Public Relations and Corporate Communications Manager
John Kauter
(02) 6773 2779
Public Relations Specialist/Journalist
Jim Scanlan
(02) 6773 3049
Corporate Communications Officer
Leon Braun
(02) 6773 3771
Photographer
David Elkins
(02) 6773 3770
Events Coordinators
Kerry De Jong
(02) 6773 3955
and
Tracey James
(02) 6773 2768
Administrative Assistant
Kathleen Harper
(02) 6773 2736
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February 2005
December 2004Vietnam to be subject of CWA Study Weekend
January 31, 2005
More than 200 members of the Country Women’s Association (CWA), representing branches throughout NSW, will travel to Armidale next week for a weekend of lectures, discussions and cultural events focusing on Vietnam.
This will be the 35th Annual CWA Weekend Country of Study School at the University of New England. Running from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 February, and hosted by UNE’s Earle Page College, the Study School will include presentations on Vietnamese subjects by UNE academics and researchers as well as by visiting lecturers.
Mr Tran Van Hinh, Minister Counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy in Canberra, will be a guest at a formal dinner at Earle Page College on the Friday evening, when he will present an “Introduction to Vietnam”. Also during the dinner, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ingrid Moses, will welcome the delegates and guests to UNE, and the Mayor, Councillor Brian Chetwynd, will welcome them to Armidale.
Ms Sharon Gallen, Manager of the UNE Conference Company, said the Conference Company organised this annual event in the context of the strong and long-standing relationship between the University and the CWA. “This year we’ve created an opportunity for the participants to gain a real insight into Vietnamese society, history and culture,” Ms Gallen said. The lectures themselves, beginning with an “Overview of Vietnam” by the Vietnamese Embassy’s First Secretary, Mr Nguyen Huy Phuong, will deal with politics, education, language, cultural diversity, health, and other aspects of Vietnamese life.
The program will include an ecumenical church service at St Mark’s Chapel, UNE, on the Sunday morning and, on the Saturday evening, a performance of traditional Vietnamese music and dance presented, in the UNE Arts Theatre, by the Hoa Dang Group.
Media contact: Sharon Gallen, UNE Conference Company, UNE (02) 6773 2987 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 01:39 PM
New Director plots the course of national Centre
January 28, 2005
Professor Paul Martin brings a successful career in commercial strategy and a practical concern for environmental issues to his new position as the Director of the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law (AgLaw Centre) at the University of New England.
Professor Martin, who took up his position as Director of the AgLaw Centre at the beginning of January, is committed to the development of what he describes as “practically useful and intellectually challenging projects”. “We have to ensure that what we deliver is what’s wanted or needed,” he said.
He and his associates at UNE have already begun to identify projects that could improve the lot of farmers, resource managers and rural communities by focusing the substantial legal, economic, scientific and managerial capabilities of the University. These include the reform of environmental law to allow better integration with voluntary environment management systems, looking at better ways of ensuring farm succession, and reviewing how competition laws affect health services in rural Australia and how regional roads are funded.
The AgLaw Centre, established in mid-2003, is the first organisation of its kind in Australia. It is a joint venture of UNE’s Faculty of Economics, Business and Law, Faculty of The Sciences, and School of Law, and brings together skills from across these disciplines to support the development of Australian agribusiness within the context of environmental protection and the prosperity of rural communities.
Although he was for 20 years a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Graduate School of Management within the University of NSW, Professor Martin said he had “never contemplated heading into academia as a career move” until the opportunity at the AgLaw Centre arose. “Most of my work has been corporate rather than academic,” he explained. “However, the opportunity to make a significant contribution in areas that are important to Australia, and to work with exciting ideas and interesting people, was too good to pass up.”
As Managing Director of the consultancy company Profit Foundation he co-authored (with his wife Miriam Verbeek, a former head of Sutherland Environment Centre) two important projects for Land and Water Australia: Cartography for Environmental Law (completed in June 2000) and Fifty Million Australians – Is Sustainability Possible? (completed in September 2002). Their book Sustainability Strategy, based on the results of these and other consultancy projects, is to be published by Federation Press later this year.
Professor Martin’s commercial experience includes chairing two successful high-technology companies (in computing and medical hardware), a range of strategy, negotiating and commercialisation projects for both local and international clients, a period as a venture capitalist, and membership of State and Federal Government venture capital bodies. His experience in natural resource management includes a period as Chair of the Board of a Catchment Management Authority.
Media contact: Professor Paul Martin, AgLaw Centre, UNE (02) 6773 3811 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049. (Contact Jim Scanlan for the photograph of Professor Martin displayed here.)
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 01:29 PM
First steps to helping an international charity
January 27, 2005
Academic and staff members from the University of New England are hoping to recruit up to 150 people to take part in Oxfam’s annual Walk Against Want.
Coordinator Professor Amarjit Kaur, from UNE’s Faculty of Economics, Business and Law, said participants could choose to either walk 5km or 10km on a pre-determined route across Armidale.
“We will start the walk from Central Park and walk along the bike path to the university,” Professor Kaur (pictured) said.
Begun in 1967, Walk Against Want has become an annual, national event, where walks are organised in more than 100 locations across Australia, with walkers raising sponsorship to support communities with which Oxfam works.
Since its inception, Walk Against Want has raised more than $10 million to help communities in developing countries help themselves.
The UNE community has been organising local Walks Against Want for at least the past 10 years, with walks ranging between five and 10km.
Previous walks have seen up to 150 people take part, while nationally about 10,000 Australians commit to the walk each year.
This year, participants will walk in a loop across Armidale, starting at Central Park, walking up Faulkner St and eventually walking to the University and back.
“In the next few weeks we hope to talk to local schools and get other students and teachers involved in the walk,” Professor Kaur said.
She said there was an added reason to commit to helping in this year’s walk; Oxfam is one of the main charities helping victims of the Boxing Day tsunami disaster.
Money raised from the walks goes towards a number of projects, largely in developing countries like Ethiopia (where three quarters of the population cannot access fresh water) and Bangladesh (where most people can’t read and write) and Professor Kaur has also approached students living in Wright Village and UNE’s seven colleges to see whether they can either walk on the day or act as marshals.
For more information, phone Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779
or Professor Kaur on 6773 2874, or go to www.oxfam.org.au/walk
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 02:25 PM
Paying up to a worthy cause
January 25, 2005
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England, Professor Ingrid Moses, had urged all staff to contribute a day’s salary to the university’s Tsunami Relief Fund. Yesterday, on her return from annual leave she paid in her one day’s pay, bringing the total amount raised so far to more than $6,700.
Professor Moses (pictured) launched the UNE Tsunami Relief Fund on Friday, January 7 and staff and students have contributed to it.
“As a University community, we grieve with all of those communities so devastatingly affected by the tsunami and with our staff and students who have friends and family affected,” Professor Moses said then.
"There should be a concerted effort within our community to raise money for rebuilding destroyed villages and areas, for health care, education and other vital needs.
"We have now established a Tsunami Relief Appeal. Donations in cash, by credit card or cheque will be accepted at the Cashier's desk, open Monday to Friday, between 9am and 1pm.”
Since then, UNE staff and students have also organised a number of fund-raising activities to raise funds for the appeal. These have included a sausage sizzle by staff, a collection of essential goods (such as blankets and paper) by international students and a special screening of films at the UNE Union-operated Belgrave Cinema, where some of the money raised through tickets sales will go towards the Appeal.
In the short-term, the appeal’s target is to raise $10,000 by the middle of February, when all staff are expected to be back from leave. The donations will be handed over to charities working in the tsunami-affected areas.
Measures are in place, however, to ensure the community continues to raise funds for the appeal and more donations are expected to be handed over mid-year.
UNE has also set up a website with regular updates on the Tsunami Relief Appeal.The web address is www.une.edu.au/tsunami
For more information phone VC’s Office on 6773 2004 or M&PA…..
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 10:14 AM
UNE student is ‘best prospective Latin teacher’
January 24, 2005
Tom Atkinson, a student of Classics at the University of New England, has won an award worth $1,000 that recognises his potential as an outstanding Latin teacher.
The Classical Languages Teachers’ Association of NSW has selected Tom as the “best prospective Latin teacher” for 2004 and presented him with its annual Brother Dynes Memorial Award. (Brother Bernard Mark Dynes, 1916-1989, was a Christian Brother who was renowned for his "gentleness, firmness, and intellectual excellence" as a Latin teacher in Sydney.)
Tom, who is about to begin his Honours year at UNE, has been teaching Latin to Armidale school students in weekly, extra-curricular classes. He said that, while everything depended on the results of his Honours year, a career as a Latin teacher was “a real possibility” for him. “If I do become a teacher, I feel I ought to teach in secondary rather than in tertiary education, “ he said. “School Latin is so important as the foundation of Classics education.” (Latin has dropped out of the curriculum in Armidale high schools within the past decade.)
Although he has majored in Latin and Classical Greek for his Bachelor of Arts degree, Tom came to the study of Classical Languages late in his undergraduate career. “If I’d studied Latin at school I probably would have gone straight into Classics at UNE,” he said, “but the possibility didn’t occur to me till I was a couple of years into my degree. It was the study of Ancient History that brought me to Latin.”
He attributes his love of Latin to the quality of his teachers at UNE. “It’s not hard to fall in love with a subject if it is taught well,” he said. UNE is one of only three universities in NSW teaching a full program in Latin and Classical Greek.
Tom’s teaching experience has led him to believe that many school students would enjoy and benefit from the study of Latin if only the “system” would accommodate its return to the curriculum. “Latin has deep significance,” he said. “Its logical structure, diverse literature, and prestige through two thousand years of history can give students a unique insight into the nature and power of language.”
He said he believed it had been his enthusiasm for the subject that had “saved” him when he began teaching school students. “They can forgive a lot of ineptitude if you’re sincere about what you’re teaching them,” he explained. Now he has students he believes could go on to do Latin for the HSC. “But for that to happen, there would be a lot of hurdles to cross,” he said.
Media contact: Tom Atkinson on 0432 332 346 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
For the photograph of Tom Atkinson displayed here, contact Jim Scanlan on (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 10:57 AM
Maths test just "part of" teacher improvement program
January 21, 2005
Media attention has highlighted research conducted at the University of New England, and focussed on a report that significant numbers of first-year students are unable to correctly complete year eight-level mathematical problems.
Acting Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Robin Pollard, said these students are trainee-teachers, undertaking a bachelor of education degree that will lead them into primary education.
"Clearly they need to have mastered the areas in which they will teach, for otherwise a cycle of inadequacy in school teaching can perpetuate," he said.
"The study commenced in 2004, and has another two years to run. In the first year mathematical skills were assessed, and enabled the university's staff to identify particular areas of strength and weakness. This information permitted changes in programs of study, which included workshops to improve undergraduates' understanding of mathematics and the use of checking rules to ensure correctness."
He said students who did not perform well in tests enrolled in a new unit in which common mathematical misconceptions were addressed, and which helped students (and those they might eventually teach) identify and correct misconceptions. Evaluation of the effectiveness of these steps is part of the study.
"Problems were identified, corrective steps were put in place, and the outcomes are being monitored", he commented. "UNE ensures that all its graduates demonstrate mastery in content areas relevant to their professions."
"All trainee-teacher students are required to achieve 80per cent or better in a year 12-level maths test prior to graduation. Students who have difficulty with the test undertake a unit in mathematics to address the deficit", Professor Pollard said. "Students enter the tertiary system with these difficulties. The difficulties are identified in the first year of the degree program and are addressed before graduation."
Professor Pollard noted that a new National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology, and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia was opened in June 2004 at the Armidale Campus. This will also help to ensure that school students throughout regional Australia have every opportunity to excel in science and mathematics, and supplements the other teacher-training activities of the University.
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 11:06 AM
Big effort from boys at the barbie
January 20, 2005
A total of $569 has been raised for the UNE Tsunami Relief Fund at a Blokes @ the Barbie sausage sizzle.
Professor Michael Macklin, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, teamed up with Mr Graeme Dennehy, Executive Director of UNE, to cook the meat and fry the onions.
For an hour, they served more than 250 staff and students, who came to claim a sausage and throw their gold-coin donation into the fountain.
While no one drew a prize of an extra sausage, everyone generously contributed to the sizzle by throwing their coins into the fountain. More than 350 sausages and two bags of onions were cooked and put on to about 700 slices of bread.
The event was organised by UNE's Marketing and Public Affairs unit. UNE Union donated the food and Safety and Security provided the management of the event. Ed Campbell, tUNE FM's DJ general manager, provided the sound with a live broadcast from the courtyard.
A highlight of the event was when the chefs, Messrs Macklin and Dennehy, climbed into the water fountain, donning aprons and chefs hats, and scooped out all the gold coins.
Their signed aprons are now being raffled off to the highest bidder through the university's internal website.
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 05:08 PM
Tsunami: long-term rural recovery needed
January 19, 2005
Long-term contamination of groundwater reserves could have a more profound impact on agriculture and village life in some tsunami-affected countries than damage to the topsoil.
Dr Nigel Warwick, a University of New England plant ecophysiologist who studies the way plants cope with stress, made this prediction based on his understanding of the relationship between coastal vegetation and “lenses” of fresh water below the ground.
Dr Warwick said this long-term effect would probably be most serious on low-lying coral islands such as the Maldives. “They’ll have to keep an eye on groundwater supplies,” he said, “as it may take some time for the salt to leach down into them. Local people use groundwater for drinking as well as for irrigation.”
“Groundwater may also be contaminated by nitrates percolating down with the seawater,” he continued. “Nitrates would make the water undrinkable because of the serious effects they have on human (and particularly infant) metabolism.”
He explained that these “lenses” of fresh water are “the major source of water for deeper-rooting trees”. “Some of these trees may now be slowly destroyed as their roots are exposed to salty water, leading to deforestation in some affected areas, particularly on coral-based islands,” he said.
“The tsunami will have both short-term effects on agriculture (related to the stripping of the topsoil, the dumping of mud and debris, and the saltwater flooding of fields) and long-term effects,” Dr Warwick said. “Longer-term plans will need to be formed to assist in the recovery process.”
Dr Warwick and his colleague Dr Steve Griffith are planning a study of the importance of “lenses” of groundwater for coastal dune fields in Australia. This study will be in collaboration with a local water authority, which is proposing to tap into some of these reserves and needs to be sure there would be no negative impact on vegetation.
Media contact: Dr Nigel Warwick, Botany, UNE (02) 6773 2575 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
The photograph of Dr Nigel Warwick published here is available from Jim Scanlan on (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 10:16 AM
Team of three sociology professors join UNE
January 18, 2005
Three leading Social Scientists have been appointed professorial positions at the University of New England.
The new appointees bring to UNE’s School of Social Science a wealth of knowledge in their respective areas, including the study of rural crime, time-diary studies and studies of census data.
Professor Kerry Carrington will become Professor of Sociology at UNE; Professor Michael Bittman will become a Professorial Fellow in Sociology, and Professor Russell Hogg will become Adjunct Professor in Criminology, dividing his time between the School of Social Science and the Institute for Rural Futures, also located at UNE.
“These new professors will be enormously important in re-invigorating applied social science research in our school and linking up with applied research in social science across the UNE campus,” said Associate Professor Jeff Archer, Head of the School of Social Science.
“They are sociologists and criminologists, all with a fine record of gaining competitive research grants and publishing high quality publications including books.”
Professor Carrington will fill the professorship vacated by Professor Elim Papadakis in 1997.
She comes to UNE with an extensive career as a sociologist and criminologist, most recently as Head of the Children, Youth and Families Unit at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra.
She has published five books, including one edited in 2002 with fellow UNE-appointee Russell Hogg, “Critical Criminology: Issues, Debates and Challenges”.
Professor Hogg was a leading academic in the Faculty of Law at ANU. His research expertise includes the study of rural crime and he is currently preparing a manuscript on this topic with Professor Carrington.
Professor Bittman comes from the University of NSW, where he was Senior Research Fellow, Acting Head of the Social Policy Research Centre, and an internationally renowned expert on time-use statistics.
His interests include family dynamics, time spent in unpaid work and trends in working hours.
Associate Professor Archer said that the members of the School of Social Science were very much looking forward to working with the new appointees.
They will be on board at UNE from February 14.
For more information, phone Associate Professor Archer on 6773 2619 or
Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779.
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 12:55 PM
Blokes @ the Barbie
January 17, 2005
If you'd like to make a splash for charity, head to the main courtyard this Thursday lunchtime, where "celebrity chefs" Professor Michael Macklin and Graeme Dennehy will be firing up the barbie.
The pair have a two-pronged aim, to raise money for UNE's Tsunami Relief Fund and help "christen" the new fountain.
In a salute to Rome's Trevi Fountain, staff and students will be asked to flip their gold coin donation into the fountain before being served with a sizzling sausage and onions.
The event is being organised by Marketing and Public Affairs, with assistance from Safety and Security. UNE Union Chief Executive Officer Sue Paini has pledged the food.
The events kicks-off at 12.30pm and the aim is to raise $2000. Professor Macklin and Mr Dennehy will be asked to scoop out the coins from the fountain. They will also auction their signed chef's hat and aprons to the highest bidder.
To date more than $3500 has been raised by the UNE community for the fund, eclipsing with a week the goal to raise that amount over three weeks.
But the fund will continue to accept donations well into the year and faculties and departments are encouraged to organise their own fund-raising event.
The money will go towards one of the charities operating in the tsunami-affected areas.
For more information, phone Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779 or visit the website
une.edu.au/events/tsunami
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 03:28 PM
UNE student funded for important gene study
January 14, 2005
A science student from the University of New England is one of four undergraduates from universities throughout Australia and New Zealand who have won 2004-2005 summer scholarships to pursue their passion for research in genetics.
Cara Evans won a Genetics Society of Australasia Summer Research Studentship to isolate specific genes in a fungus (Aspergillus nidulans) that is of particular interest to geneticists.
Working with UNE geneticist Associate Professor Margaret Katz since the beginning of the summer break, Cara has already had promising results. Her work will add to our understanding of the functional relationship between certain genes and a class of enzymes that play a role in the development of diabetes in humans and regulate seed germination in plants.
Each of the Genetics Society studentships is worth $4,000; half of that amount comes from the Society and half from the research institution (in Cara’s case, the School of Biological, Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at UNE). This funding represents a stipend for the 10-week duration of the project.
Cara, from Sydney, is entering the third year of her Bachelor of Science (Advanced) degree program this year, and would like to continue to an Honours year and a PhD in microbiology/genetics. She said she had been “over the moon” when she heard about the scholarship, as she hadn’t been expecting anything of the sort.
“It’s great experience,” she said. “I’m not only having heaps of fun, but I’m getting a step ahead by learning techniques I’ll need in third-year Science.”
The Genetics Society of Australasia will publish Cara’s research results in its newsletter and on its Web site.
Media contact: Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049 or Cara Evans via e-mail: cevans23@pobox.une.edu.au.
The photograph of Cara Evans in the laboratory displayed here is available from Jim Scanlan on (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:06 PM
UNE encourages line-up of rural talent
January 13, 2005
HSC students living in remote areas are benefiting from an innovative program offered by the University of New England to promote creativity.
UNE-Mentor has already seen one of its students win a prestigious film award and another top the State in HSC English.
Now program co-ordinator, Dr Elizabeth Hale, is aiming to help another 41 students from 21 schools in rural NSW gain similar success.
“UNE-Mentor provides long-term support to students preparing their Major Work projects for Extension II English. Projects range from short stories, through to critical essay-writing, web design, even writing a suite of poems or producing a short film,” Dr Hale said.
HSC Extension II is the highest level of English that can be studied for the HSC. As part of this, students must create, using a variety of media, an original work. This is judged by the HSC Boards of Studies in August each year.
The UNE-Mentor program works on-line, by allowing HSC candidates to access postgraduate and professional writers at UNE, asking for their advice and consulting through the Internet and on-campus workshops.
Operated by UNE’s School of English, Communication and Theatre Studies, UNE-Mentor was established in consultation with the School of Education, and representatives from the English Teachers’ Association of NSW.
Explained Dr Hale: “Throughout the year, the mentors operate an Online Discussion Forum on the university’s WebCT platform, where students post queries and talk about their Major Works projects.
“They receive feedback from mentors and their peers, establishing a supportive online community.”
Later in the year, the mentors will organise a one-day, on-campus workshop, where students will be able to meet face-to-face, work on their projects and glimpse academic life.
Dr Hale stressed the program was run for students enrolled in Extension II English and living in remote communities.
“Often, students taking part in the project are the only ones studying Extension English in their school,” she said.
A highlight of the program has been the success of student Tom Hancock, from Warialda High School.
With the support of the mentoring program, he produced Silhouettes, a short, non-fiction film about life in a small country town.
The film won the Best Creative Film section at the North-West Film Festival, held in Bingara last October. It then went on to be short-listed at the Robin Anderson Film Awards at the Valhalla Theatre in Glebe, Sydney.
Another student taking part in the program, Maja Doma from Maclean High School, went on to top the state in English for 2003.
Dr Hale said she was thrilled by the success of the program and said mentors taking part also gained experience in teaching students and benefited from students’ feedback.
For more information phone Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779
or Dr Elizabeth Hale on 6773 2356.
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 12:06 PM
Tune into a year of celebrations
January 12, 2005
While this week marks the anniversary of an Australian institution in radio, members of TUNE!FM at the University of New England are marking their own, greater landmark.
For the radio station, which this year turns 35, is Australia’s longest-running, continually-operating community radio station.
While ABC’s Radio JJ – launched this week 30 years ago -- has been navel-gazing with memories of Dragon and Chuck Chunder, management TUNE!FM have been trawling its own archives, which include rallying cries to the anti-Vietnam movement and an historic speech by (then Vice-Chancellor) Sir Zelman Cowen.
“Our market has always been listeners aged between 13 and 30 and our charter is to provide an alternative to what currently exists, focusing on the youth market,” TUNE!FM station Manager Ed Campbell said.
Apart from celebrating a milestone, the coming year augers well for the radio station.
First, it is introducing three internships to students under UNE’s Work Ready scheme.
These will be in journalism/news/documentary-making, audio engineering and marketing and public relations. The internships will be offered to second and third-year students.
The anniversary date of when TUNE!FM first aired, January 27 at 7pm, will be marked with an on-air historical feature as well as a reunion party, concert and the production of a compilation CD of local artists.
But the radio station is also throwing down the gauntlet to local students, calling on them to organise a world record pillow-fight, topping last year’s effort by students at South Africa’s Witwatersrand University and marking TUNE!FM’s 35th birthday.
TUNE!FM has also launched a number of careers, most notably, ABC New England North West Radio presenter Andrea Ho.
It costs about $70,000 a year to run the station and while there are two paid positions (Station Manager Ed Campbell and Administrative Assistant Andrew Devenish-Meares), the radio station can call on an army of 100+ student-based volunteers, who act as DJs and keep the station on-air.
Most of the money needed to operate the station comes from contributions from UNE Students Association, however, under its charter, TUNE!FM is also allowed to air sponsorship ads every hour.
“Students also have a lot of leeway with the type of music they play,” Mr Campbell said.
Although the studio, on the campus of the university, is decked out with latest technological equipment (MP3-based music system) it has not always been at the cutting-edge.
Originally known as RUNE (Radio UNE), the station originally transmitted on a 1630 kilohertz AM frequency, using two studios and five tape recorders. It was the first station of its type in Australia and initially ran on an annual budget of little more than $10,000.
These days, the station can claim listeners world wide, with a mass audience in the hundreds of thousands, since its programs are all streamed on the Internet.
For more information phone Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779 or Ed Campbell on 6773 2744.
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 03:10 PM
Student nurses bring scholarships to UNE
January 11, 2005
Students of nursing at the University of New England have been particularly successful in winning scholarships that are part of a government strategy to boost the number of Registered Nurses in rural Australia.
Fifteen students entering the third year of a Bachelor of Nursing degree at UNE this year have won scholarships that will help them complete their degree courses.
These scholarships, all funded by the Australian Government, include Remote and Rural Nursing Scholarships (administered by the Royal College of Nursing) and Aged Care Nursing Scholarships, as well as scholarships administered through Centrelink and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Most of them are worth $10,000 for the year.
Ms Jackie Lea, from UNE’s School of Health, said these scholarships are available to students from rural and remote backgrounds, to those interested in a career in aged care, and to assist with a range of financial needs commonly experienced by nursing students.
“In addition to these Commonwealth scholarships,” Ms Lea said, “financial assistance is available from other sources, including ‘placement grants’ from the NSW Government.” These grants, worth between $300 and $500 each, are designed to help nursing students with travel and accommodation costs associated with their required work experience in “clinical placements”.
She explained that UNE’s Bachelor of Nursing degree required 32 weeks of clinical experience over the course of the program, which was “far more than any other Bachelor of Nursing course”. “This makes UNE graduates much sought-after within the profession,” she said.
Katrina Garrahy of Armidale (pictured here), the winner of one of the Remote and Rural Nursing Scholarships, did a four-year apprenticeship in beauty therapy before beginning her Bachelor of Nursing course. “The scholarship will be a big help for this final year of the course,” Katrina said, “particularly as we have to do 18 weeks of clinical experience during the year.”
In response to the increased demand for Registered Nurses in general, and particularly in regional and rural areas, the Australian Government has made funding available for UNE to substantially increase enrolments in its Bachelor of Nursing program in 2005.
Media contact: Jackie Lea, School of Health, UNE (02) 6773 2974 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:13 PM
Donations cap $1800 in 48 hours
January 10, 2005
Staff and students at the University of New England have raised up to $1800 in just two days for the UNE Tsunami Relief Fund.
Loans Officer Ms Cheryly Ogilvie confirmed donations have been flowing into the fund since it was officially established on Friday.
First to donate international students, Suresh Kumar and Gunasekhar Nachimuthu, both members of the UNE Indian Students Association, who walked the length and breadth of campus to raise $500 in cash.
Although both are from the southern Indian state of Tamalnadu, which was badly affected by the tsunami, they said their families were not affected since most of the damage was on the state’s coastal area.
International Students Association President Fredy Valenzuela co-ordinating efforts from overseas students who want to donate.
“In order to support these countries and to show that we care for them, the International Student Association (ISA) and Armidale International Association (AIA) are organising a fund raising starting today, January 7,” Mr Valenzuela said.
Staff at UNE are also organising a number of fund-raising activities in the next few weeks to raise money for the fund.
Members of the Marketing and Public Affairs department have teamed up with colleagues at Safety and Security to organise a "Trying Fry-In" for Thursday, January 20.
The aim is to pave the Graduates' Walk with gold coins given in exchange for a sausage sandwich barbecued by senior UNE staff.
In other directorates across campus, Ms Jennie Snell, Senior Administrative Assistant as the Student Centre, is co-ordinating efforts by her colleagues to raise money for the fund. If you would like to donate, her phone number is 6773 3859 or e-mail Jennie at jsnell@une.edu.au
Meanwhile, Professor Ingrid Moses, Vice-Chancellor of UNE, said departments and faculties were looking at helping sister universities in countries affected by the Boxing Day tsunami.
It was at her initiative the fund was established and she said counselling and other support would be offered to students affected by the tsunami.
For more information phone Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779.
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 04:03 PM
New agreement reaches out to far-flung German students
January 07, 2005
Students in the Hunter Valley wanting to study German will now be able to do so following a pioneering agreement between the University of New England and Newcastle University.
The Undergraduate Teaching Agreement was signed on Friday (January 7) by Professor Ingrid Moses, Vice-Chancellor of UNE and Professor Nicholas Saunders, Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University.
It provides for lecturers from UNE’s School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics to teach German language courses in mixed mode at Newcastle University.
The agreement has been helped with a $113,000 grant from the Federal Government’s Higher Education Innovation Program (HEIP) over the next year.
This will provide for UNE to employ an academic on a year’s contract who will develop the course and also pay for an on-campus tutor at Newcastle University.
From this year, Newcastle students will be able to access UNE’s German course at Newcastle University. They will be able to study on-line and complete assignments, such as multiple-choice tests in grammar and language, using video-conferencing facilities.
It is hoped the agreement will be used as a model for similar arrangements between UNE and other institutions across Australia.
UNE is one of only a handful of Australia’s 39 universities to offer courses in German. Over the past decade, there has been a decline in enrolments for foreign languages at universities and the agreement is seen as an innovative way of halting this erosion.
Professor Moses welcomed the agreement.
“In many universities across Australia, there are disciplines that are not viable, but there is still a demand from students to study these, so a co-operation such as this between universities ensures students have a wider choice of study,” she said.
Professor Saunders said there were a number of reasons for the decline in student numbers enrolling in foreign language courses.
“It is a combination of a shift in interest from students away from these courses, together with the problems faced in resourcing these high-quality language courses bearing in mind the current funding regime,” Professor Saunders said.
The agreement also means students currently studying German at Newcastle University will be able to continue with their course, despite it being wound-up at Newcastle.
For more information phone Associate Professor Herman Beyersdorf on 6773 3042 or Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779.
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 04:58 PM
UNE to help students through tsunami aftermath
January 06, 2005
The University of New England is preparing to help any of its students who might need counselling after returning from Christmas visits to their homes in countries affected by the Boxing Day tsunami.
“We are expecting that there will be an impact, both personal and academic, on any student in that position,” said UNE’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ingrid Moses.
“We are trying to contact students and staff who might have been in those countries at the time of the disaster,” Professor Moses continued. “We are also getting in touch with our alumni in the affected areas to see what we can do to help.”
In a message to UNE staff earlier this week, Professor Moses asked them to contact her office if they knew of anyone “whose family has been affected by the tsunami, and how we might help”. “We do have staff and students from Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India at UNE,” she explained, “and we worry about their safety and the safety of their families in the wake of the devastating tsunami.”
For one Sri Lankan student who remained in Armidale over Christmas there was an agonizing wait until he could contact his family and put his mind to rest about their safety.
“I was in a panic situation,” said Janak Vidanarachchi, a post-graduate student in Animal Science at UNE. “I was finally able, on the 28th, to make contact through my brother’s mobile phone and to hear that my family was safe. It was a big relief for me.”
Janak’s family home, which escaped the disaster, is just 4 km inland from the coast of southern Sri Lanka. He has already sent money to his mother, who is helping to clothe and feed villagers living precariously in a local school and temple.
He spoke with sadness about losses among his close friends in Sri Lanka, and particularly a fellow student, at university in America, whose wife and two children are still missing.
“I couldn’t imagine what had happened when my Mum described it,” he said. “I couldn’t eat or sleep. She said the situation is really bad. Everyone’s in a state of shock: they can’t believe it’s happened . . . it’s like a dream.”
UNE is mounting an appeal to enable its staff members to contribute to the relief effort. “We will be encouraging staff to participate, “ Professor Moses said, “and are hoping that the student organizations take part in the fund-raising.”
Media contact: Professor Ingrid Moses, Vice-Chancellor and President, UNE (02) 6773 2004 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
A photograph of Professor Moses and Janak Vidanarachchi is available. Please contact Jim Scanlan on (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:50 PM
School students enrol for scientific adventure
January 05, 2005
The University of New England is preparing to guide dozens of high-school students through an experience of scientific discovery later this month.
The annual Siemens Science Experience gives students entering Year 10 a taste of the excitement and significance of science at university level. Dr Jim McFarlane, the director of the Siemens Science Experience program at UNE, said students from 25 towns and cities had already booked for the three-day event.
“They’re coming from schools throughout northern NSW, and from as far west as Dubbo,” Dr McFarlane said. “We already have about 50 confirmed participants, and could accommodate another 40 or so.” (The Web site for the Siemens Science Experience, including an enrolment form, is at: http://www.scienceexperience.com.au.)
The students will engage in a wide range of hands-on activities over the three days from Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 January. These activities will include programming robots to play football, extracting DNA from biological material, learning techniques of plant tissue culture, exploring the effects of fire on plants, and monitoring aspects of human physiology.
As well as the hands-on activities, there will be a series of half-hour talks by some of UNE’s most distinguished scientists. Subjects will range from the basic chemistry of life to the biology and behaviour of birds.
“Interest in science among school students has been declining over the past couple of decades,” Dr McFarlane said. “This is despite the ever-broadening range of career paths open to science graduates. The Siemens Science Experience is a national program designed to address this anomaly by introducing students to the thrill of scientific discovery and the possibilities of scientific careers. The aim of the Experience is to show young people that science can be just as exciting as trading shares on the stock market.”
“Students attending the UNE event this year,” he continued, “will be coming from a wide range of places, including Singleton, Inverell, Armidale, Gunnedah, Yamba, Warialda, Ashford, Dorrigo, Narrabri, Glen Innes, Scone, Walcha and Tamworth. Some of those from more distant schools will have a taste of living on campus by spending the two nights at Austin College, one of UNE’s student residences. They will be able to unwind in the evening, after an exciting day of science and seminars, with fun and games at Sport UNE.”
UNE has staged the Siemens Science Experience every year for more than a decade. (The photograph here shows UNE's Associate Professor Stephen Glover in the Chemistry laboratory with students Paul and Dain Welsman during last year's event.) Rotary is among the sponsors of the event, along with Siemens Ltd and the University itself.
For more information on the Siemens Science Experience at UNE contact Dr Jim McFarlane on (02) 6773 3201 or e-mail: jmcfarla@une.edu.au.
Media contact: Dr Jim McFarlane, School of Biological, Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, UNE (02) 6773 3201, or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:54 PM
Granting a working mother’s wish
January 04, 2005
A mum-to-be and senior lecturer at the University of New England has been awarded a grant from the Australia Council to write a book, “Accidents of Birth”.
Dr Felicity Plunkett (pictured) said her work would be a mixture of prose and poetry and trace a “birth year” in Australia, including the first three months of the newborn’s life.
“The book will include an exploration of myths about creativity and motherhood … and be juxtaposed by poems exploring the experiences of women refugees,” Dr Plunkett said.
The Australia Council is the Federal Government’s arts funding and advisory body and annually awards grants to an array of artists. The $5000 grant awarded to Dr Plunkett is specifically for emerging writers.
To be nominated for such a grant, recipients must have written a number of published poems and/or short stories.
Dr Plunkett’s works have been published over the past 10 years, in a number of Australian and international journals, including Heat, Southerly and the US Literary Review.
One of her pieces, “Sleeping Like a Baby”, won a short story competition run by the ABC.
"I have a two-year-old son Benjamin and my second baby is due in late March, so this grant is well-timed since it will enable me to write from home while I look after my children,” Dr Plunkett said.
She has already begun writing the poem sequence and hopes to nearly finish the piece while on maternity leave.
“I aim to explore the similarities in women’s lives and in births, as well as the spectrum of experiences,” Dr Plunkett said.
“The ‘accident’ motif [in the title] refers to things that are beyond personal control and reflects ideas both of idealised imagined births and the more intense and sometimes difficult realities that can fracture these.”
Dr Plunkett started working at UNE seven years ago, following a career which took her from Sydney University, to Tasmania and Newcastle Universities.
Her partner, Dr David Hamer, is a lecturer in Law at UNE.
For more information phone Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779 or Dr Plunkett on 6771 1238.
Posted by Lydia Roberts at 01:00 PM