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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December 2005
October 2005Thai health academics visit UNE
November 29, 2005
A group of eight Thai health academics is visiting The University of New England for a three-week study tour. The purpose of the visit is to give the group a first-hand look at the Australian medical system, and to share strategies for rural health education, administration and practice.
The academics have attended seminars at UNE and visited a number of rural health centres, including Tamworth Base Hospital, the Northwest Slopes Division of General Practice, and general practices in Manilla, Barraba and Bingara. At the conclusion of their tour, the Thai academics will give a presentation to a delegation of local hospital registrars and general practioners about what they have learned from comparing the medical systems of Australia and Thailand.
The visit is the latest in a series of exchanges between UNE and Naresuan University. Earlier this year, two UNE academics visited Thailand to meet with academics and health officials, and to tour Thai health facilities. Last year, UNE hosted a visit to New England by 14 senior Thai health officials to discuss how the establishment of rural medical schools in Thailand is staving a haemorrhage of doctors and health workers from rural areas to the city.
The experience in Thailand has been that doctors educated in rural areas stay in rural areas. Academics at UNE are keen to replicate that success with a rural medical school of their own, according to David Briggs, the organiser of the latest visit, and the Coordinator of Health Management and Gerontology Programs at UNE's School of Health.
“We're very interested in Narasuen University because they've demonstrated an innovative approach to rural health care with their rural medical school,” Mr Briggs said.
“We believe that while the city-based medical schools offer good programs, the real success in the retention of rural medical professionals is achieved through rural medical schools. It's something we think Australia needs to be looking at very seriously.”
Mr Briggs said, “From our point of view this visit is about promoting the programs of UNE and giving [the Thai academics] a look inside the Australian medical system. For them, it's a chance to look at what we've got here. In addition to primary medicine, they're interested in health care management—which is an area in which UNE has a good deal of expertise—to address some of the challenges they face in their system.”
Mr Briggs acknowledged the involvement of local health services in the visit, and said the success of the project had been made possible by the contributions of Dr John Fraser of Hunter New England Health and the New England Area Training Service (Dr Fraser is also an Adjunct Professor at UNE).
The leader of the Naresuan delegation, Professor Boonchob Pongpanich, said he and his colleagues had found the tour enlightening, especially the chance to see how Australia recruits and trains general practioners.
“The medical system in Australia is far more advanced than Thailand in respect to family practice. At home, most young graduate doctors want to become specialists. They don't want to become GPs, but what we need is more GPs. We want to learn how the GP system works in Australia, in terms of the training, recruiting and retention of medical students and GPs.”
For more information contact David Briggs on 0411 471 203 or Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771. A photograph is available to accompany this story.
Posted by Leon Braun at 09:47 AM
More than 100 varieties of triticale on display at field day
November 28, 2005
Farmers, graziers, farm managers and agronomists from throughout the Northern Tablelands inspected growth trials of 110 varieties of triticale during The University of New England’s annual Triticale Field Day last Friday.
Associate Professor Robin Jessop, the UNE agronomist who leads the University’s triticale research program, said participants in the field day had been impressed by many aspects of these experimental plants, including their level of resistance to stripe rust. (Dr Jessop, pictured here at the field day, was one of the scientists who identified, in 1978, Australia’s first outbreak of stripe rust - a disease that went on to affect a large proportion of Australia’s wheat crop.)
About 30 people travelled to UNE’s Laureldale Farm for the field day, where they saw several new varieties of triticale (a hybrid cross between wheat and rye) that Dr Jessop and his team are developing for grazing pastures. “We’re building these up at the moment, with a view to commercialisation,” Dr Jessop said.
Then, at UNE’s Kirby Research Station, near Armidale, they inspected grazing land planted with triticale.
UNE has been a leader of the national Triticale Improvement Program ever since it was established by the Grain Research and Development Corporation in the early 1990s. Dr Jessop said there was increasing interest in – and growing awareness of – triticale among Australian farmers. “The market for triticale has opened up,” he continued, “particularly for its use by dairy farmers as both grain and forage.” He said UNE was developing several varieties that could be used for human consumption in bread and breakfast cereals.
Earlier this year UNE announced that one of its experimental triticale crops had broken the elusive “10-tonnes-per-hectare barrier” for the yield of a wheat-related grain crop. At the time, Dr Jessop pointed out that, for comparison, Australia’s average wheat yield was only two tonnes per hectare. “Even in Europe, wheat yields do not exceed six-to-eight tonnes per hectare,” he said.
While most triticale is grown in southern NSW and northern Victoria, there are already about 20 producers in the New England region. Dr Jessop explained that triticale thrived in “somewhat adverse conditions” such as the cool Northern Tablelands climate, and that it was available in grazing, grain, and dual-purpose varieties.
UNE Rural Properties is now involved in seed multiplication, and aims to release new varieties of both dual-purpose (grazing and grain) and spring-grain-only triticale. These will be available from 2007 onwards.
Media contact: Associate Professor Robin Jessop, School of Rural Science and Agriculture, UNE (02) 6773 2502 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:30 PM
Conference to consider masculinity as ‘performance’
November 25, 2005
A one-day conference at The University of New England titled “Practising Masculinities” will consider to what extent “masculine” behaviour is a “performance” that boys and men have to learn and practise.
Professor David Buchbinder, who holds a personal Chair in Masculinities Studies at Curtin University in Western Australia, will be the keynote speaker at the conference, which will be hosted by UNE’s Centre for Australian Language, Literature, Theatre and Screen Studies (CALLTS). The conference will be on Saturday 3 December from 9.30 am to 5 pm.
“The question of masculinity is a hot topic in Australian society,” said the organiser of the conference, Adrian Kiernander (pictured here), Professor of Theatre Studies at UNE. “Social ideas of what masculinity means, and what it does, are in rapid flux, with some people talking about a crisis in masculinity while others advocate actively promoting changes to how men - and young men in particular - behave.
“The title of the conference suggests two approaches to masculinity studies. The first is that masculinity is not an inherent quality that men have, but that it is something that people perform more or less consciously, rather like practising law or medicine. The second approach takes account of the idea that masculinity as a performance does not come naturally, and that it is something that people have to explore, rehearse and repeat.”
Presenters at the conference will examine a range of approaches to masculinity, looking at the emergence in film and television of a new kind of inadequately masculine hero, issues to do with masculinity and violence in rural Australia, the changing representations of adolescent men in Australian theatre since the 1950s, and questions involving myths of masculinity and the role of the leader in management. The keynote speaker, Professor Buchbinder, is one of Australia’s most respected scholars (and the author of two important books) in the field of masculine studies. “CALLTS is honoured to be hosting Professor Buchbinder’s first visit to UNE,” Professor Kiernander said.
“Practising Masculinities” will follow on from a major conference titled “Moving Masculinities”, to be held in Canberra, which will involve scholars from around Australia and overseas, and several of the speakers will be coming on from Canberra to Armidale.
The conference will be held in the Drama Studio in the Milton Building at UNE. Lunch will be provided for all registered participants. The conference will be accessible to the wider public, and should be relevant to any people interested in the question of masculinity, including teachers and parents. For catering purposes, anyone attending is requested to register in advance.
For further information, please contact Professor Adrian Kiernander on 6773 3755 (akiernan@une.edu.au), Dr Anne Pender on 6773 3248 (anne.pender@une.edu.au), or Nicola Speden on 6773 2660 (nspeden2@une.edu.au).
Media contact: Professor Adrian Kiernander on (02) 6773 3755 or 0418 499 839, or Dr Anne Pender on (02) 6773 3248.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 01:37 PM
Disaster drill finds UNE well prepared
November 24, 2005
Staff were evacuated from Dixson Library at The University of New England this morning as part of an emergency management drill designed to test the university's readiness in the event of a real disaster.
The drill involved university staff, as well as local police, firefighters and ambulance officers. A simulated gas explosion on the roof of Dixson Library provided the basis for the drill. Once the building had been evacuated, police cordoned off the area around the library while firefighters entered the building to test for hazardous chemicals.
The drill, which was conducted in conjunction with Armidale Dumaresq Council, was designed to test the university's disaster management plan, as well as the council's local area disaster management plan.
The director of Facilities Management Services (FMS) at UNE, Mike Quinlan, said he was “quite pleased with how it all went” and that the university was well-prepared to deal with a real-life emergency.
“We've got a solid plan to back up the university in the event of any disaster,” Mr Quinlan said. “Staff from FMS and other areas of the university performed very well.”
“[The drill] is a requirement of the university's disaster management plan, and also a chance to try out the roles and responsibilities of the staff involved,” he said.
“It also raises awareness of the possibility of a disaster among staff, and gets them to think about how they would react and what they would do.”
Inspector Matt Lynch, from the Armidale Police, said the exercise had been an effective test of both UNE's and the local area's response to a potential disaster, and that all had proceeded well from the police's perspective.
“We feel all the agencies worked well together, and that the operation was a success,” Insp Lynch said.
For more information contact Mike Quinlan on (02) 6773 2659 or Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771.
Posted by Leon Braun at 04:42 PM
Competition unearths creative talent at UNE
November 23, 2005
The Services UNE Short Story and Photography Competition has wrapped up with the discovery of some great talent within the UNE ranks.
Ms Sue Paini, CEO of Services UNE, said the members-only competition was part of Services UNE’s ongoing commitment to provide cultural activities that “engage with our member base”.
Ms Paini said that she was very happy with the quality of the entries this year. There were 13 outstanding entries in the short story competition, with first prize going to Leon Braun for his work “Five Finger Discount”. Second place went to Cate Darcy for “In a Bottle of Bourbon”, and William Bennett picked up third place for his story “Marple? Marple? Not at St Helena”.
The competition was sponsored for the first time this year by United Campus Bookshops. Ms Chris Hietbrink, manager of the bookshop, said that they were delighted to support the event because it was “in support of what the UNE community is about, and we feel a part of that community”.
United Campus Bookshops provides a number of vital services for all students and staff of UNE. Besides an extensive range of specially-priced textbooks and regular bookshop services, books can be ordered by phone, fax and over the web.
Students receive a 10 per cent discount on cash purchases at United Campus Bookshops at UNE, and an eight per cent discount on other purchases. UNE staff, meanwhile, receive a 15 per cent discount on all purchases.
The Armidale Express sponsored the photography competition, in which there were more than 40 entries. “Green Angel” by Chris East was awarded first place, with “Washed Ashore” by Rebecca Henderson winning second place. Grant Winkler achieved third place with his photograph “Still Life” and also received the People’s Choice Award for “A Man’s Gotta Have a Shed”.
Services UNE has run both the competitions, in collaboration with sponsors, for the last two years. “Without them [the sponsors],” Ms Paini said, “we couldn’t run the competition.”
Entries for next year’s competitions will start around second semester next year, with details to be found on the Services UNE website and in advertisements around campus.
For more information contact Ms Sue Paini on (02) 6773 2349 or Stephanie Hubbard (UNE Public Relations) on 0438 038 340.
Posted by Stephanie Hubbard at 03:14 PM
Aboriginal diploma breaks new ground
November 22, 2005
Employers in schools, community care organisations, hospitals and Aboriginal Medical Services are encouraging their Aboriginal employees to enrol in a ground-breaking diploma course at The University of New England.
UNE’s Diploma in Aboriginal Family and Community Counselling began in 2003, and its first seven graduates received their diplomas earlier this year. “Our graduates are working in a wide range of organisations,” said the Acting Course Coordinator, Sally Hunter, “because counselling is applicable to so many medical and community-service fields. They are all using their newly-developed counselling skills to help their communities, and we are hoping that many more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will graduate in future.”
Ms Hunter, who lectures in the School of Health at UNE, said the Diploma was “a very good qualification for people working in the field of social and emotional wellbeing”. “There’s such a need for this in Aboriginal communities,” she said.
“Many of our students have learnt counselling skills informally through their work,” Ms Hunter continued, “but need a formal qualification in counselling. To gain entry to the course, all you need is to have been working in Indigenous health or social and emotional wellbeing, or in an Indigenous community, for at least two years. The Diploma can also serve as a reintroduction to study for people who have been working for some years after leaving school.”
The Diploma was developed in collaboration with the Indigenous Regional Centre for Social and Emotional Wellbeing in Armidale. It is a two-year distance education program, enabling students to continue to work in their regular employment. Students come to Armidale twice a year for intensive skills training, building strong supportive networks with other Aboriginal health professionals.
“Employers see the course as a high-quality form of professional development,” Ms Hunter said, “and often support students by offering days off for study and even some form of financial assistance.”
She said those interested in starting the course next year should ring (02) 6773 4444 for an application form as soon as possible.
Media contact: Sally Hunter, School of Health, UNE, on 0412 677 322.
A photograph of Sally Hunter is available at:
http://photodatabase.une.edu.au/albums/incoming/2005/staff/Sally%20Hunter007.JPG
Posted by Leon Braun at 01:11 PM
Honours for Vice-Chancellor in her final year at UNE
November 21, 2005
Professor Ingrid Moses, in her final year as Vice-Chancellor of The University of New England, has been honoured by a number of national and international appointments.
These will ensure that Professor Moses, who will retire from UNE in early January and then take up the position of Chancellor of the University of Canberra, will continue to contribute to developments in higher education at the highest level.
Earlier this year Professor Moses (pictured here) was invited to join an International Advisory Network at the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education in the UK. The Foundation, launched last year, aims to ensure that the leadership, governance and management of higher education institutions in the UK are regarded as world-class, and that the practice of excellence in leadership is recognised and held in high esteem by the education sector.
“I have been invited to contribute to the Foundation’s ‘Leadership Summit 2006’ in London,” Professor Moses said. “The summit theme is ‘The Leadership and Development Challenges of Globalisation and Internationalisation’.”
In July, the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) awarded Professor Moses an Honorary Fellowship, citing her “significant contribution to educational leadership” throughout her career. ACEL is the major professional association for educational leaders, drawing its members from all sectors of education in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the rest of the world.
More recently the Rector of the United Nations University (UNU) has invited Professor Moses to serve as a member of the Advisory Committee of UNU’s International Leadership Institute (a research and training program established in 1994). The International Leadership Institute is located in Amman, Jordan, and its Advisory Committee members are selected on a broad geographical basis with regard to major academic, scientific, economic, social and cultural trends in the world.
Finally, Professor Moses has been invited to be Section Editor for Tertiary Education for the International Encyclopaedia for Education (3rd edition) to be published by Elsevier in 2008. “It will be published in 12 to 14 volumes, with a total length of about 8,400 pages,” Professor Moses said. “I will be responsible for structuring the Tertiary Education section, finding international authors, and commenting on and editing 60-70 contributions.”
“I am delighted that I will be able to continue, in retirement from full-time employment, my interests in higher education policy, leadership and governance at both national and international level,” Professor Moses said.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 02:43 PM
Artist to address rural forum on depression
November 18, 2005
Greg Wilson, a man who painted his way out of depression, will be the guest speaker at a public forum on depression in rural communities to be held in Armidale, NSW, next week.
The artist Greg Wilson is the subject of a book, "My Brush With Depression", published earlier this year. He will speak at the Rural Mental Health Community Forum on Depression on Friday 25 November.
Organised by The University of New England, the forum will address a major health problem that results, among other things, in a disproportionate number of suicides in rural areas each year. A panel of local mental health experts and people affected by depression will discuss, with the audience, the importance of mental health awareness in rural communities.
The forum will be at the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) from 2.30 to 4.30 pm. For more information, and to register attendance, phone Leigh Kelly at UNE on (02) 6773 3862.
At the age of 24 Greg Wilson developed severe depression when recovering from a near-fatal motorcycle accident. Using previously-acquired artistic skills, he achieved a new zest for living through painting and sculpture, and now has his own gallery in the Hunter Valley. “My work is more than a work of art; it is a work of the heart,” he says.
Greg Wilson's works have been sold around Australia, and in Europe and the United States. He will be signing copies of "My Brush With Depression" at the forum.
The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Ingrid Moses, will introduce Greg Wilson at this University-community rural health forum, and Tony Windsor, Federal Member for New England, will participate in the discussion.
Professor Victor Minichiello, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies at UNE, said statistics revealed that the Australians at greatest risk of suicide were young men living in rural and remote areas. “It is important to note,” he added, “that there is a critical shortage of mental health professionals, and that the shortage crisis gets worse the farther you go into rural and remote areas.”
Professor Minichiello explained that, while rural towns were generally characterised by “very close, caring communities” and “resilience through tough times such as droughts”, they were also “fragile”. “For example, a suicide can have a huge impact on a rural school community located in a small town,” he said.
Media contact: Professor Victor Minichiello, Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies, UNE (02) 6773 3862, Greg Wilson on 0412 100 024, or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 01:16 PM
Campaign targets breast cancer in the bush
November 18, 2005
A public forum in Armidale next week will mark the beginning of a regional awareness campaign on breast cancer – a disease that affects one in 11 women before the age of 75 and poses additional problems for patients in rural areas.
The guest speakers at the forum, organised by the Trish Cairns Breast Cancer Awareness Association and The University of New England, will be specialists from St Vincent’s Clinic, Sydney: Dr Paul Crea (breast surgeon and surgical oncologist) and Dr Steven Liew (plastic and reconstructive surgeon). A panel of local breast cancer experts and survivors will answer questions from the audience and discuss the importance of breast cancer awareness in rural communities. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon. David Hawker, and the Federal Member for New England, Tony Windsor, will attend the forum and give their perspectives on the issue.
Professor Victor Minichiello (pictured here), Dean of UNE’s Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies, said: “Generally speaking, women living in rural Australia who have breast cancer are faced with challenges that seriously disadvantage them, their families and their communities.” Professor Minichiello said elements of that disadvantage included reduced access to screening information and services, a lack of (or limited access to) the full range of treatment options, and fewer options for care and support during and after treatment. “This is despite the fact that rural Australia has an increasingly higher proportion of older people than the cities,” he said.
The Rural Community Forum on Breast Cancer Awareness and rural launch of the Trish Cairns Breast Cancer Awareness Association will be in Armidale Town Hall on Saturday 26 November from 10 am to 1.30 pm. For more information, contact Leigh Kelly in UNE’s Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies on (02) 6773 3862.
Professor Minichiello said that the forum would not only examine the problems of rural women with breast cancer, but celebrate the resilience of rural communities in facing those problems. “Our medical practitioners are first-class,” he said, “and, because of their relative isolation, have to be more global in their skills and better team players than their metropolitan counterparts.” He added that people in rural communities were “more focused on learning how to cope”, and that the forum would “acknowledge, inform and extend that focus in relation to breast cancer”.
Dr Paul Crea is the Patron of the Trish Cairns Breast Cancer Awareness Association, which is supported by the Sisters of Charity at St Vincent’s Hospital. Dr Crea, Marie Sutton, and Barbara Williams (the sister of Trish Cairns, a rural woman who died of breast cancer six years ago) founded the Association, and announced at its launch in August this year that Armidale would be its first regional destination. Dr Crea is one of a small number of surgical oncologists in Australia whose work is wholly dedicated to the treatment of breast problems.
Media contact: Professor Victor Minichiello on (02)6773 3862, Dr Paul Crea on (02) 8382 6780, or Jim Scanlan (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 10:14 AM
Researcher expresses environmental concern in art exhibition
November 17, 2005
For PhD student Marty Branagan, the role of the arts in bringing about non-violent social change is not just an academic interest: the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) is now showing an exhibition of Marty's paintings.
In his almost-completed research at The University of New England, Marty has examined the development in Australia since the 1980s of non-violent activity promoting social change, and the role of the arts in that process. His paintings focus particularly on aspects of that change relating to the environment.
The paintings in the NERAM exhibition, "A Void; The Edge", are mainly landscapes depicting the coasts and tablelands of northern NSW. "I like to feature wild nature because it affords me great revitalisation and inspiration," he said. "I am also keen to encourage conservation and regeneration as solutions to global climate change and our crisis of species extinctions." Some of the paintings experiment with collage involving photography and found objects. "The photographs feature close family members, city actions, and forests, falls, creeks and campfires between Mungindi and Bongil Bongil," he explained.
"I want people to go away from the exhibition inspired with our local landscape," he said. "This is an amazing place to live in, but I get concerned when I see clearing still happening on farms, and people chopping down trees in town and not replacing them." One of the largest paintings in the exhibition overtly suggests that simply planting native trees could solve a range of environmental problems.
Marty (pictured here with one of the paintings in the exhibition) has been painting for the past 20 years. He said he had been initially inspired by the Impressionist paintings and the Picassos in the Louvre, and had realised that "paintings didn't have to be like a photograph". "I started off doing abstract paintings, but moved steadily towards a more representative style," he said.
He has had several solo exhibitions, including an earlier one at NERAM and one in Alice Springs. One of his paintings was acquired by the Northern Territory Art Award, and is now in the Araluen Collection in Alice Springs. He was a finalist in the 2003 Country Energy Landscape Art Prize.
Another art form that that Marty has been involved in is theatre - particularly street theatre and puppetry. His satirical puppet shows (assisted by Doug Westhorpe and others) featuring John Howard and George Bush are a well-known part of Armidale rallies.
"A Void; The Edge" continues at NERAM until the 12th of December.
Media contact: Marty Branagan at UNE on (02) 6773 3115 or Jim Scanlan, UNE Public Relations, on (02) 6773 3049.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 11:44 AM
New literary voice breaks “Out of the Silence”
November 16, 2005
A part-time lecturer in The University of New England's English department has published her first novel to glowing reviews.
Wendy James's Out of the Silence was described by Sydney Morning Herald reviewer Mindy Laube as a “stunning debut” and “that rare novel in which a gripping story is underlaid by a fully realised ethical framework”.
“James has a rich appreciation for the depth and breadth of feminine sensibility, which she conveys in transparent, naturalistic prose,” wrote Ms Laube. The novel “flows ever so gently, its deceptively smooth surface powered by a compelling narrative”.
The Australian Book Review called it “an informative and beautifully written fiction”.
The passion and suffering of Australian women at the turn of the last century provided the inspiration for the novel, which was written as part of the author's PhD thesis. It tells the story of three very different women: Maggie, a servant girl who finds herself unmarried and pregnant; Elizabeth, a middle-class Englishwoman; and Vida Goldstein, a famous real-life suffragette. At the centre of the story is a terrible crime, based on actual events.
Ms James said the story was about “art and motherhood”, and dealt with issues including childcare, domestic service, contraception and infanticide. She said it was also about “the compromises people make in their private lives in order to have a political life, and vice-versa.”
“A lot of stuff people were thinking about in the nineteenth century are still issues today,” she said.
The book took five years to write, and required extensive research, but selling it didn't turn out to be nearly so hard. On the strength of the finished manuscript Ms James secured an agent; the fourth publisher who read the book bought it. Her publisher, Random House, has also contracted her for a second book, already underway.
Before Out of the Silence, Ms James had had about a dozen short stories published in anthologies and journals. She had also had an unpublished manuscript longlisted for the Vogel Award.
Ms James, who has four children, said she wrote “when I can”, and that “with kids it's hard to find time to write”.
“Motherhood is my full-time job.
“I'll procrastinate all the way until the last moment, and then have a burst of inspiration, and then it's time to go and pick up the kids.”
Ms James said she was delighted with the reviews critics had given the book, and that she “couldn't have wished for more for a first novel”. Even more satisfying, she said, were readers' comments.
“I've had really good feedback from people who read it. People say they cry. That's always good.”
Out of the Silence is in bookstores now.
For more information, contact Wendy James on (02) 6772 0771 or Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771. A photograph is available to accompany this story.
Posted by Leon Braun at 10:43 AM
PhDs struggle to master caveman technology
November 15, 2005
The “primitive” stone tools of our ancestors apparently required a lot of brain power to make.
A group of academics at The University of New England struggled to reproduce even the simplest stone tools at a workshop organised by the university's multi-disciplinary Language and Cognition Research Centre. They were attempting to establish what sort of cognitive abilities were required to produce basic stone tools of the type used by Homo floresiensis, the hobbit-like hominid discovered by UNE researchers on the Indonesian island of Liang Bua. Some scientists have suggested that making such tools requires little more skill than that possessed by the average ape.
This was not the experience of those who participated in the workshop, however.
“It looks easy, but once you have the lump of stone in your hands, it's very hard,” said Dorothea Cogill-Koez, a postdoctoral fellow at UNE's School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures. Holding up a jagged sliver of quartz, she said, “I'm really proud of this piece, for instance. It mightn't look like much, but it's actually quite sharp. It can cut meat.”
Many of her colleagues – linguists and psychologists, PhDs all – were less successful, and managed to produce more bashed thumbs and sliced fingers than usable stone tools. Their instructor, archaeologist Mark Moore, said it had taken him about eight years to master the art.
“You have to have a good understanding of geometry,” Mr Moore said. “You have to know where to hit, how to hit, how hard to hit, and you have to know which stones to use.”
The hobbits of Flores were experts at striking flakes from stones, he said, and artifacts recovered from Indonesia showed they had “all the essentials of stone toolmaking down pat”. Comparisons with chimpanzees seriously underestimated the hobbits' cognitive abilities, he said, as demonstrated by the difficulty today's humans had in reproducing their tool kit.
“The people who have come to that conclusion [that stone toolmaking is not cognitively intensive] tend to be people who have never actually tried it themselves,” he said.
Mr Moore has received an Australian Research Council grant to compare the stone tools of Homo floresiensis with those of Australian Aboriginals. Australia was only ever colonised by modern humans, giving him a benchmark against which to gauge the cognitive abilities of the hobbits.
So is there hope for our struggling academics?
“Floresiensis was much better at making stone tools than any of the academics that attended the workshop,” Mr Moore said. “If they applied themselves, then maybe they could reach the level of Homo floresiensis in a couple of months. But they still have a ways to go, despite their PhDs.”
For more information, contact Mark Moore on (02) 6773 5075 or Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771. A photograph is available to accompany this story.
Posted by Leon Braun at 10:36 AM
Vice-Chancellor's Executive Officer among winners of service awards
November 14, 2005
Professor Ingrid Moses has presented her annual Awards for Excellence in Service for the last time as Vice-Chancellor of The University of New England. Among this year’s awards was a special one to her Executive Officer, Jenny Edmunds.
Professor Moses, who will retire from UNE in early January (when she will become Chancellor of the University of Canberra), said when presenting the award last week: “In my eight years plus as Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Jenny has been of invaluable assistance and has provided outstanding and exemplary service. She assists, prompts, encourages, sympathises, organises, supports, protects, troubleshoots, and mothers me.”
“She is tireless in her pursuit of organisational efficiency and effectiveness, and of high standards in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office and in customer service,” Professor Moses continued.
Mrs Edmunds has worked in the Vice-Chancellor’s Unit since 1990, and has been the Vice-Chancellor’s Executive Officer since 1994. “She was in that position when I came on the 1st of July, 1997,” Professor Moses said, “and one of my wisest decisions has been to keep her.”
Mrs Edmunds said it had been “exceptionally special” to receive the award from Professor Moses as their work together drew towards an end. “Professor Moses is such an inspiration,” she said. “She cares so much about the University, its staff, and students. We both have high expectations of ourselves and the people around us, and it’s been a pleasure to work with her to achieve all the things she’s wanted to achieve.” (Jenny Edmunds is pictured here, at left, with Professor Moses after the award ceremony.)
Debbie Wilkinson, Establishment and Recruitment Manager in Human Resources, also received a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Service at last week’s ceremony. “Debbie has spent her entire working life loyally serving the University in a most dedicated and impressive way,” Professor Moses said. “She is someone who has responded very well to the changes which the University has faced over the years – as is evidenced by her willingness to take on different types of work during her time with the University.”
“She is highly committed to her work, she is an excellent team player and leader, and despite a heavy workload, she is always willing to provide assistance,” Professor Moses continued. “The loyalty and support she gives to her fellow workers is invaluable. The service she has given over the years to the University, and the goodwill this has created, are without measure.”
The third of the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards went to the three members of the Professional Experience Office team, which is responsible for organising and monitoring the “practice” placements of more than 1,000 student teachers each year. The three team members are Sue Haydon, Jenny Sauer and Kim Vallance. “Sue and Jenny have been working together as a team in the Professional Experience Office for almost 15 years,” Professor Moses said, “and, with Kim Vallance’s help in recent times, have given exemplary service to the University.”
“Their work involves contact with both internal and externally enrolled students, as well as significant liaison work with schools (in New England, across Australia and internationally) at the level of Principals and supervising teachers,” she explained. “As the front line for UNE contact with up to 2,500 schools in many States of Australia annually, the professionalism of the Professional Experience team contributes in measurable ways to UNE’s good standing in the educational community.”
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 12:30 PM
Deputy Chancellor's garden at "Abington" open this weekend
November 11, 2005
The garden at “Abington”, the property of James Harris, Deputy Chancellor of UNE, will be open to the public this weekend (November 12 and 13).
“Abington” is a sheep and cattle property near Bundarra that has been in the family of Mr Harris’s mother, Anne Forster, since the 1880s. Both of Mr Harris’s parents came from the New England area, and both of their families have been associated with UNE since its founding in the 1930s.
The “Abington” garden, and that at the nearby “Stony Batter North”, will be open as part of Australia’s Open Garden Scheme.
Mr Harris (pictured here) describes the garden surrounding the historic “Abington” homestead as “rambling”, and as featuring “climbing roses, red cannas, buddleias and berberis underplanted with catmint and lavender”.
“Abington” is about 53 km from Uralla along Bundarra Road. Light refreshments will be available, as well as a bookstall and antique and garden tools.
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 02:03 PM
Time for Thais to rethink policies towards Muslim militants in the south
November 10, 2005
The Thai government's hardline suppression of a Muslim insurgency in the country's south has exacerbated the problem instead of solving it, a University of New England professor has argued.
Malcolm Falkus, Emeritus Professor in the School of Economic Studies at UNE, addressed the current wave of violence in Thailand’s southern Malay-Muslim provinces at the university's annual Asia Centre Public Lecture, where he argued that the root causes of the unrest in the south have been largely misunderstood by the Thai government. The real causes, he said, were rooted at least as much in social and economic change as in an organized separatist movement or in radical Islamic fundamentalism.
Professor Falkus said that the insurgents that had been captured in the south were uniformly uneducated and poor, and that, as yet, no religious figure, or “mad mullah” had emerged to lead them. Many of these captured rebels were ignorant even of the basic tenets of Islam, he said.
Although many bombings and shootings had been carried out since 2001, no group had stepped forward to claim responsibility, he said, although a number of separatist groups exist in southern Thailand. This was at variance with the actions of separatist groups the world over, he said, and indicated that what the Thai government faced in the south was a “utopian” peasant revolution, resulting from a general dissatisfaction with the way the government in Bangkok was handling things.
“If the violence is a revolt of 'poor peasants', it follows that the underlying problems—such as poverty, dispossession or degradation of peasant land and resources, growing income inequality and unemployment—should be tackled urgently by the Thai authorities,” he said.
“The Malay-Muslim provinces should receive development help, cultural traditions there should be respected, and local people should be involved as much as possible in local administration,” he said.
“The present 'iron fist' approach simply exacerbates the situation, and increases the dangers of further violence influenced by Islamic terrorist influence from elsewhere.”
Professor Falkus taught for many years at the London School of Economics before taking the chair of Economic History at UNE in 1987. He was the director of the Asia Centre at UNE from 1991-1997, and was also a committee member of the Australian National Thai Studies Centre. He has published widely in the fields of European and Asian economic history and development, and most recently has been involved in a World Bank project in Cambodia.
For more information contact Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771.
Posted by Leon Braun at 02:57 PM
National conference to celebrate achievements in disability services
November 07, 2005
A national conference at The University of New England at the end of this month will celebrate Australian achievements in the provision of services for people with a disability.
Challenge Armidale is convening the National Best Practice in Disability Conference, which will run from Tuesday 29 November to Thursday 1 December. Challenge, which provides services for people with an intellectual disability in and around Armidale, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
About 150 people from throughout Australia will participate in the conference. “We thought that, for our 50th anniversary, we would do something special to celebrate everything that our people and organisations do well,” said Mr Kevin Mead, General Manager of Challenge Armidale. “Best practice is something that should be shared.”
This will be the first national conference highlighting best practice in disability services. Mr Mead (pictured here) said that providers of these services often had to be so focused on simply complying with government regulations that they had little time for innovation or vision. “At our conference,” he continued, “they’ll get a chance to ask and answer questions such as ‘Do you succeed?’ rather than ‘Do you comply?’”
Mr Mead said he believed that the New England / North-west region was “a centre of innovation for disability work”, and that Armidale, as a centre of educational excellence, was an ideal location for a best-practice conference. Challenge Armidale and UNE signed a Memorandum of Understanding earlier this year as a basis for broadening the relationship between the two organisations. (This relationship includes the employment of some Challenge clients on the UNE campus, and UNE’s use of Challenge services such as paper recycling and mail packaging.)
“Our range of subjects at the conference will include (but not be limited to) governance and management, ageing and disability, health and wellbeing, innovation in employment and accommodation support programs, day programs, therapy services and children’s services,” Mr Mead said. The conference program (plus registration and other details) is at: http://www.une.edu.au/campus/confco/bpdc2005.
Keynote speakers will include Dr Roger Stancliffe and Dr Vivienne Riches (both Senior Research Fellows at the Centre for Developmental Disability Studies in Sydney), Judith Ellis (a leader in family advocacy), and Andrew Buchanan (Chair of the NSW Disability Advisory Council). The Federal Minister for Family and Community Services, Kay Patterson, will address the conference.
Selected entries in the 2005 Olphert Art Competition for people with an intellectual disability will be on display throughout the conference. The Olphert Art Competition, organised by the conference committee, Challenge Armidale, and the Olphert family, is an official event of the International Day of People with Disabilities. The winning entries will be announced on Thursday 1 December, and they and other selected entries will be exhibited at the New England Regional Art Museum throughout December. (Full details about the competition, and an entry form, are available on the conference Web site quoted above.)
Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:34 PM
Public lecture to examine pros and cons of nanotechnology
November 04, 2005
Some have claimed it will one day cure cancer, others that it will destroy the universe in a mass of grey goo. It is called nanotechnology, and Professor Max Gunter, a chemist at The University of New England, will be talking about it at a public lecture to be held at the Armidale Town Hall on Tuesday, November 8.
In the lecture, titled "Molecular Machines and Nanotechnology: Hype Challenging Reality", Professor Gunter will discuss the potential benefits – and pitfalls – of the emerging science of nanotechnology, which involves creating tiny, working machines only a few thousandths of a millimetre in size.
Professor Gunter said he chose the topic of nanotechnology because while many people had heard of it, few understood what it was about, and that uncertainty had led to fear in some quarters. He said he would attempt to explain nanotechnology in his lecture, and describe some of its positive and negative aspects, while also dispelling myths, including the “grey goo” doomsday scenario.
“People are worried this is some sinister technology scientists are attempting to impose on them, and what they want to know is, is it a good thing or a bad thing.” Professor Gunter said.
“Right now there are two trains of thought on the matter. One approach is very gung-ho about developing nanotechnology, and looks forward to a future where it will allow us to do all sorts of things. The other side is worried about issues such as self-replication and this virus-like capacity to expand and somehow take over the world.”
Professor Gunter said that, despite these fears, nanotechnology had many positive uses, and was already being used to develop treatments for certain diseases.
“In biological systems great advances are being made in the ability to send 'nanobots' [tiny virus-like robots] into the bloodstream, that will home in on specific diseases, and can be programmed to seek and destroy specific cells,” he said.
Such treatments might one day be used to fight cancer and AIDS, Professor Gunter said. This same technology could be used for evil, however, if it were to fall into the wrong hands, he said.
Professor Gunter and his students have been conducting their own research into nanotechnology at UNE, creating nanoscopic components such as switches and “tiny motors, complete with wheels spinning around an axle”. These components constituted a “shopping basket” of tools that could be used by nanotechnologists in their research, he said. He will describe some of this research in his lecture.
Professor Gunter completed a PhD in chemistry at The University of New England in 1975. After some years of postdoctoral positions in the UK, he spent seven years as a research fellow at the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University, before returning to UNE in 1984. He was head of the Department of Chemistry from 1994 to 1998, and has been the Convenor of Chemistry at UNE since 2001.
The lecture begins at 7.30pm and will be followed by a light supper.
For more information contact Professor Max Gunter on (02) 6773 2767 or Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771.
Posted by Leon Braun at 04:43 PM
Trevenna gardens open to the public this weekend
November 03, 2005
Trevenna, the historic residence of Professor Ingrid Moses, the Vice-Chancellor of UNE, will be opened to the public this weekend, as part of the annual St Peter's Garden Weekend.
This will be the second time Trevenna's gardens have been showcased this year; the grounds were opened in March, as part of the Australian Open Gardens Scheme.
Before this year Trevenna's gardens, which were the feature of a Woman's Weekly special in 1971, had not been opened since 1996.
Speaking on the occasion of the garden's opening in March, Professor Moses said she found the garden's beauty refreshing.
“The view from our upstairs sitting room, across the garden and towards Mount Duval, is worth painting,” she said.
“Every morning I enjoy the views across the lawns, the sporting fields towards the colleges. In winter the fog floats on the fields and creates images of lakes. It is magic. I walk through the gardens daily, they restore my equanimity after long days at work.”
The homestead and its grounds were bequeathed to UNE as the Vice-Chancellor's residence in 1960. Designed by the Boston-trained 19th Century architect Horbury Hunt, Trevenna was originally the home of the Wright family. Some of the trees in the garden date back to the 1890s, when Trevenna was built.
The grounds feature a tennis court, fish pond and small sunken garden with stone sundial (pictured). They also include a herb garden and orchard, and numerous dry-stone walls, some of which have been overplanted with ivy hedges.
The gardens will be open from 10am-5pm on November 5 and 6. Members of the public are welcome.
For more information contact Rosemary Johnson on (02) 6772 2276.
Posted by Leon Braun at 03:56 PM
Celebration of Sharing fundraising in full swing
November 02, 2005
The University of New England's annual fundraiser, the Celebration of Sharing, has gotten off to a roaring start, with two events completed and at least four more in the pipeline.
Marketing and Public Affairs (MPA) launched the celebration last Wednesday, with a doorknock appeal and a barbecue. (Pictured, at the barbecue, are UNE Deputy Chancellor James Harris and MPA Executive Assistant Emma Falkenmire.) When it was announced at 4pm that MPA was $100 short of its thousand-dollars-in-a-day target, a generous member of general staff made up the shortfall, bringing MPA's total to $1001.
This week, the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit got in on the act, organising a Melbourne Cup fundraiser and a guessing competition.
Economics, Business and Law and the Vice-Chancellor's Unit are organising raffles, the School of Rural Science and Agriculture is putting on morning tea and Facilities Management Services is hosting its annual morning tea.
Tickets for the Economics, Business and Law raffle are $2 each, and can be purchased from Trish Battin in Room 21 of the EBL building. Trish and her colleagues will also be collecting door-to-door in coming weeks. Prizes include a $100 fuel voucher and dinner for two at Tingling Tongues Restaurant.
Tickets for the Vice-Chancellor's Unit's raffle are $1 each, and can be purchased from reception on the first floor of Booloominbah. First prize is a basket of “gourmet goodies”; second prize, a selection of fine wines.
The School of Rural Science and Agriculture's morning tea will be held on November 9 at 10.30am, in the tearoom of the Homestead Building. Bring a plate, and a gold coin donation.
Facilities Management Services has organised a fundraising brunch for the fourth year running. The brunch will take place from 8-9.30am on November 25, on the lawns between the FMS offices and Printery. For $5 you'll get sausages, eggs, bacon, tea, coffee and toast. RSVP to Glenda McMillan on ext 3718, or call FMS reception on 3910.
Begun four years ago, Celebration of Sharing has become an annual event, pulling together town and gown in a bid to raise money for local charities. The Salvation Army and the Armidale Youth Refuge shared the proceeds in 2004; this year the beneficiaries will be Lifeline and Street Beat, a charity that assists local homeless youth to get off the streets and back into school. The NSW Premier’s Department has agreed to match UNE’s funds raised for Street Beat dollar for dollar up to $2000.
For more information about Celebration of Sharing contact UNE Events Coordinator Jennifer Ross on (02) 6773 2768.
Posted by Leon Braun at 04:51 PM
UNE wins national employment award for supporting 'weekend warriors'
November 01, 2005
The University of New England has won a national employment award for its support of Defence Force reservists.
UNE was one of five organisations recognised for their support of reservists at the Defence Reserves Support Council's (DRSC) National Employer Support Awards, held this week at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. UNE shared the award in the government category with Edith Cowan University in Perth.
Earlier this year UNE was named NSW's best employer of Defence Force reservists at a ceremony at Victoria Barracks in Paddington.
UNE was nominated for the awards by several reservist members of staff.
UNE offers good leave conditions to Australian Defence Force members to allow them to undertake military activities. This includes paid leave for short periods of military service and unpaid leave for lengthier deployments. The Federal Government helps fund leave for UNE's reservists through its Employer Support Payment Scheme.
UNE-employed reservists have undertaken a wide range of military duties, ranging from two-week combined-forces exercises to extended deployments. In 1990, Andrew St John Brown, a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve, took 18 months off from his job as Assistant Registrar at UNE to support the Navy's Gulf War operations in Sydney. More recently, Tony Bock, a Warrant Officer in the Army Reserve, gave up his job in the university's Finance Directorate for three months to serve in Operation Gold, the Australian Defence Force mission to support the Sydney 2000 Olympics. He later received a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service in the Army Reserve.
David Campbell, a programmer in UNE's Information Technology Directorate, and part-time crew commander with the 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers in Armidale, said the university had been “extremely supportive” of his military career.
“The leave provisions at UNE are great,” Mr Campbell said. “They've allowed me to attend courses, including promotion courses, as well as exercises, like the combined forces exercise my unit did with the US Marines at Shoalwater Bay two years ago.”
Iain Spence, an Associate Professor in UNE's School of Classics, History and Religion, and a Colonel in the Army Reserve, said the award was a “great mark of recognition” for the university's support of its reservist employees. The university's flexible policies allowed staff to meet their requirements to the Defence Reserves, while also meeting their requirements to the university, a situation that reflected well on both the university and the military, he said.
Pictured at the awards ceremony are Professor Peter Flood; the Hon Teresa Gambaro MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence; and the Hon John Jobling OAM, Chairman DRSC NSW.
For more information contact Associate Professor Iain Spence on (02) 6773 2794 or Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on 6773 3771. A picture is available to accompany this story.
Posted by Leon Braun at 04:23 PM