Nursing: a career with heart

September 29, 2006

A shortage of qualified nurses both Australia-wide and internationally means that career options – and benefits to be gained – in the nursing industry are greater than ever before.

“Starting salaries for nurses are among the highest across all university graduates,” said Dr Glenda Parmenter from the University of New England’s School of Nursing. “First-year nurses can expect to earn up to $811 a week, with further pay from shift penalties. Imagine earning up to $1,000 a week in your first year out of university!”

Dr Parmenter said that many nurses branched out from their chosen profession, and that the choices were “simply huge”. “Management, consultancy, teaching, community involvement, education, palliative care, and even your own firm: these are only a few of the paths,” she said. “The stereotype era is over.”

“As a nurse, you are a national priority,” she continued. “Put simply, this means that you can find stable employment anywhere across the nation – any State, anywhere you choose. In addition to this, nurses are needed everywhere around the world, giving you the exciting option of travel and overseas work. Australian nurses are recognised internationally.

“Studying to be a nurse can be a lot of work. But more importantly, it is achievable. The courses are structured to integrate the difficult aspects of nursing into the learning. Your teachers are highly skilled professionals themselves. They take a genuine interest in your study and development. Support and help is never far away.

“Of course, as in all industries, there is a level of stress and nursing can be intense. But what must be remembered is that, as a nurse, you are part of a team – one of the most important and highly trained teams anyone could find. You work together as a unit, face challenges together, and learn together.”

“The UNE Bachelor of Nursing is one of the best in the State,” Dr Parmenter said, “with the biggest practical element of any university course – 35 weeks. The industry recognises this and, consequently, regards UNE graduates of one some of the best nurses around – nurses that are industry ready.”

Nathan Kemister of UNE says that nursing is the best choice he’s ever made.

“As a nurse, I am a respected professional who can really make a difference to the community, yet the skills I learn can also be valuable in everyday situations” he said.

“Most importantly to me, I am choosing a career path that is valued by society. It’s a privilege to have a career that gives me employment, a good starting salary and valuable skills – but most importantly, a respected job.”

If you think Nursing is the career for you, contact UNE on 02 6773 4444 or visit the Web site, www.une.edu.au, for more information.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:46 PM

Study of ‘reconciliation’ text opens national literacy education conference

September 28, 2006

A three-day national conference on literacy education began yesterday at The University of New England with an analysis of a children’s picture book about post-war reconciliation. The first day ended with a study of teachers’ gestures in the classroom.

The other 37 papers presented yesterday included studies of the engagement of very young children – and apes – in multimodal communication, the “grammar” of facial expressions in children’s picture books, educational computer games, and special aspects of literacy education in rural schools.

Delegates to the 2006 National Conference of the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association have come from Germany, Sweden, Finland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the UK and the United States, as well as from around Australia. In welcoming them to UNE, the University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor David Rich, commented on the number of “scholars of international renown” among them.

Professor Jim Martin from Sydney University’s Department of Linguistics analysed a picture book – Photographs in the Mud – that is used in primary classrooms. The story, by Perth writer Dianne Wolfer, focuses on warfare along the Kokoda Trail during World War II, and contains what Professor Martin called a “reconciliation message”. “I’m interested in how the author and the illustrator construct this message,” he said. “They manage to humanise the Japanese soldiers in a way that didn’t happen during the war.”

He went on to speak more generally about the teaching of “ethics” to children in a secular age. “Texts such as this are for teachers and parents to negotiate together,” he said.

Professor Martin explained that his research centred on the way “words and images enhance each other”. “Being able to move into the world of images is a real advance in teaching literacy,” he said. “Growing interest in this field is bringing new kinds of teachers and linguists to our work.”

The conference at UNE, titled “Multimodal Texts and Multiliteracies”, demonstrates the range of disciplines that contribute to the study – and practice – of multimodal techniques in literacy education. UNE’s Centre for Research in English and Multiliteracies Education, directed by Professor Len Unsworth, has convened the conference with the cooperation of the local branch of the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association. It will continue till Friday 29 September. For more information go to: http://www.une.edu.au/campus/confco/asfla2006.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Professor Jim Martin (left) and Professor Len Unsworth at the conference.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 11:58 AM

'Campfire Australia': Charles Southwood to speak about national music broadcasting

September 27, 2006

One of Australia’s best-known classical music broadcasters – Charles Southwood – will give a public lecture in Armidale about the impact of national radio broadcasting on the performance of classical music throughout the country.

Mr Southwood, who retired on the 1st of September after 16 years as a program presenter on ABC Classic FM, will talk about the role that radio has played in forming and fostering a distinctively Australian culture of classical music.

The free lecture, titled “Campfire Australia: Fostering local tradition and regional practice in Western classical music for an entire country through radio”, will be at 12.30 pm on Friday 29 September in the Auditorium of Armidale’s C.B. Newling Building (the "Old Teachers’ College"). It is being presented in conjunction with the 2006 National Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia, co-hosted this year by the Society’s Northern NSW Chapter and The University of New England. The theme of the conference, being held in Armidale from Wednesday 27 September to Sunday 1 October, is “Music as local tradition and regional practice”.

“There’s something different and distinctive that we Aussies bring to classical music,” Mr Southwood said. “I’m interested in how a group such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra can make a European classic feel ‘Australian’, and how that can be illuminating for the rest of the world.”

“In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s,” he continued, “there was a lot of anxious debate about the nature and expression of our Australian culture. One symptom of this was the composition of music that consciously strove to sound ‘Australian’. But then we discovered that, when you’re simply true to yourself, the national distinctiveness inevitably follows. In fact, we Australians are stuck with being original.”

He explained how the ABC’s national broadcasting of classical music had contributed to this developing consciousness of our distinctive voice at local and regional – as well as national – levels. “My experience has confirmed my belief that the best way for a radio station to foster musical culture in local communities is for it to be truly national,” he said.

Charles Southwood joined the ABC in Perth in 1978 as presenter of Radio 2’s “Morning Show”, which consisted largely of classical music. He moved to Adelaide in 1987 as presenter of ABC Radio National’s breakfast program “Early Edition” before joining, in 1990, the national classical music station then known as “ABC FM Stereo”.

For more information on Charles Southwood's lecture, phone (02) 6773 6563.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 12:15 PM

Rural Science graduates return to celebrate 'McClymont vision'

September 26, 2006

About 150 graduates returned to The University of New England last weekend to celebrate the foundation - 50 years ago - of the University's world-renowned Rural Science degree program, and the vision of its founder, Bill McClymont.

Coming from throughout Australia and abroad, they represented one-tenth of all the people - more than 1,500 of them - who have gained a Bachelor of Rural Science degree from UNE. Through those graduates, the "McClymont vision" has made a positive impact on farm-based industries in Australia, the Asia Pacific region, and beyond.

Titled "Celebrating the McClymont Vision", the reunion events included a full-day forum on Friday with the theme "Rural Science in the context of Australian agricultural education". In opening the forum, Professor Peter Flood, UNE's Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), explained how Professor McClymont's integrated approach to agriculture and animal husbandry - his holistic view of the soil-plant-animal complex - had "put UNE at the forefront of agriculture both nationally and internationally".

During the forum, Professor McClymont's daughter Vicki Poulter presented the Head of the School of Rural Science and Agriculture, Associate Professor Geoff Hinch, with a framed outline - sketched by her father - of rural science education based on holistic principles. "His vision and his legacy are more important today than ever," Ms Poulter said.

The participants in the celebration included agricultural researchers, administrators and extension officers as well as primary producers. Dr Geoffrey Fox, who graduated Bachelor of Rural Science in 1965 and PhD (also from UNE) in 1969, held several important positions in the World Bank, including that of Director, Rural Development and Natural Resource Management, for the East Asia and Pacific Region. Dr Fox, who is Principal Rural Development Adviser for the Australian Agency for International Development (and an Adjunct Professor at UNE), was guest speaker at the reunion dinner on Saturday evening. He said his study of Rural Science at UNE had given him not only an "exciting, world-wide career", but also an "analytical framework" that he used every day.

Among the primary producers were Darvall Hickson and his son John from a family property at Boomi near Moree. They are both UNE Rural Science graduates (1962 and 1992 respectively), and say the "McClymont vision" informs much of what they do. "It helps us look outside the square," said John Hickson, who manages the livestock side of the property, and who has moved to more sustainable grazing systems.

After the celebrations, Dr Hinch said it had been "a very enjoyable weekend". "And the forum has provided us with a springboard for planning the next decade of teaching in Rural Science and Agriculture," he added.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Professors James Rowe (left) and Geoffrey Fox at the Rural Science reunion.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 02:29 PM

Ancient Japanese dance performance a highlight of national conference

September 25, 2006

A group of 31 dancers and musicians from Japan will present a public performance of gagaku - Japan's oldest music and dance tradition - in Armidale this week.

The performance, in the Auditorium of the C.B. Newling Building (the "Old Teachers' College") at 7.30 pm on Saturday 30 September, is a highlight of the National Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia (MSA), being held this year in Armidale.

Associate Professor Hugh de Ferranti, Lecturer in Japanese Studies at The University of New England, has worked closely with the conference organisers in bringing the gagaku group to Armidale with the support of "2006 Australia-Japan Year of Exchange" funding from the Japanese Government. "With 31 musicians and dancers, dramatic sets and choreographed dance, this will be a real spectacle - and a first for Armidale's music lovers," Dr de Ferranti said.

UNE and the Northern NSW Chapter of the MSA are co-hosting the conference, which runs from Wednesday 27 September to Sunday 1 October. A keynote address on Saturday by Professor Steven Nelson from Hosei University in Japan will examine the adaptation of ideals and practices in the transplantation of gagaku from China to Japan in the 7th to 10th centuries. A short talk on this ancient music and dance of the Imperial Japanese court, and a demonstration of its exotic musical instruments, will precede the performance on Saturday evening.

The performers will be the Kyokusui Gagaku Kai (pictured here), a community-based group from Tenri, in Nara Prefecture, dedicated to teaching and performing gagaku. Tenri is a small town in which the majority of the residents are members of the Tenri-kyo faith. The importance of gagaku for the practice of Tenri-kyo has resulted in the founding of several groups: some maintained by the religious organisation, and others - like the Kyokusui Gagaku Kai - by residents of the town.

The C.B.Newling Building is the venue for the MSA National Conference. Music researchers from throughout Australia and from the UK, the United States, Turkey and Russia will come together to discuss a wealth of topics relating to the theme of the conference: "Music as Local Tradition and Regional Practice".

"I am very pleased that the conference organisers have been able to invite such outstanding international researchers to Armidale," said UNE's Dr Jason Stoessel, co-convener of the conference. "For example, Professor James Grier from the University of Western Ontario is the world authority on Ademar de Chabannes, an eleventh-century composer-monk whose colourful life is the subject of his new book to be published around the time of the conference by Cambridge University Press."

Tickets to the gagaku performance are available at Dymocks and Readers Companion, and at the door. Another public concert associated with the conference will be a performance by the Armidale a capella choir Fiori Musicali, directed by UNE Music lecturer Dr Rex Eakins, of Dr Eakins's new edition of Gaspar van Weerbeke's Missa O Venus bant (Ursuline Chapel, Friday 29 September, 5.30 pm).

Two special music lectures have been scheduled to coincide with the conference: a talk by Oxford University musicologist Professor Reinhard Strohm (UNE's 2006 Gordon Athol Anderson Memorial Lecture) in Armidale Town Hall on Thursday 28 September (7.30 pm), and a talk by the well-known classical music broadcaster Charles Southwood in the C.B. Newling Auditorium on Friday 29 September (12.30 pm). These are both free public lectures, and everyone is welcome.

For more information on the conference and its special events, go to: http://www.une.edu.au/music/MSAconf/ or ring (02) 6773 6563.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 02:48 PM

Chance to travel back in time to a classroom of the 1880s

September 22, 2006

The University of New England’s Museum of Education, in Kentucky Street, Armidale (near the New England Regional Art Museum) celebrates its 50th birthday this year. It will mark the anniversary with an Open Day on Saturday 23 September – part of Armidale’s contribution to the State-wide celebration of History Week (16-24 September). The museum will be open between 12 noon and 4 pm.

The Museum of Education opened on 26 September 1956 and was one of the first museums in Australia to be created in the folk tradition.

Development of the museum began in 1949, when Eric Dunlop, a lecturer at Armidale Teachers’ College, began lobbying for a building to be set up as a museum to cater to school groups and tourists, and as a research centre to house a collection of materials on educational practice and facilities for the use of students at the Teachers’ College. His plan was reinforced by a tour of museums in Britain and Scandinavia, which inspired him to create “something new in Australian museum history”.

Although initially not wholly supporting the proposal, the Director-General of Education agreed to send a circular to District Inspectors asking them to identify any items that might be included in a collection of historic educational material. In late July 1950 Dr G.W. Bassett, then Principal of the College, was sent a summary of the inspectors’ replies. Eric Dunlop was asked to comment on the list, and he ticked items of interest: an abacus, a punishment book, slates, cadet dummy rifles and a visitors’ book. It was the response of the newly appointed Inspector of the Inverell District, L.H. Mitchell, however, that caught his eye: it referred to “the existence, in reasonable order, of a bee-hive building at the Pallamallawa School”. By August 1956 the bee-hive school from Pallamallawa (near Moree) had been transported to Armidale and fitted out as a typical small school of the 1880s.

“Little has changed in the Pallamallawa School,” explained Dr Nicole McLennan, the University Curator. “Children and nostalgic adults still come to take a trip back in time to the schoolroom of the 1880s with the ubiquitous cane, inkwells and copybooks; in this museum building there are no computers or other high-tech gadgets. Indeed, over time the Pallamallawa School has become a museum of museum practice.”

”At the Open Day we welcome all members of the public to join us for coffee, a slice of birthday cake, some storytelling and a tour of the museum,” Dr McLennan continued. “We are particularly keen to hear (and record) the stories of anyone who attended the Pallamallawa and Dumaresq schools, and to hear the memories of those who visited or worked in the museum in its early years. By sharing your stories you can help bring the museum to life.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Eric Dunlop's recreation of a bush schoolroom in the Museum of Education. (University of New England & Regional Archives.)

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 01:33 PM

Seminar on university residences

September 22, 2006

A seminar this afternoon will examine the trends and directions in residential college life at The University of New England within the wider context of other universities in Australia and overseas.

The seminar, from 3 pm to 5 pm in the Drysdale Room at UNE’s Wright Centre, has been organised as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Wright College, which begin today and continue throughout the weekend.

Wright College was the first residential college to be established at The University of New England. That was in 1956, two years after the University gained its independent status from the University of Sydney. Past members of Wright College are returning to UNE to recall their time in the University’s collegiate system and to renew the friendships forged during their time in Wright College.

An early resident of Wright College, Dr Iqbal Khan, will be a keynote speaker at today's seminar. Dr Khan has spent much of his professional life managing and developing residential colleges in Australian universities and is in high demand as a consultant. Dr K.R. (Joe) Massingham, a former Head of Wright College, and a member - and award recipient - of the Association of College and University Housing Officers (International), will be the second invited speaker at the seminar. He will be joined on the podium by Dr Angus Edmonds OAM, former President of the Association of Heads of Australian University Colleges and Halls of Residence Inc., who recently retired as Head of Emmanuel College at the University of Queensland after 21 years of service. Current academics, administrators and members of the residential colleges at UNE will also be present.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Wright College in the 1970s. (University of New England & Regional Archives.)

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 10:12 AM

Oxford musicologist to present annual UNE lecture

September 21, 2006

Professor Reinhard Strohm, an internationally renowned musicologist who has prepared critical editions of 15th century English Masses as well as music by Wagner and Vivaldi, will present this year’s Gordon Athol Anderson Memorial Lecture for The University of New England.

Reinhard Strohm (pictured here) is Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford. His lecture, in Armidale Town Hall at 7.30 pm on Thursday 28 September, is titled “Late-medieval sacred songs: tradition, memory, history”.

An authority on late-medieval music and its social context, he is the author of Music in Late Medieval Bruges (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985) and The Rise of European Music (1380-1500) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). He is the author, editor or co-editor of six other published books, and has published many scholarly essays on subjects ranging from 18th century Italian opera to modernist/postmodernist debates in musical historiography. He describes The Rise of European Music (1380-1500) as “a large-scale exploration of the emergence and meaning of ‘European’ music (as distinguished from merely regional musics within Europe) and its shared traditions, structures, aesthetics and institutional practices”.

His lecture next Thursday will be based on the observation that the sacred songs of the European Middle Ages are known to us both as a musical presence through tradition and as objects of historical reconstruction. “To cite one witness,” he notes, “the Internet records more instances of ‘In dulci jubilo’ than of all the works by Josquin des Prez taken together.”

The lecture is free, and everyone is welcome. It will be followed by supper in the Town Hall foyer. To assist with catering, please let the organisers know (by Tuesday 26 September) that you are planning to attend by phoning (02) 6773 2768, or e-mail: tjames@une.edu.au.

Professor Strohm was Lecturer then Reader in Music at King’s College, University of London, from 1975 to 1983, Professor of Musicology at Yale University from 1983 to 1990, and Reader then Professor of Historical Musicology at King’s College, University of London, from 1990 to 1996, before taking up his present position in 1996.

Professor Gordon Anderson, after whom the lecture series is named, was the first Australian academic to make an international impact on the study of medieval music. He held a personal Chair in Music at UNE from 1979 until his death in 1981. UNE inaugurated the Gordon Athol Anderson lecture series in 1983, and it has continued every year since then.

This year’s Gordon Athol Anderson Memorial Lecture has been timed to coincide with the 29th National Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia (MSA), being held in Armidale from 27 September to 1 October, hosted jointly by UNE and the Northern NSW Chapter of MSA.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 01:39 PM

International experts survey new horizons of children’s literacy

September 20, 2006

Influential educationists from around the world will meet at The University of New England next week to discuss approaches to literacy education that embrace new communication technologies.

Delegates from universities in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the UK and the United States, as well as from around Australia, will take part in the conference from Wednesday 27 to Friday 29 September. They will discuss topics such as: “Information and communication technology and literacy learning for primary classrooms”, “visual literacy and children’s picture books”, and “Web-based children’s educational games”.

UNE’s Centre for Research in English and Multiliteracies Education is hosting the conference. The Director of the Centre, Professor Len Unsworth (pictured here), said it would examine “how new technologies allow language and images to make meanings in distinctive ways”.

Titled “Multimodal Texts and Multiliteracies”, the meeting – the 2006 National Conference of the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association (in cooperation with the local branch of the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association) – will involve the presentation of more than 80 papers. “It will bring together eminent people from different but related fields,” Professor Unsworth said – “people who have been responsible for policy directions and literacy education frameworks in schools both here and abroad. They will provide the ‘big picture’ view that’s needed for the continuing enhancement of literacy education.”

For more information on the conference, and registration details, go to: http://www.une.edu.au/campus/confco/asfla2006.

The plenary speakers will include Professor Theo van Leeuwen from the University of Technology, Sydney (an international authority on “reading images”), Professor Jim Martin from the University of Sydney (whose work on text types underpins the K-6 English syllabus in NSW), Professor Peter Freebody from the University of Queensland (renowned as one of the authors of the “four resources” model of literacy learning), and Professor John Stephens, Professor of Children’s Literature at Macquarie University.

“It’s necessary for teachers – and parents – to understand the emerging world of ‘the Net generation’,” Professor Unsworth said. “Children benefit from an adult, ethical ‘take’ on what they’re doing in their digital communication world.”

Len Unsworth, UNE’s Professor of English and Multiliteracies Education, received a national award from the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop, last month for his work with teachers and teacher educators on enhancing the literacy skills of Australian schoolchildren. His work has focused on the integration of well-established and innovative teaching strategies - for example, the integration of the traditional focus on printed books and the contemporary fascination with computer-based material. His most recently-published book is E-literature for Children: Enhancing digital literacy learning. In the concluding session of the conference, Professor Unsworth will relate the insights and experience of the presenters to the results of his own research.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 11:41 AM

'Folk hero' unmasked for History Week

September 19, 2006

Several public events at The University of New England during History Week (16-24 September) will celebrate the role of history and historians in Australian society and culture.

On Wednesday 20 September, eight Armidale-based historians will come together to explore some “Frontiers of Australian History”. One of these “frontier” studies will deal with the legendary Sammy Cox, the “2nd Earl of St Vincent”, who died in 1891 at the Invalid Depot in Launceston, Tasmania, at the age of 117.

UNE historian Dr Andrew Piper (pictured here) will explore the career of Sammy Cox, an historical figure of the northern Tasmanian town of Carrick, who, far from being an heroic survivor of disinheritance, abandonment, shipwreck, and Aboriginal adoption, was a fugitive from a past tainted with paedophilia.

Dr Piper will explain how Sammy Cox’s fabricated personal history is still uncritically accepted and celebrated in Tasmanian folklore and popular culture. “It’s perpetuated in book after book,” he said, “and names such as the ‘Sammy Cox Bistro’ crop up in Tasmanian pubs. My talk will be a kind of warning – a warning about the dangers of disseminating ‘historical facts’ without the backing of historical research.”

“Frontiers of Australian History II” will be in Lecture Theatre 111 in UNE’s Education Building from 2 pm to 5 pm on Wednesday 20 September. Each of the eight speakers will talk for 10-15 minutes, and there will be time for questions and a forum for the exchange of information and ideas. Some of the other topics include the recording of oral history, significant figures in the history of education, women in colonial history, and “archaeology, myth and history”. (“Frontiers of Australian History I”, held at UNE during History Week last year, attracted an enthusiastic audience of about 70 people.)

Everyone is welcome to this event, and to a lecture on Friday 22 September titled “Historians in the Court Room”. Ann Curthoys, Manning Clark Professor of History at the Australian National University, will give this lecture at 9.15 am in Lecture Theatre A2 in UNE’s Arts Building.

“Mabo and Native Title legislation have led to an increased use of history – and, more specifically, of historians as expert witnesses – in the courts,” Professor Curthoys says. “Moreover, in the last 10 years history became crucial in a number of other cases involving Indigenous litigants. My paper reports on what happened when historians encountered the legal system.”

History Week is coordinated throughout the State by the History Council of NSW. (For a full program go to: http://www.historycouncilnsw.org.au.) The events described above are part of an Armidale-wide History Week program organised by UNE's School of Classics, History and Religion and the New England Writers' Centre. For more information on the UNE events, contact Dr Frank Bongiorno in the School of Classics, History and Religion on (02) 6773 2088.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 11:22 AM

Honours for UNE agricultural economists

September 18, 2006

Two agricultural economists from The University of New England have been made Distinguished Fellows of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES).

Professor Roley Piggott (pictured) and Emeritus Professor Brian Hardaker were recognised at the society's annual conference in Coffs Harbour. The fellowships are awarded to “members or individuals in recognition continuous contribution to agricultural and resource economics and/or the society's activities”.

Also awarded a Distinguished Fellowship was Neil Sturgess, a graduate of UNE and consultant with Read Sturgess and Associates, a firm well known for its studies of natural resource management issues.

There are only about 20 AARES Distinguished Fellows in Australia, and that the three newest are all closely associated with The University of New England “is a reflection of the status of the profession at UNE”, according to Professor Piggott.

“It is quite amazing to see where some of our graduates have got to over the years,” he said.

Professor Piggott and Professor Hardaker earned their fellowships through decades of continuous involvement in the education of agricultural economists. Both are former presidents of the AARES and both have served as editors of the society's journal.

“It is very gratifying for me to receive this recognition,” Professor Hardaker said. “I came to Australia in 1967 from the UK. This fellowship makes me feel truly accepted by the Australian profession.”

Posted by Leon Braun at 04:12 PM

Geoffrey Blainey to give public lecture at UNE

September 15, 2006

Professor Geoffrey Blainey AO, one of Australia’s best-known social and economic historians, will give a free public lecture at The University of New England next week.

Professor Blainey (pictured here) is the author of more than 30 books, including The Tyranny of Distance, Triumph of the Nomads, A Short History of Australia, Black Kettle and Full Moon, and the best-selling A Short History of the World. He will deliver the Russel Ward Lecture in the Services UNE Function Centre at 5.30 pm on Tuesday 19 September. The lecture, titled “A New Look at Captain Cook: Some Reflections on Australian History”, will revisit some familiar moments in Australian history and examine the way we interpret them.

The distinguished historian Alan Atkinson, who is based at UNE as a Professorial Fellow, invited Professor Blainey to come to Armidale to give the lecture. “Geoff Blainey has contributed an enormous amount to our understanding of Australian history over a very long career,” Professor Atkinson said, “so that he now has a unique standing as a scholar in the field.

“At times he has been controversial, but he has always made a point of sticking to his guns. He also has a high reputation for nurturing the work of younger scholars. He began as an economic historian, with an expertise especially in the history of mining and banking, but he began to branch out at an early age, and his latest forays into the history of the world, including social, cultural and spiritual history, have been remarkably successful. He is a brilliant writer, with a knack for giving a wider significance to the way people of all kinds live their daily lives, and especially the way they make their living.”

Professor Blainey has been Professor of Economic History and Ernest Scott Professor of History at the University of Melbourne, and Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University in the United States. He has been Chair of the Australia Council, the Australia-China Council, and the National Council for the Centenary of Federation, and Chancellor of the University of Ballarat. Most recently he was a member of the “History Summit” that met in Canberra to discuss the place of history in the school curriculum. He is one of the few Australians whose biographies appear in Encyclopaedia Britannica.

He was awarded the Order of Australia in 1975.

For more information on the lecture, phone (02) 6773 3067.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 02:52 PM

UNE participates in launch of high-speed network

September 14, 2006

The University of New England was one of three Australian universities involved in an interactive event yesterday that marked the launch of the third generation of the high-speed communications network linking universities and research institutions around Australia.

UNE's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Pettigrew, and children from Ben Venue Public School in Armidale and Deepwater Public School participated in the event, which was centred on Parliament House in Canberra. The Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop, spoke from there.

“The Australian government recognises the benefits of having our best and brightest minds connected across the nation and around the world,” Ms Bishop said. Thanks to AARNET, Ms Bishop said, Australian surgeons would be able to conduct operations in Australia while consulting with colleagues overseas and Australian musicians would be able to rehearse with musicians on the other side of the world.

“This will be a critical foundation, not only for cutting-edge research, but for the future of our children in teaching and learning,” she said.

The Armidale school children joined children at Charles Sturt University in an interactive performance of marimba music. There was also interaction with the CSIRO radiotelescope at Parkes, and a doctor in Japan demonstrated surgical training techniques.

High-speed Internet infrastructure was “absolutely crucial” for UNE to deliver its more that 300 online units to distance education students, Professor Pettigrew said. He singled out animal genetics and spatial imaging as two areas the new network would be employed by UNE.

“These are all very important areas where AARNET will help us,” he said.

Posted by Leon Braun at 02:37 PM

Seminar to discuss UNE's 'built and landscape heritage'

September 14, 2006

A special seminar at The University of New England tomorrow [Friday 15 September] will take a fresh look at the natural and cultural heritage of the University’s grounds and surroundings.

The seminar, organised through UNE’s Heritage Futures Research Centre (HFRC), will be chaired by two HFRC researchers: archaeologist Dr Pam Watson and historian Dr Andrew Piper (both pictured here). It is scheduled to run from 2 pm to 4 pm in the School of Human and Environmental Studies.

The Director of HFRC, Dr David Roberts, said the seminar, titled “Built and Landscape Heritage of UNE”, would “explore the human, historical and cultural values embedded in the heritage landscape of the whole UNE campus and its immediate surrounds – from the foot of Mt Duval and Laureldale south to the Bypass, and including the Newling Centre and other buildings associated with the former Armidale College of Advanced Education".

“We aim to explore and discuss a variety of perspectives on the value and management of this unique, significant and beautiful landscape, which is in so many ways a focus for the people of New England and for countless others who have come here for a multitude of reasons,” Dr Roberts continued.

Associate Professor John Ryan will talk about significant landscape changes at UNE since 1965, Dr Robert Haworth will discuss “heritage vegetation layouts”, Bill Oates, the University Archivist, will give a short presentation on “researching UNE heritage in the Regional Archives”, and Dr Nicole McLennan, the University Curator, will discuss the heritage of the Newling Campus. Naomi Nielsen, Deputy Director of Facilities Management Services at UNE will outline the University’s planning process in the context of heritage, and heritage consultants Lee Scott and John Carr will talk about a conservation management plan for selected sites on campus. A general discussion will follow these short talks.

Dr Piper said it was important for all institutions to move into the future on a firm foundation of “knowing where they came from”. “As Australia’s oldest regional university,” he said “this is particularly important for UNE. Despite good work in the past – and the present – we still need to get a clear idea of the University’s heritage in its entirety. Such an understanding could only support and enhance our teaching and research in the area of cultural heritage.”

The seminar will be in Room EO2_HES2. Everyone is welcome. For more information, contact Dr Andrew Piper on (02) 6773 2764.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 01:20 PM

Young 'bards' see their works staged at UNE

September 13, 2006

The winning entrants in a newly-established competition for school-age playwrights saw their works acted before an appreciative audience at The University of New England on Friday evening [8 September].

The presentation of the three dramatic monologues followed the announcement, earlier in the evening, of the prize winners in the inaugural UNE School Drama Monologue Prize (UNESDP) competition. The UNESDP awards evening was held in UNE's Arts Theatre.

First prize ($200) went to Alexandra Hahn, who is in Year 10 at Lismore High School. Her monologue, titled The Gift, presents an old woman reminiscing about her childhood. It was directed by Martin Mantle and performed by Kate Coward.

Roxy Seater, who is in Year 12 at Coffs Harbour High School, won second prize ($150) for In the Blood, directed by Jo Drake and performed by Nindy Meyer-Gleaves; Ross Murray - The Armidale School, Year 12 - won third prize ($100) with Numero Uno, directed by Peter O'Donohue and performed by Nick Curnow.

Alexandra Hahn and Roxy Seater, together with their families, travelled to Armidale from Lismore and Coffs Harbour for the UNESDP awards evening. "It was a wonderful experience for each of the playwrights to see their piece interpreted by a director and performed by an actor," said the competition's organiser, Dr Lynn Everett. "A play can be interpreted in so many ways, and there is always the possibility that the author will see their work in a new light - perhaps seeing aspects of it that they didn't know were there." She explained that the actors of the monologues were all Theatre Studies students at UNE, while the three directors were all affiliated with the University.

Dr Everett, Lecturer in Drama Education in UNE's School of Education, said that Roxy Seater (second prize) and Ross Murray (third prize) had performed their own monologues for their Higher School Certificate Drama assessment, but that the winning monologue, by Alexandra Hahn, had never been performed before. "The standard of the pieces was very high," she said.

Speaking during the awards evening, Dr Everett said: "It is my hope that the establishment of the UNE drama prize will present many opportunities. For the young writers who enter their work, it is an opportunity to see their script performed in front of an audience - perhaps for the first time. The monologues they write may be a trial for something bigger; they may contain a seed - the germ of an idea - that is later developed into a full-length playscript. It is an opportunity for these young writers to be celebrated and encouraged in their creative endeavours."

"It is also my hope that the drama prize will continue to foster strong relationships between UNE and the schools in the region," she continued. "This is the first UNE drama monologue prize, but I'm sure it will be the first of many." She thanked the Executive Dean of UNE's Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies, Professor Victor Minichiello, and the School of Education for their support.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows (from left) Ross Murray (third prize, The Armidale School), Nick Curnow (UNE actor), Alexandra Hahn (first prize, Lismore High School), Dr Lynn Everett, Kate Coward (UNE actor), Nindy Meyer-Gleaves (UNE actor), and Roxy Seater (second prize, Coffs Harbour High School).

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:05 PM

Linguist to speak on the “hybridity” of the Israeli language

September 12, 2006

An eminent Israeli linguist will argue that the language spoken in Israel today is a composite of several languages, rather than a revival of biblical Hebrew, when he gives a talk at the University of New England on Friday, September 15.

According to Dr Ghil'ad Zuckermann (pictured) the Israeli language is a comparatively young language that combines elements of Hebrew and Yiddish, as well as other languages such as Russian and Polish. Thus, Dr Zuckermann argues, the term “Israeli” is clearly a more appropriate name for the language than “Israeli Hebrew”, “Modern Hebrew” or “Hebrew”.

“Although revivalists have engaged in a campaign for linguistic purity, the language they created often mirrors the very hybridity and cultural differences they sought to erase,” Dr Zuckermann said.

“The study of Israeli casts light on the dynamics between language and culture in general and in particular into the role of language as a source of collective self-perception. When one revives a language, even at best one should expect to end up with a hybrid. Israeli is a hybridic layered language, only partially engineered. Whatever we choose to call it, we should acknowledge, and celebrate, its complexity.”

Dr Zuckermann has been a Gulbenkian Research Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, and a fellow at the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology at La Trobe University. He has held other research posts in the US, Italy and Japan, and has taught at universities in Israel, Singapore, the UK and the US. His numerous publications – in English, Israeli, Italian, Yiddish, Spanish, German and Russian – include the books Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew, published in 2003, and Hebrew as Myth, published in 2006.

The talk will begin at 1pm in Seminar Room 2 of the Psychology Building. For more information contact Dr Elizabeth Ellis on (02) 6773 3639.

Posted by Leon Braun at 02:05 PM

UNE Open Day: visitors informed and entertained

September 12, 2006

Open Day at The University of New England, Friday 8 September, attracted around 1,200 visitors. They came from as far afield as southern Queensland, as well as from throughout NSW.

Most of the visitors actively sought information about courses and enrolment at UNE, while all of them left with a better understanding of the University’s teaching and research achievements and its unique living-and-learning environment.

The day began with breakfast at the residential colleges, followed by guided tours of the residences themselves. UNE’s Residential System Manager, Michael Maas, said it had been a “very positive experience” for the visitors. “They had a chance to have a good look around, and to appreciate that college life offers a lot more than just accommodation,” Mr Maas said.

On the academic campus, Lazenby Hall was alive with enthusiasm as a throng of visitors sought information of all kinds from staff members stationed beside – and beneath – a colourful array of banners, posters and display boards.

The hall’s foyer housed scientific demonstrations and displays, including chemistry experiments and geological and zoological specimens.

Elsewhere there were introductory lectures on fields (and individual topics) of study, as well as short drama presentations in the Drama Theatre and “legal proceedings” in the Moot Court. Entertaining outdoor activities included rides on a mechanical bull, and fun with “sumo suits” and “gladiator jousts”. A parents’ information session was particularly well attended.

Visitors entered a prize draw and, at the end of the day, the Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, drew the winning entry. This belonged to Lawrence Proctor from Macksville, who won a portable MP3 player.

Staff members and visitors felt the day had been a successful blend of entertainment and information, allowing people to experience something of the excitement surrounding the pursuit of knowledge at tertiary-education level, and the special nature of this experience at UNE.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 09:23 AM

Official Secretary to give first-hand account of ‘the Dismissal’

September 11, 2006

Sir David Smith KCVO AO, who was Official Secretary to five Governors-General of Australia, will tell the real story of the dismissal of the Whitlam government in a talk at The University of New England this week.

Sir David’s UNE talk, titled “The Dismissal: the Real Truth of the Matter”, will be one of three he will give during a visit to Armidale on Wednesday and Thursday (September 13 and 14). He will give these talks on behalf of the Constitution Education Fund – Australia (CEF-A).

Sir David Smith (pictured here) joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1953. He was Private Secretary to the Minister for the Interior and the Minister for Works in two Menzies governments from 1958 to 1963; Secretary to the Federal Executive Council and head of the Government Branch, Parliamentary and Government Division, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1971 to 1973; Official Secretary to the Governors-General Sir Paul Hasluck, Sir John Kerr, Sir Zelman Cowen, Sir Ninian Stephen, and Bill Hayden from 1973 to 1990, and the first Secretary of the Order of Australia from 1975 to 1990.

He was appointed as a delegate to the 1998 Constitutional Convention, and as a member of the official No Case Committee for the 1999 constitutional referendum. Bill Hayden launched Sir David’s book, titled Head of State: the Governor-General, the Monarchy, the Republic and the Dismissal, after its publication in November 2005.

The UNE talk will be in the Dining Hall at Earle Page College at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 13 September. On Thursday 14 September he will speak on “The Constitution Education Fund: a Bipartisan National Project” at 12 noon at the Uniting Church, and on “The Governor-General and the Constitution” at 7.30 pm at Dorothy Knox Hall, PLC Armidale. Everyone is welcome to all the talks. Admission is free, but CEF-A encourages silver-coin donations. Copies of Head of State will be on sale at all three venues.

Sir David was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1977 and an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1986. Shortly before his retirement in 1990 he was knighted by the Queen as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in a private investiture at Balmoral Castle. He is a Visiting Scholar in the Faculty of Law at the Australian National University.

For more information on Sir David's talk at Earle Page College, contact the College on (02) 6773 5300.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 10:35 AM

Young researcher gives crayfish industry some good news

September 08, 2006

Experiments conducted by a young researcher from The University of New England have produced results that could help to boost production in Australia's freshwater crayfish industry.

Honours student Karen Willows (pictured here) has shown that rearing yabbies in outdoor ponds or dams has better outcomes than keeping them in temperature-controlled indoor aquaria. Most significantly, the yabbies kept outside grew faster than those kept in the indoor tanks.

She has also shown that yabbies grow just as quickly on a diet of 20 per cent protein as they do on a more expensive diet of 30 per cent protein.

"Both of these results were rather unexpected," Ms Willows said. "We thought there would be quicker growth in the temperature-controlled environment (a constant 25 degrees) and with the more protein-rich diet. Our preconceptions reflected some of the current thinking within the industry itself." She believes that her results could help pave the way to a cost-effective and productive future for a fledgling Australian industry with great potential.

Ms Willows undertook the research as a Bachelor of Science (Honours) project, supervised by UNE Senior Lecturer Dr Ian Godwin. She monitored the growth of 196 juvenile yabbies (Cherax destructor), reared under differing experimental conditions, over a period of two months. She bred the yabbies and conducted the experiments at CSIRO Livestock Industries' F.D. McMaster Laboratory near Armidale, where a yabby breeding program has produced a faster-growing strain. The Laboratory's Officer-in-Charge, Dr Ian Purvis, co-supervised her work. "To monitor the yabbies in the pond, I had to row out in a kayak," Ms Willows said. "They were kept in cages - the same as the ones in the indoor aquaria - and at a depth of 90 cm."

Her experimental procedures and conclusions so impressed the 80 delegates at an international "astacology" (freshwater crayfish culture) conference in Queensland last month that they voted her paper the "best student presentation". Her findings are being published in the Proceedings of the conference - the 16th Biennial Symposium of the International Association of Astacology - and she is hoping for an even wider audience through publication in a leading aquaculture journal. A paper by another yabby researcher at UNE, PhD student Rod Duffy, was voted one of the four best presentations at the conference.

Ms Willows pointed out that there are 120 known species of freshwater crayfish in Australia, and more are still being discovered. "The industry - although small - is growing," she said. "However, a lot more research needs to be done. Our present knowledge of nutrition is not sufficient to support an intensive hatchery system."

Her own discoveries have added to that knowledge, showing that a diet lower in protein than the currently recommended 25 per cent is sufficient for optimum growth. Also, being kept in outdoor ponds gives the crayfish access to water-borne organisms that supplement their diet and boost their growth. This - and other benefits of more natural living conditions - contributed to the fact that there were only half as many deaths among the outdoor yabbies as among their aquarium-raised counterparts.

"I hope these findings will be of use to an Australian industry that - judging from the reports of overseas delegates to the conference - has enormous potential," she said.

For more information, contact Karen Willows on 0413 515 214.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:52 PM

Tony Windsor to launch UNE Economics Society

September 07, 2006

The Federal Member for New England, Tony Windsor, who holds an Economics degree from The University of New England, will officially launch the UNE Economics Society on the University's annual Open Day - Friday 8 September.

The launch will be at 2.30 pm in Booloominbah. Earlier in the day (11 am in Lecture Theatre 5, Faculty of Economics, Business and Law), Mr Windsor (pictured here) will take part in a UNE Economics Society presentation titled "The Visible Hands". He will speak about the benefits of studying economics at UNE, while members of the Society will talk about the careers available to economics graduates. "The Visible Hands" is one of a number of Open Day presentations on particular areas of study; others include business studies (Dillon Lecture Theatre, 10.30 am), nursing (Patricia O'Shane Building, 10.30 am and 12 noon), psychology (Paul Barratt Lecture Theatre, 1 pm), and law (Dillon Lecture Theatre, 1 pm). The UNE Law Students' Society will present "Loving Law at UNE" in the Dillon Lecture Theatre at 1.30 pm, and there will be a series of short lectures, titled "Turn Up to Get Turned On" in the Education Building between 10 am and 2 pm.

Professor Roley Piggott, Executive Dean of UNE's Faculty of Economics, Business and Law, said he was "delighted with the formation of the UNE Economics Society". "The Faculty now has student societies for each of the disciplinary areas represented in its name," Professor Piggott said. "There are very important roles that student societies can play, ranging from participation in School and Faculty governance through to assisting its members with career planning. I wish the Society well, and I look forward to working with its Executive for the benefit of its members."

Giles Dickenson-Jones, President of the UNE Economics Society, said it was one of the fastest-growing student societies on campus. "The Society is open to all those studying economics, agricultural economics, agribusiness and economics majors," he said. "Associate membership is available to all those interested, including UNE alumni. We are dedicated to providing our members with access to many opportunities designed to enhance their UNE experience."

Mr Dickenson-Jones said those opportunities included social functions, career information, and networking opportunities. "The Society encourages its members to develop personal networks that will last a lifetime," he said. "This is achieved through regular social functions and the internationally accessible discussion group."

Membership also gives its members access to academic support services, the Society's economics library and lounge, and opportunities for paid tutoring work within the local community.

For more information, go to: http://www.une.edu.au/ues, or ring Giles Dickenson-Jones on (02) 6773 1002 or 0439 472 603.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:48 PM

Koalas endorse UNE's work for the environment

September 07, 2006

A koala, peacefully ambling along a footpath at the heart of the academic campus, gives silent testimony to the diversity of the natural environment at The University of New England.

Scenes such as that pictured here are not uncommon at UNE. An event at the University today aims not only at ensuring their continuation, but also at consolidating the University’s role as a focus for environmental awareness throughout the wider community.

Called “Biodiversity – research and action at UNE”, the day-long event coincides with National Threatened Species Day, September 7. (September, too, is “Biodiversity Month”.) One of the organisers of the event, Professor Andrew Boulton, explained that National Threatened Species Day had been established in 1996 to commemorate the death in a Hobart zoo, 60 years earlier, of the last Tasmanian tiger in captivity.

Professor Boulton, from Ecosystem Management at UNE, is Chair of UNE’s Talloires Committee, which monitors the University’s work towards an environmentally sustainable future. Last year UNE signed the Talloires Declaration, which commits universities around the world to work towards that goal. Professor Boulton titled his opening comments at today’s event “From Tigers to Talloires”.

UNE researchers working in a variety of fields related to biodiversity are giving presentations during the day. These include, in the morning, talks on birds, fungi, insects, and marine organisms.

“Many staff and students at UNE work on biodiversity and threatened species,” Professor Boulton said. “Although the concept of biodiversity is primarily biological, there is also value in diversity at a range of levels. Threats to these other forms of diversity (e.g. cultural, ideological and educational diversity) potentially endanger biodiversity conservation through human apathy and ignorance.” The afternoon’s presentations focus on more general issues of environmental sustainability, and modifications of human behaviour necessary to achieve that end.

The visiting guest speaker is Dr David Carpenter, Environmental Manager of ANUgreen, the Australian National University’s award-winning environmental management program working to reduce the environmental impact of ANU’s research and teaching.

About 60 people, including members of the Southern New England Landcare Group and the NSW Department of Natural Resources as well as UNE academic staff and students, are taking part in today’s event in the Marnie Yeates Room in Mary White College. It is scheduled to end shortly after 4 pm.

Among the audience are Year 11 and 12 students from most Armidale high schools. Professor Boulton pointed out that the signing of the Talloires Declaration commits universities to helping the development of environmental awareness among school students.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 11:52 AM

Global reach of UNE research includes reintroduction of wolves

September 06, 2006

Groundbreaking research by Professor David Brunckhorst from The University of New England has led – among other things – to the successful reintroduction of wolves on rangelands in the American States of Idaho and Montana.

Professor Brunckhorst is the Director of UNE’s Institute for Rural Futures (IRF) and the Director of the UNESCO Institute for Bioregional Resource Management. His work on “bioregional planning” developed in part from a land management and conservation project in South Australia’s Murray Riverland that involved collaborations across 9,000 square kilometers of grazing and public land representing nine different tenure types. The project, known as “Bookmark Biosphere”, was highlighted as a case study in Jared Diamond’s recent book Collapse.

This led to projects in Australia and overseas, including a cross-property grazing and conservation experiment on the New England Tablelands described in Re-inventing the Common (Federation Press, 2003) and a project with collaborating groups of ranchers and the US Bureaus of Land Management and National Forests in Idaho and Montana that involved the reintroduction of wolves.

“The Lava Lake Land and Livestock group in southern Idaho, for example, manages almost 760,000 acres of public and private land for sheep and cattle ranching, conservation, and river restoration,” Professor Brunckhorst said. “A component of the conservation and stream restoration has included reintroduction of the wolf – along with adopting new ways of managing livestock grazing to avoid the wolves.” (These management strategies include keeping stock in tight groups, giving them long grazing rotations, and protecting them at night with temporary electric fencing.)

“The wolves keep large native herbivores such as elk from ‘camping’ on – and degrading – stream-side vegetation,” he explained, “and, to everyone’s delight, livestock losses to wolves have been insignificant with the use of different grazing management techniques. However, some of the keys to success include good communication, planning, and clear rules of engagement designed – and upheld – by all the collaborating parties.”

Professor Brunckhorst recently visited some of the collaborating ranches. “The ranchers had adapted well to managing their stock differently,” he said, “and were pleased with the way their streams and wetlands were regenerating as a result of the reintroduction of wolves.”

Karen Launchbaugh, Professor of Rangeland Ecology and Management at the University of Idaho, and Dr Mike Scott, Leader of the Federal US Fish and Wildlife Service research program, said: “The Australian-based IRF and Professor Brunckhorst lead the world in this kind of truly groundbreaking research. Having searched far and wide, we know of no other visionary and insightful amalgamation of applied research into useable policy and practical application for our rangelands.”

The European Union and Canada, as well as the United States, are interested in another IRF innovation: the "eco-civic" methodology for delineating regional boundaries. This is a mapping technique that couples rural residents’ understanding of their “community of interest”, social interactions and local landscape with the ecological resource base of each region. This allows local and regional boundaries to be drawn around areas of highest collective interest to residents and communities while incorporating a common resource base.

The “communities of interest” component of an “eco-civic” regionalisation plan for NSW, developed at IRF, has already been used as input to a revision of NSW State electoral areas. “More effective local government areas nested in natural resource management and regional planning regions could also be designed,” Professor Brunckhorst said. “Canadian and European officials have recognised important implications in this scheme for designing more efficient and effective government service delivery in regional planning, natural resources management, and community services.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:37 PM

UNE graduate wins national ‘young executive’ award

September 05, 2006

The Australian Financial Review’s AFR BOSS magazine has named 32-year-old Ben Fargher, Chief Executive Officer of the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), among its six “Young Executives of the Year” for 2006.

A Churchill Fellow, Mr Fargher (pictured here) has a Master’s degree in economics from The University of New England (where he was a resident of the University’s Robb College) and a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree from the University of Adelaide, as well as a diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He joined the NFF in 1999, and held the positions of Senior Policy Manager (Trade), Director of Rural Policy, and Secretary of the Australian Farmers’ Fighting Fund before becoming Chief Executive Officer in February 2005.

The six award winners, all under 35 years of age, were chosen for a range of outstanding qualities – including those of leadership.

Mr Fargher said he hoped his award would help to demonstrate that modern Australian farming was a “vibrant, dynamic sector”, and pointed out that Australia’s farmers had achieved a higher rate of productivity growth than any other sector of the national economy over the past 10 years.

He said that young people had “a bright future” in agriculture, and that many of them were “coming back to the family farm, bringing with them new ideas and technologies that embrace environmental sustainability”. “They want to be part of a growing sector that is renowned as a world leader,” he explained.

Michael Maas, Master of UNE’s Robb College, said he and the College had been delighted to hear of Mr Fargher’s award. “We are very proud of our Robb College alumni,” he said, “and the positive impact many of them are making at local, national, and international levels.”

Mr Maas said the College’s next opportunity to celebrate those achievements would be the annual Robb College Rural Focus Dinner and Lecture on Tuesday 12 September, when the keynote speaker would be Robb alumnus Tom Keene, Managing Director of GrainCorp.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the lecture, which is scheduled for 8 pm, but should book through the College office on (02) 6773 1700.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 12:59 PM

Humour scholars to take on 'funny' subject

September 04, 2006

Comedian Mikey Robins might be the headline act, but don't let that fool you - the Australian and New Zealand Humour, Health and Education Conference at The University of New England is going to be serious stuff.

The keynote speakers at the conference - from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 October - will include three of Australia's top humour scholars, as well as comedians Rachel Berger, Fiona O'Loughlin and Mikey Robins. And they won't just be standing around telling jokes. Topics for discussion will include whether laughter is good for your health and how humour can be used to help schoolteachers connect with their students. The conference Web site is: http://fehps.une.edu.au/health/humour/conference.

"Humour is a really 'funny' kind of a subject (no pun intended)," said the conference organiser, Angie Smith, a lecturer in The University of New England's School of Health. "There are a whole lot of people who believe laughter is an absolute science. But although research has been done on it, a lot of it probably hasn't been as rigorous as it should have been. Despite this, there is a huge humour-and-health movement, and the people involved believe humour improves health."

Ms Smith said interest in the health benefits of laughter had "exploded" over the past few years and cited the emergence of laughter clubs as evidence of the widespread belief that tickling your funny bone is good for you. This modern laughter movement began with Dr Madan Kataria, an Indian physician whose "laughter yoga" techniques are now practised in 5,000 laughter clubs in 40 countries. There are more than 20 laughter clubs in NSW alone.

"These clubs are springing up all over the world," Ms Smith said. "They're not based on jokes, but on laughter. These people are really insistent that laughter is good for your health." While research had shown that laughter created positive physical effects, she said, the jury was still out on its long-term benefits. "We hope this conference will help to sort out the real effects from the imagined ones."

Health is not the only area where humour is thought to make a difference. Schoolteachers are being encouraged to "lighten up" their lessons in order to engage students. Far from being a distraction, it seems clowning around in the classroom may actually help students to learn. "Engagement is vital in education, and the belief is that humour can help," Ms Smith explained. "There is a big movement to get teachers to use humour in the classroom. If it is indeed the case [that humour aids learning], then all of us ought to be using it."

She said the conference would look at how comedians use humour to tackle serious subjects. "Comedians are interested to come and discuss the social issues they are able to address in their acts. Comedy has changed. Comics are much more likely to raise serious issues in their comedy, such as sexual assault, poverty, and mental illness. Comedians break down taboos and get people to talk about things they would never dare to usually."

The conference will also feature comedic performances, a youth stream for high-school students that will include oral presentations, and workshops to develop skills in various types of comendy including radio humour and stand-up comedy.

For more information go to the conference Web site or contact Angie Smith on
(02) 6773 3676.

Posted by Leon Braun at 03:24 PM

'Get turned on' at a top-ranking university

September 01, 2006

Visitors to The University of New England on Open Day – Friday 8 September – will gain an insight into why UNE has been ranked among “the top 100 Asia Pacific universities”.

At a series of short lectures titled “Turn Up to Get Turned On”, they will experience something of the spirit of intellectual adventure at UNE that led to this recent accolade. The lectures, between 10 am and 2 pm in UNE’s Education Building, will include introductions to sociology, philosophy, physiology, languages and linguistics, and political and international studies. They will also include demonstrations of the use of fluorescence in biophysics, and the art of Chinese calligraphy.

The 2006 SJTU Academic Ranking of World Universities (“Shanghai Ranking”), which also places UNE among “the world’s top 500 universities”, was published at about the same time as The Good Universities Guide for 2007. Open Day will give visitors plenty of opportunity, too, to get a feeling for why UNE has once again achieved top rating for “educational experience” (which includes “teaching quality”) in the Guide.

UNE’s unique residential system is an important ingredient in the “UNE experience”, and Open Day will begin at 7.30 am with breakfast in the residential colleges (for those who book ahead by phoning the UNE Conference Company on 6773 3370) followed by tours of the residences. Between 9.30 am and 2.30 pm visitors can talk to staff members in UNE’s Lazenby Hall about everything from course and study-mode options to scholarships, residential options, and student support services. There will be an information session for parents at 10.30 am in the Bistro. Free shuttle buses will run throughout the day, and campus tours from 10.30 am till 2 pm.

The Open Day program includes presentations on particular areas of study – including business studies, nursing, economics, law, and psychology. Tony Windsor, the Federal Member for New England and a UNE graduate, will speak during the economics presentation at 11 am in the Dillon Lecture Theatre. At 2.30 pm Mr Windsor will launch the newly-formed UNE Economics Society in Booloominbah. (For more information on the Economics Society contact Giles Dickenson-Jones on 6773 1002 or 0439 472 603.)

Theatre students will present performances in the Drama Studio at about 11.15 and 11.45 am, the Moot Court in the School of Law will be alive with “legal proceedings” between 12 noon and 1 pm, and entertaining outdoor activities will include rides on a mechanical bull, fun with “sumo suits” and “gladiator jousts”, and a free barbecue lunch.

Everyone with an interest in the University – including, of course, prospective students – is invited to Open Day. For more information, and program details, go to:
http://www.une.edu.au/news/openday.htm, or ring 1800 818 865.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:22 PM