impressed with the learning community that developed so quickly. “Students journeyed here from all parts of the world. Faculty and students represented so many cultural backgrounds (Chinese, Korean, Persian, Australian, American, Japanese, Mexican, New Guinean and Canadian) and so many different professional backgrounds (psychology, counseling, theology, nuclear physics, engineering, sociology and medical research). This diversity of experience makes this group so interesting for us to work with.”
The students will come to UNE later in the year for a follow-up residential school.
We hope the interactions between the UNE staff and students, plus those from CSUF, will make for stimulating discussions and collaborative relationships, said Professor Kottler.

Posted by Lydia Roberts at February 14, 2005 10:27 AM