School study reveals conditions for 'exceptional outcomes'

September 28, 2007

Seven books that analyse the conditions leading to "exceptional outcomes" in secondary education are being delivered to every high school in NSW.

The books are the result of a four-year study, conducted by researchers from the University of New England (UNE), the University of Western Sydney (UWS), and the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET), with funding of more than $1 million from the Australian Research Council and DET.

The project leader, UNE's Professor John Pegg, said that one important finding of the study was the strong link between exceptional outcomes for students and effective teamwork among teachers. "When teachers in a team share resources, discuss issues, support each other, and mentor colleagues there is a consistently positive impact on educational outcomes," Professor Pegg said. "People looking at such a team from the outside would see it as a 'family'."

Professor Pegg, the Director of the National Centre of Science, ICT and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR), based at UNE, said that every secondary school in NSW would get copies of the seven books designed to inform teachers about the results of the study.

The books, known collectively as the "AESOP Series" (from the name of the project – "An Exceptional Schooling Outcomes Project"), include volumes on exceptional outcomes in English, ESL/literacy, mathematics and science education, exceptional equity and student welfare programs, and leadership for exceptional educational outcomes. They were launched in Sydney earlier this month by the NSW Minister for Education and Training, John Della Bosca and the NSW Director General of Education, Michael Coutts-Trotter.

Professor Pegg said that the project had focused on educational outcomes for students in Years 7-10. "Using data from all 458 secondary and central schools in NSW, we selected a sample of schools to visit," he explained. "Research teams comprising academics from UNE and UWS and personnel from NSW DET spent a week in each of these schools, visiting more than 40 sites in 23 districts throughout the State where outstanding student learning outcomes were occurring."

He said that the common factors behind these outstanding outcomes included highly-qualified and experienced staff, well-structured lessons that maximise "time on task", a clear mission of high expectations for students supported by parents teachers and students alike, and teachers who care for students as learners and individuals.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 11:32 AM

Report aims at better, fairer environment laws

September 27, 2007

A report launched in Canberra yesterday recommends a major overhaul of environmental regulations to make them fairer and more effective.

The report, commissioned by the Australian Farm Institute and Land and Water Australia, documents the results of a year-long study by researchers at the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law (AgLaw Centre) at the University of New England.

"Regulations such as those relating to native vegetation need to be fairer," said Professor Paul Martin, the Director of the AgLaw Centre and the project's principal investigator. "We know we need to protect native vegetation, and, with climate change, it's going to get even more important. Using current approaches, however, the burden will fall on a small number of landowners. How do we make such laws more fair?"

"And how effective are the regulations designed to protect our coasts?" he continued. "We have lots and lots of law, but the long-term degradation of our estuaries and foreshores continues."

Professor Martin, who introduced the report during its launch at a seminar organised by the Australian Farm Institute, said the project had looked at "what kinds of regulation work efficiently, and the best processes for creating such regulations". "Our objective was to clear the way for reducing the complexity of environmental law and applying international best practice to creating regulation," he said.

He emphasised that the aim of the study was not "naive deregulation", but rather "making whatever level of regulatory constraint has been politically determined as appropriate and efficient as possible".

Other speakers at the seminar were Charles Burke, the Vice-President of the National Farmers' Federation, and Sue Holmes, Assistant Commissioner with the Productivity Commission. The report is expected to complement – and contribute to – an inquiry into rural regulation being conducted by the Productivity Commission.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 10:27 AM

Opportunity for research on 'clever systems'

September 26, 2007

Researchers at the University of New England are working with leading farm businesses in a project aimed at integrating modern spatial information into practical whole-farm management systems.

The UNE project, called "Clever Cattle and Cropping Systems" and funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information, is seeking a postgraduate researcher for a detailed study of the new technologies that provide such information, and how that information can fit into practical farm management.

The new technologies include satellite imaging, on-ground sensing of crop and pasture growth, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) that fly across fields to capture high-resolution data, and global positioning systems on the collars of grazing cattle (as pictured here).

One of the researchers on the project, Professor Jim Scott from UNE's Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems, said: "Although it's clear that spatial information captured through these new technologies has great potential to provide economic and environmental benefits, we need to understand how it can be employed most efficiently in farm decision making."

"This is an exciting area of interdisciplinary research," Professor Scott continued. "The successful applicant will be working with experts in precision agriculture, physics, biology, soil science and farming systems, along with leading-edge farmers hungry for the outcomes. If Australia is to become a 'clever country' we need talented young scientists in positions such as this."

The leader of the "Clever Cattle and Cropping Systems" project, UNE's Associate Professor David Lamb, said that some of the latest technology available to farm managers (including unmanned aerial vehicles and GPS cattle-tracking collars) would be on display during an Open Day at UNE's McMaster Research Station, Warialda, on October 19. "Agriculture is as much about new technologies as are the IT and medical sectors," Dr Lamb said.

For more information on the "Clever Cattle and Cropping Systems" project and the research position, contact Associate Professor David Lamb on (02) 6773 3565 (dlamb@une.edu.au) or Professor Jim Scott on (02) 6773 2436 (Jim.Scott@une.edu.au), or see details of the postgraduate position at: http://www.une.edu.au/csfs/postgrads.php.

For more information on the McMaster Research Station Open Day, contact Dr Chris Guppy on (02) 6773 3567 (cguppy@une.edu.au) or go to: http://www.une.edu.au/csfs/news/

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 10:03 AM

Lecture to reveal 'the gold mine under the bed'

September 25, 2007

Old family photos are "an historical gold mine". That's the message of a free public lecture to be presented tomorrow (Wednesday 26 September) as part of the Regional Conference of the Australian Historical Association (AHA) now under way at the University of New England.

Historians from throughout Australia are meeting at UNE for three days (September 24-26) to discuss the sources, uses, and presentation of history, as well as the stories themselves. Professor Alistair Thomson has travelled from Monash University in Melbourne to show some of the old photos he's been working on, and to discuss the historical information that they reveal. His talk, at 9 am tomorrow, titled "Family snapshots as historical evidence: life stories, family photographs and postwar Australian domestic life", will be presented as this year's AHA Anniversary Lecture.

Alistair Thomson (pictured here) is the co-author (with Jim Hammerton) of Ten Pound Poms: Australia's Invisible Migrants, published by Manchester University Press in 2005. Four women involved in that study – British migrants to Australia in the '50s and '60s – have given him collections of photos, letters and journals that, he says, "give detailed and intimate evidence about events and experiences, and changing relationships, attitudes and feelings, as they negotiated their way through migration and the dramatically shifting roles and expectations for women in each country".

During his talk, Professor Thomson will be showing about 30 of these photos and discussing what they do – and don't – reveal about home buying and building, the acquisition of new domestic technologies, housework, childcare and the division of labour within the home, the significance of the family car, and the role of the backyard.

"I hope that these four case studies will address more general questions about the type of evidence that is provided by family photographs and how we can best use photographs – alongside other sources – to understand the past and its changing meanings and significance in family lives," he said.

The AHA Anniversary Lecture is delivered each year by a distinguished historian on a subject considered to be of general interest to the local community as well as professional historians. Everyone is welcome to come to Professor Thomson's lecture, and to reflect on what he calls the "gold mine" of family photos still waiting to be brought out "from under the bed".

Tomorrow's free public lecture will be at Duval College, UNE.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Professor Alistair Thomson displayed here expands to include the UNE historian Dr David Andrew Roberts - one of the organisers of this week's conference. It was taken during the conference.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:04 PM

Dental health 'time bomb' threatens rural Australia

September 24, 2007

While researchers agree that Australia's ageing population is a "time bomb" for the dental health system, a symposium in Melbourne last week was told that the looming crisis could be much more serious in rural and regional Australia than in the big cities.

Professor Victor Minichiello from the University of New England said that rural and regional Australia faced "a double – if not triple – jeopardy". "Such communities face a significantly older population profile," he said, "a more severe shortage of dental and other health practitioners (often overloaded with patient demands), and a higher percentage of Indigenous people and people with lower socio-economic status than their metropolitan cousins."

Professor Minichiello (pictured here), who is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of UNE's Faculty of The Professions, is a gerontologist and public health researcher. He was a keynote speaker at the symposium at the University of Melbourne on Friday 21 September, organised by that university's School of Dental Science and the Cooperative Research Centre for Oral Health Science. Dental researchers, ageing specialists, and health officials met to discuss how to prepare for an ageing population while dealing with a shortage of dentists and oral health practitioners.

"People in rural Australia have inadequate access to local dental services, leading to poor dental health and its consequent adverse effects on general health," Professor Minichiello said. He quoted data published in the Australian Dental Association Directory this year showing that Australia is facing a serious shortage with respect to the number of dentists available per 100,000 people. "The shortage is a national issue, but non-metropolitan centres face particular challenges," he said. "For example, the most recent statistics reveal a ratio of 55 dentists per 100,000 people in metropolitan NSW compared to 17 dentists per 100,000 in rural and regional NSW. These average figures translate to one dentist per 1,818 people in the cities and one dentist per 5,882 people in country areas.

"The statistics in particular locations are quite serious: Tamworth has a population of 43,000 but only 12 dentists, Port Macquarie has a population of 64,000 people with 13 dentists, Taree has a population of 47,000 and 7 dentists, Lismore has 44,000 people and 10 dentists, and Moree, with a population of 15,000, finds itself in a crisis with only one dentist."

"It has been estimated that if we are to meet current levels of dental services with the current numbers of graduates, there will be a shortage of about 1,500 dental and oral health workers in Australia by 2010," Professor Minichiello continued. "Australia is lagging behind other nations with respect to its dental workforce. In contrast, for example, Japan has one dentist serving 1,390 people while Australia has one dentist serving 2,500 people."

He said that UNE and the University of Sydney were discussing how they could collaborate to respond to the crisis. "One possible solution is to train more dentists and oral health professionals who will graduate and work in the rural and regional public and private dental systems," he said. "Another is to work more closely with dental practitioners and the community to emphasise the value of health promotion programs in oral health."

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 05:06 PM

Award recognises needs of families affected by suicide

September 21, 2007

A lecturer in counselling at the University of New England has won a national award for research aimed at supporting parents who have lost a young adult or adolescent child to suicide.

Dr Myfanwy Maple was honoured during the 2007 LiFe Awards ceremony of Suicide Prevention Australia (SPA) in Melbourne earlier this month. Professor Rosemary Calder from the Mental Health and Workforce Division of the Australian Government's Department of Health and Ageing presented Dr Maple with SPA's "Emerging Research Award".

Dr Maple (pictured here) said that SPA's recognition – through the award – that researchers need to focus on the aftermath as well as the prevention of suicide highlighted the importance of this issue. She said that Senator Brett Mason (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) had included the subject of bereavement in his opening address at the awards ceremony.

"People are understanding that, even with effective prevention programs, there will always be deaths through suicide, and that it's really important to recognise the people who are bereaved," she said. "For every death there are at least six people – often many more – who are affected."

Dr Maple said that she admired the courage of bereaved parents who had been willing to talk to her about their loss in the face of the social stigma that still surrounds suicide. "Talking to them has been an amazing experience," she said, "and we have gained a lot of new knowledge through their involvement."

One result of that experience, she added, was the recognition that people who suffer a bereavement such as this remain 'connected' to their loved one for the rest of their lives. "We need to accept that there will be times when these parents will be thinking about their child, even when a long time has passed, and that it's OK for them to do so," she said.

The LiFe Awards were presented on Sunday 9 September, and the following day – Monday 10 September – was World Suicide Prevention Day. The theme of the day this year – "Preventing suicide across the lifespan" – emphasised the fact that suicide occurs in all age groups, and that intervention strategies can be adapted to meet the needs of those different groups. "Fluctuating trends in suicide deaths across different cultures, countries, and age groups are still poorly understood," Dr Maple said.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 12:42 PM

Symposium to honour UNE geneticist

September 20, 2007

A scientific symposium at the University of New England tomorrow and Saturday (September 21 and 22) will discuss how to maintain the general fitness of livestock while undertaking breeding programs to enhance specific characteristics.

The symposium, "Adaptation and Fitness in Animals", is in honour of UNE's Emeritus Professor Stuart Barker, who has played a leading role in the application of fundamental genetic principles to animal breeding. Professor Barker (pictured here) has been able to apply his experimental genetic work with the fruit fly to the breeding of cattle, sheep and pigs. Armidale is now home to one of the world’s best scientific groups in animal breeding and genetics, and its researchers continue to deliver selection tools to cattle, pig and sheep breeders.

Scientists from UNE have invited a number of eminent researchers from around the world to talk about the fundamental principles of genetic variation and adaptation among animals in natural populations. They will discuss how modern livestock breeding programs can learn from these principles, enabling them to maintain sustainable breeding programs in which the fitness and welfare of animals are not undermined.

UNE's Professor Julius van der Werf, one of the organisers of the symposium, said: "Animal breeders have been very successful in their selection methods. Dairy cows are now much more productive, sheep produce better wool, and cattle and lambs grow faster with improved meat quality. Selection, however, can also affect animals' fitness. This symposium explores the fitness of livestock, how it is affected by today’s breeding programs, and how modern breeding programs can accommodate fitness in their objectives."

"Genetic variation enables a population to adapt – and thus survive – in the face of environmental change," he continued. "Maintaining enough variation and diversity is an essential component of modern breeding programs."

During the symposium, geneticists from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Arizona will present their ideas on how animal populations maintain their fitness. Professor Richard Frankham from Macquarie University will discuss the fundamental basis of fitness of animal populations, and Professor Kathleen Donohue from Harvard University will focus on mechanisms that plant populations use to adapt to environmental changes. Scientists from France will talk about the work that the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has done on the conservation of populations of farm animals.

The symposium, which is sponsored by Meat and Livestock Australia and the Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, will be held just before the 17th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics (23-26 September) at UNE.

For more information on the symposium, contact Professor Julius van der Werf on (02) 6773 2092.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 11:13 AM

UNE student takes message of peace to 'roof of Africa'

September 19, 2007

This Friday (the 21st of September) a University of New England student will be one of eight young people representing five continents who will take symbols of peace to the "roof of Africa", Mount Kilimanjaro.

Michelle Lim has taken a year off from her Science/Law studies at UNE to work in Tanzania as a volunteer with "Roots & Shoots" – the Jane Goodall Institute's international, youth-based humanitarian and environmental program.

"The 21st of September is celebrated worldwide as United Nations International Peace Day," Miss Lim said. "Every year on this day Roots & Shoots groups around the globe fly linen and wire sculptures of 'giant peace doves'. This year, Roots & Shoots representatives from Australia, Asia, Europe, America and Africa will bring the 'giant peace dove' symbol to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

"Our goal is to raise awareness of conflict in the African continent and to raise US$30,000 for the Roots &Shoots / United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) program in the Lugufu Refugee Camp in Tanzania."

"The Lugufu Refugee Camp is home to over 35,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)," Miss Lim explained. "These refugees have been forced to flee their homes as a result of conflict fuelled by the desire to control the DRC’s vast natural resources and the instability in neighbouring countries.

"The funds we raise will support the Roots & Shoots / UNHCR program in the refugee camp, which provides immediate benefits such as food and education. Also, since 2002, the program has involved 1,800 Roots & Shoots members from15 schools – both inside the camp and in nearby villages – in projects including environmental education, small income generating schemes, and services such as assistance for the disabled. The program has begun a scholarship fund for exceptional students who are unable to afford to continue their education.

"By supporting the program, companies and individuals will be helping to benefit children while joining a global effort to make a stand for peace."

To find out more about the project and how to donate, contact Michelle Lim at: michelle.lim11@gmail.com. More information on Roots & Shoots can be found at: www.rootsandshoots.org/campaigns/dove.

The United Nations International Peace Day Web site is: http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 01:04 PM

Historians to discuss Australian 'legends' and laws

September 18, 2007

About 240 historians and lawyers from throughout Australia will gather at the University of New England at the end of this week for three interconnected conferences that will explore a wide range of themes: from colonial, political and legal history to ancient history, oral history, and mining history.

One strand of the Regional Conference of the Australian Historical Association (AHA), to run from the 23rd to the 26th of September, will be dedicated to reflections on the life and work of the famous historian Russel Ward, who taught at UNE from 1957 and served as Head of the University's Department of History from 1967 to 1974. The conference will mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Ward's landmark book The Australian Legend, which was published in 1958. Papers in this strand will include studies of the place of shearers, stockmen, gold miners, and Aboriginal bush workers in the "legend" that has helped to form Australia's national identity.

Speakers in the "Australian Legends" strand will include some of Australia's most respected historians, including UNE's Professor Alan Atkinson, and Professor Joy Damousi from the University of Melbourne. The organising committee for the conference is based in UNE's School of Humanities.

UNE's annual Russel Ward Lecture, to be delivered this year by Professor Gillian Cowlishaw from the University of Technology, Sydney, will form part of the conference. Professor Cowlishaw, in this public lecture at 8 pm on Monday 24 September, will explain how anthropology can challenge what she calls "the political complacency that arises from displacing responsibility for the present onto our ancestors".

Another strand of the AHA conference – "Frontiers of History" – will explore topics from "Aboriginal education history and the British Empire" to "The Seamen's Union and the Moscow Olympics boycott".

Running in conjunction with the AHA conference will be the 13th annual conference of the Australian Mining History Association. The 20 papers in this conference will cover subjects from "The legend of Lasseter's Reef – fact or fiction?" to "South Australia's new mining boom".

Immediately before the AHA and Mining History conferences will be the 26th Annual Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society Conference (21-23 September). Scholars in the field of legal history will travel to Armidale from every Australian State, as well as from New Zealand and the UK, to share their historical insights into the way the law has helped to shape society.

Michael Lobban, Professor of Legal History at Queen Mary College, University of London, will deliver the Keynote Address at the conference, which is being hosted by UNE's School of Law. Professor Lobban will discuss differences between "the politics of the law courts" and "parliamentary party politics" in the nineteenth century. The 38 papers in this conference will tackle subjects as varied as "Citizenship tests" and "The birth of the Diocese of Grafton and Armidale".

For more information on all three conferences, go to:
www.une.edu.au/campus/confco/aha2007/

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 10:33 AM

Science students explore careers in primary industry

September 17, 2007

The University of New England is working with secondary schools in Armidale and Tamworth in a national project aimed at increasing the number of keen young science students pursuing careers in primary industry.

UNE's involvement in the project, run by the Primary Industries Science Centre of Education (PISCE), began in April this year. The UNE-based Education Officer for PISCE, Susanna Greig, said that she and UNE's Associate Professor Robin Jessop had visited the schools in Armidale and Tamworth to introduce the project and to select students for PISCE Industry Placement Scholarships. These scholarships will enable 13 students to gain experience working in an agricultural science industry/business setting for five days (14-18 January 2008).

Just before entering their work experience placements, the students will come together for a five-day Student Camp (7-11 January 2008) designed to illustrate exciting developments in agricultural science and career and research opportunities in agriculture for science students. The camp will be held in Armidale and Tamworth, with the students accommodated at Echidna Gully. At the end of the camp the students will outline their experiences in a "reporting back session" to begin at 5 pm on the 11th of January in the Wicklow Hotel, Armidale. All industry partners, UNE officials and participants, teachers and parents will be encouraged to attend this session.

"The participating students share a keen interest in investigating career options in agricultural science," Ms Greig said. "The students would like to find out what UNE can offer them as they consider their tertiary studies, and they will see many of UNE's exciting developments in agricultural science during the camp."

"We are impressed with the calibre and attitude of these students," she added, "and I'm thrilled to be working with such a terrific group."

Ms Greig explained that PISCE had been founded by Dr David Russell at the University of Tasmania in 2000, and had spread to the University of Western Australia in 2002 and South Australia's Flinders University in 2005 before coming to UNE this year. "Dr Russell noticed a decline in the number of young people going into agricultural science courses and careers," she said. "He conducted a national scoping study, presented last year to Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop, that revealed that the decline was a national problem."

In addition to the student camp and industry placements next January will be a two-day workshop for teachers on the 3rd and 4th of December this year. This workshop will demonstrate the science – and scientific research – supporting primary industry and agricultural businesses in the New England region.

For more information, contact Susanna Greig at UNE on (02) 6773 2809.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 05:24 PM

Earle Page Coast Run: 'charity and camaraderie'

September 14, 2007

Forty students set off this morning on the Earle Page College Coast Run – the annual climax of the College's year-long fundraising activities that, this year, will see $30,000 go to the Children's Medical Research Institute.

Starting from the College's lawns at the University of New England, the students are scheduled to complete the 220-km run at the end of Coffs Harbour Jetty tomorrow afternoon. The Mayor of Coffs Harbour will meet them there, and they will present him with a message of greeting from Armidale Dumaresq Council.

This is the College's 28th annual Coast Run. The convener of this year's event, third-year Business student Blake Shuttleworth, said it was "a great bonding activity" that had become "part of life" at Earle Page College.

He said sponsorship for the Coast Run had supplemented funds raised earlier in the year from activities including the sale of a "discount card" supported by local businesses, a fashion parade, and an auction.

David Ward, Master of Earle Page College, said the Coast Run was "a wonderful event in the life of the College". "In addition to raising large sums for charity," he said, "it allows for the achievement of personal goals as well as the development of a great sense of camaraderie as the kilometres tick by."

Two Credit Unions are major sponsors of the event, and the runners will wear hats celebrating the sponsorship of the New England Credit Union as far as their night stop at Dorrigo, and don Bananacoast Credit Union hats as they set off tomorrow from Dorrigo for Coffs Harbour. Other sponsors include UNE, The Armidale Express, Armidale Framing and Art Supplies, Commonwealth Bank Financial Planning, Aussietel, Laing and Simmons (Port Macquarie), and Coffs Harbour Collagen and Laser Clinic.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows the runners just before they left Earle Page College this morning.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:29 PM

UNE succeeds in national Summer Schools bid

September 13, 2007

The University of New England has won a multi-million-dollar contract to manage two of the Australian Government's new Summer Schools for Teachers.

The Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop, announced today the results of a nation-wide tender process for management of the five Summer Schools. UNE's tender to manage both the Mathematics Summer School and the Science Summer School was successful. In addition, UNE will be involved in the management of the Literacy and Numeracy Summer School under the leadership of Wollongong University. The two other Summer Schools will be in English and Australian History.

The Government announced in May this year that it would provide funding of $101.7 million over four years for a "Summer Schools for Teachers" program. Initially, the program will provide opportunities for up to 1,000 of Australia's best teachers to enhance their knowledge and skills in one or other of the five subject areas at a fully-funded residential course in January 2008.

The National Centre of Science, ICT and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR), based at UNE, submitted the tender for the Mathematics Summer School and the Science Summer School. These will be held concurrently from the 7th to the 18th of January 2008 and will be designed to complement each other. The Mathematics Summer School will be at UNE, and the Science Summer School will be at Flinders University in Adelaide – UNE's partner in the proposal.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, said the University was "very pleased to have been selected by the Government to manage a large part of this important program for teachers". "The Summer Schools will benefit from – and build on – UNE's nationally-recognised expertise in teacher education," he said.

UNE's Professor John Pegg, the Director of SiMERR, said he was expecting about 200 teachers to attend each of the Summer Schools.

"The mathematics teachers will be flown to Armidale and accommodated in UNE's residential colleges," Professor Pegg said. "Their presence will provide a significant boost to the Armidale economy."

He said the success of the tender, coordinated by Dr Terry Lyons, was "great confirmation of the work of the SiMERR National Centre over the past three years". "We're privileged to be able to play such an important role in the further development of capable maths and science teachers," he added.

Diane Hansford from UNE's School of Education is the local UNE project manager / academic manager for the Literacy and Numeracy Summer School to be held at Wollongong University (7-18 January) and Edith Cowan University (14-25 January). "UNE's partnership in the successful tender for the Literacy and Numeracy Summer School is testimony to the innovative research and teaching that have characterised the School of Education at UNE over many years," Ms Hansford said. The consortium to manage this Summer School also includes the Australian Literacy Educators' Association.

In its guidelines for the project, the Department of Education, Science and Training said that the selection of teachers (from both government and non-government schools) for the Summer Schools would be based on their "outstanding performance and potential to act as leaders of change within schools".

"This is an exciting new venture for UNE," Professor Pettigrew said, "and we will warmly welcome these outstanding teachers."

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows the Minister, Julie Bishop, with Professor Ian Hay, Head of UNE's School of Education, at today's launch of the Summer Schools at Parliament House, Canberra.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 05:21 PM

Historyweek brings Henry Reynolds to Armidale and UNE

September 12, 2007

Australia's foremost historian of race relations, Professor Henry Reynolds (pictured here), will be talking at three public events in Armidale on Friday 21 September.

The three events, sponsored by the University of New England and the New England Writers' Centre, are part of Armidale's program for this year's Historyweek – Saturday 15 to Sunday 23 September.

Professor Reynolds (now at the University of Tasmania), the author of 14 books that explore various aspects of white Australia's encounter with Indigenous people, has been instrumental in changing the way Australians understand their country's past. While teaching at James Cook University in Townsville in the 1970s he formed a strong friendship with Eddie Mabo, a Murray Islander who was then working as a groundsman on the University campus. The case that Mabo subsequently took to the High Court overturned the doctrine of terra nullius and established in Australian law the concept of Native Title.

Professor Reynolds's first engagement on Friday 21 September is a free public seminar at the University of New England from 9.30 to 11 am in which he will discuss his recent research (with Professor Marilyn Lake of La Trobe University) on the way white intellectuals and politicians in Australia, South Africa, the United States and Great Britain embraced the concept of a racial hierarchy in order to maintain white privileges and to counter demands for racial equality. The resulting book, Drawing the Global Colour Line, will be published by Cambridge University Press next year. This seminar will be in Lecture Theatre A2 in UNE's Arts Building.

From 2 to 3.30 pm that afternoon visitors to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place will be treated to a discussion between Professor Reynolds and Aboriginal Elders from the New England region about massacres of Aborigines in the region. The cost of this event – including afternoon tea – is $5. Then at 5.30 pm, at the New England Regional Art Museum, he will be debating "The Importance of National Identity to Australian Writing" with the novelist Roger McDonald (winner of the Miles Franklin Award and author of 1915, Shearers' Motel, Mr Darwin's Shooter, and The Ballad of Desmond Kale) and UNE historian David Andrew Roberts (co-editor of the recently released Great Mistakes of Australian History). The debate will be chaired by UNE's Emeritus Professor Julian Croft. Tickets for this event can be booked through the New England Writers’ Centre (6772 7210) and the cost – including finger food – is $15.50.

The following day (Saturday 22 September), from 1.30 to 4 pm, Roger McDonald will lead a workshop at the New England Writers' Centre on "Getting Fiction to Work in History". Bookings may be made through the Writers' Centre, and the cost is $45 ($35 for members of the Centre).

Other UNE-sponsored Historyweek events in Armidale will include the exhibition "Russel Ward's 'Australian Legend' in New England", which opens at the UNE Heritage Centre on 15 September, and a free History Workshop/Masterclass on Sunday 23 September from 1 to 4.30 pm at UNE's Duval College with some of Australia's leading historians (who will be in Armidale for the conference of the Australian Historical Association to be held at UNE from 23 to 26 September). Bookings for the latter event are essential: ring (02) 6773 3533.

Historyweek – an annual, State-wide event – is an initiative of the History Council of NSW. For more information about any of the events mentioned above, contact Dr David Roberts in UNE's School of Humanities on 6773 3794 (e-mail: drobert9@une.edu.au).

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 05:26 PM

Concerts to celebrate Ursuline Convent's 125th anniversary

September 11, 2007

Tomorrow (the 12th of September) will be the 125th anniversary of the arrival of the Ursuline Community in Armidale. To help celebrate the anniversary, musical works by Ursuline Sisters from the seventeenth century will be performed in Armidale's Ursuline Convent Chapel on the 14th and 15th of September.

Dr Andrew Alter, a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of New England, will direct the well-known Armidale choral group Fiori Musicali in the Australian premiere of a Mass written by the seventeenth-century composer Isabella Leonarda, and the soprano Samantha Cobcroft will sing a number of works by Leonarda and her fellow composer Maria Peruchona. Dr Peter Maddox will lead the instrumental group that will accompany the singers. The concerts on both evenings will begin at 7.30 pm.

"The Ursuline Convent anniversary provides the perfect opportunity to perform these rare works in the wonderful acoustic environment of the Ursuline Chapel," Dr Alter said.

"Over the years, the University's Music Department and Fiori Musicali have held numerous concerts in the Chapel," he added. "The anniversary, therefore, is also an opportunity for us to celebrate that relationship."

"Isabella Leonarda lived in northern Italy at the end of the seventeenth century," Dr Alter explained. "Her music, as well as that of other women composers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, has recently been rediscovered and published by scholars in the United States – most notably Barbara Jackson.

"Leonarda and Maria Peruchona lived near each other and belonged to popular religious organisations of the time known as 'Collegio di Sant'Orsola'. These groups were dedicated to St Ursula and consequently later became known as 'the Ursulines'. So the works being performed at this week's anniversary concerts hold a special connection to the Ursuline Convent in Armidale."

The Ursuline Sisters arrived in Armidale in September 1882. The Ursuline Chapel was completed in 1930 and has been an Armidale landmark ever since.

Although the Chapel was designed and built for liturgical worship, in recent times it has also been sought as a venue for performances of classical and contemporary religious music. "Both instrumental and vocal artists have appreciated the Chapel's unique acoustic quality, the intimate space, and the religious setting," Dr Alter said.

Tickets for the concerts can be obtained from Sister Cath Duxbury on (02) 6772 3631 (e-mail: c.duxbury@arm.catholic.edu.au).

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 02:58 PM

Psychology Clinic continues to serve community

September 10, 2007

The University of New England Psychology Clinic has been successful in renewing its contract with the New England Division of General Practice to provide clinical psychology services to people in Armidale and the surrounding region. This means that, for the fifth successive year, the UNE Psychology Clinic will be offering free clinical psychology services to people referred to it by GPs within the New England Division.

Dr Barbara Visser, Coordinator of the UNE Psychology Clinic, said that since its inception in 2003 the program had allowed the Clinic to provide services to more than 450 patients in Armidale, Glen Innes and Inverell. "Patients were referred for a range of problems, including depression, various anxiety disorders, and substance abuse," Dr Visser said, "with many of them receiving up to 12 weekly consultations of an hour each."

UNE's Associate Professor Nigel Marsh, one of the three supervising clinical psychologists working in the Clinic, said the program was a successful example of recent Federal Government initiatives to increase the availability of specialised mental health services for people living in rural areas.

"The Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing provides funding through the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care program to the New England Division of General Practice, enabling it to purchase clinical psychology services from the UNE Psychology Clinic," Dr Marsh explained. "This unique collaboration between the Division and the Clinic allows local GPs to obtain specialised mental health services for their patients. Evaluation by both GPs and patients has repeatedly indicated high levels of satisfaction with the service the Clinic provides."

"The collaboration has been successful enough to attract national attention," he added. "Dr Visser was invited to present a paper, at this month's annual meeting of the Directors of Australian and New Zealand University Psychology Training Clinics in Brisbane, on the process of establishing and maintaining the collaborative agreement."

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows two of the UNE Psychology Clinic's three supervising clinical psychologists: Dr Barbara Visser (front) and Debra Dunstan. The photograph expands to include the third member of the team: Associate Professor Nigel Marsh.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 04:16 PM

Breeders and scientists to interact at genetics conference

September 07, 2007

The 17th conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics (AAABG) will be held at the University of New England from the 23rd to the 26th of September. The conference will bring together scientists from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and a number of other counties. Invited speakers will be coming from as far away as Europe and the United States.

UNE's Professor Julius van der Werf, the President of AAABG, said the conference would be open to all people interested in animal breeding – livestock producers, researchers and others. Professor van der Werf said that one of the goals of AAABG was to combine the ideas of scientists and practical animal breeding applications. "The interaction between livestock producers and scientists at the conference is critical in achieving this goal," he said. "We are very keen to encourage all livestock producers to come to Armidale for the conference. Cattle, sheep and pig breeders will find sessions from both scientists and commercial breeders that will be directly applicable to their enterprises."

The main theme this year is "Genetic Improvement – making it happen". Professor van der Werf said that the conference would focus on actual achievements in genetic improvement that had been made through selection, and the opportunities that were arising through new genetic technologies. "Selective breeding can have an enormous impact on farmers' profits," he said, "with gains accumulating over time. This has been demonstrated by various breeders and livestock producers."

People wishing to attend the AAABG conference later this month should contact Sonja Dominik, AAABG Secretary, on (02) 6776 1376 or visit the conference Web site (http://www.aaabg.org/aaabg17).

Dr David Johnston from the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit (AGBU) at UNE will describe the genetic changes that have occurred in beef breeds in recent years, emphasising the impact of correct sire selection. Dr Daniel Brown from AGBU will present the latest developments in Australian Sheep Breeding Values, which have now the potential to drive substantial genetic improvement in the Australian sheep industry.

Progressive breeders from Victoria and South Australia will explain how they have adopted modern techniques in cattle and sheep breeding to accelerate genetic improvement and to fine tune product quality suited to their markets.

The UK-based scientist Dr Hein van der Steen will discuss the opportunities created by the use of gene markers in animal breeding programs. Dr Curt Van Tassel from the United States Department of Agriculture will update the conference on the development of tools that allow large-scale DNA testing, and Dr Richard Spellman from the Livestock Improvement Company in New Zealand will give an update on how the company uses gene markers in dairy breeding programs. Other invited speakers include scientists from the United States and The Netherlands addressing the issues of fitness and animal welfare in modern breeding programs.

The conference is sponsored by Meat and Livestock Australia, Australian Wool Innovation, the Shorthorn Society, Australian Pork, the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Beef Genetic Technologies, the CRC for Innovative Dairy Products, the Livestock Library, and Qiagen.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 03:37 PM

1,300 prospective students visit UNE on Open Day

September 06, 2007

An estimated 1,300 prospective students, including a number from Sydney and inter-State, visited the University of New England today for the University's annual Open Day. The Open Day visitors also included more than 300 parents.

The day began with breakfast in the residential colleges, where, according to Dr Alan McKenzie, the Master of Austin College, the visitors were grateful for the warm refreshment of coffee and bacon and eggs.

Later, during the welcome ceremony in Lazenby Hall, a large crowd of visitors listened as several current students – representing college residents, international students and equity groups – spoke about their UNE experience and their reasons for choosing to come to this university. Those reasons, confirmed by their experience, included UNE's reputation for excellence in teaching and research, its rural setting ideal for study, and its strong student community within which (as one student said) "you make friendships that last for a lifetime".

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, in welcoming the visitors, highlighted the accessibility of UNE's teaching staff and the strong social bonds developed among the University's students

Professor Pettigrew urged visitors to make the most of their day on the campus, and added that UNE was "very pleased to be able to offer 20 new courses next year".

The visitors took full advantage of all the information available to them in Lazenby Hall on courses, careers, scholarships, overseas exchange opportunities, postgraduate study, student support services, and living on campus, and attended lectures, information sessions and tours. They also visited displays illustrating fields of study such as physics, chemistry, geology, biology, zoology, botany, agronomy and soil science, animal science, mathematics and computer science, marine science, and ecosystem management. Interactive displays of Chinese calligraphy and the instrumental monitoring of the body/mind relationship (an initiative of Psychology) were popular new features of this year's Open Day.

There was a free barbecue lunch and live entertainment from the University's student radio station TUNE! FM, local DJ Chocho, and the UNE Big Band. Free snacks were provided by Spotless and Scolarest caterers. A highlight of the day was an inter-college tug-o'-war competition, won by a team from Robb College.

Prospective students entered a prize draw to win a portable MP3 player, and the lucky winner was Jessica Davis of Bellingen.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 06:14 PM

Twenty new courses to begin at UNE next year

September 05, 2007

From the stage to the operating theatre, students at the University of New England will have plenty of options to choose from next year. The University is introducing 20 new courses to begin in Semester One 2008.

Keeping pace with workplace changes is no easy task, but UNE is confident that the 20 new courses being introduced in 2008 will address the ever-changing needs of employers.

The 20 new courses cover a broad range of topics: from theatre studies, music, psychology, and world religions to medicine, criminology, accounting, and marine science and management. For information on all of them, go to:
http://www.une.edu.au/for/future-students/newcourses.php.

While some of the new courses to be offered have previously been components of other degree programs, the Bachelor of Medicine degree is new to UNE, being offered for the first time in 2008 as part of the Joint Medical Program with the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health Service.

The curriculum, which will be taught through UNE’s School of Rural Medicine, comes from the University of Newcastle’s highly respected medical course and capitalises on UNE’s strong rural standing and expertise in delivering nursing, health and science programs.

"The Joint Medical Program’s Bachelor of Medicine curriculum prepares students for work in urban and regional areas and incorporates a focus on rural health and rural medicine," said the School of Rural Medicine's Associate Professor John Nevin. "While graduates will have all the traditional training necessary to work in urban areas, they will have a broader-based medical degree focusing on rural health issues – including Aboriginal health."

"Doctors in rural areas require a high level of skill across a broad range of areas," Dr Nevin explained.

Also being offered for the first time next year is a Bachelor of Psychological Science degree: a three-year undergraduate program that – unlike the Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) program – is not integrated with a fourth (Honours) year.

"The expectation is that those students who are unable to maintain the High Distinction and Distinction grades required for the Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) program will qualify for the three-year Bachelor of Psychological Science degree and then enter the workforce," said Professor Bill Noble, Transitional Head of UNE's School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences. "Various careers in human resources, management, health, and social work require psychological training, but not the four-year degree (plus a further two years either in a Master's degree program or as a working intern psychologist) required of a registered psychologist."

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 05:19 PM

Practical training 'vital' for archaeology students

September 04, 2007

A meeting of archaeologists from 12 leading Australian universities has highlighted the need for changes in the way archaeology education is funded in the higher education system.

One of the archaeologists – Professor Iain Davidson from the University of New England – pointed out that, while universities were struggling to meet the growing demand for well-trained graduates, archaeology teaching and learning was still funded mostly as a library-based research discipline.

"Practical fieldwork and laboratory training are vital for the best education in this important field," Professor Davidson said. "Australian archaeology graduates have traditionally been regarded as among the best in the world, but we risk falling behind if the basic teaching needs of archaeology in the twenty-first century are not being met."

The two-day meeting in Melbourne last month was part of a project aimed at developing benchmarks for archaeology degrees from Australian universities. The two-year project, led by UNE's Associate Professor Wendy Beck, is funded by a grant from the Australian Government's Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

Dr Beck said that the requirements for modern construction projects, and the continuing mining boom, had created an unprecedented demand for archaeologists. "Urban sprawl and industrial development have placed an increasing emphasis on the need to manage Australia's rich cultural heritage and to consult with local communities," Dr Beck said. "The professional services of archaeologists are widely used in these management processes." (The photograph displayed here shows UNE archaeologist Dr Pam Watson working on a construction site in Armidale.)

The Melbourne meeting followed a comprehensive survey of archaeology departments in universities around Australia. "We asked what an Australian archaeology graduate should know and what sort of basic training they should be expected to receive," said UNE's Catherine Clarke, who coordinated the survey. She said there had been a strong consensus that national benchmarks were needed to ensure that professional standards in archaeology were being met, and that employers and clients were confident about the type of training graduates had received at university.

A draft set of benchmark statements for archaeology honours degrees, covering subject knowledge as well as specific and generic skills, is expected to be released by the end of the year.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 05:45 PM

UNE Open Day offers both information and fun

September 03, 2007

The University of New England will throw its doors open to the public on Thursday 6 September for all the fun and information of its annual Open Day.

UNE recognises that the choice of university is one of the most important decisions a student makes. On Open Day, the University shows prospective students – together with their parents and friends – why graduate surveys consistently give it the maximum ("five-star") rating for "overall educational experience", as recorded in the annual Good Universities Guide.

Open Day 2007 will begin with breakfast in the residential colleges between 7.30 and 8.30 am, which will be followed by tours of the residences in the Bellevue college complex from 8.30 to 10.45 am.

At 11 am the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Pettigrew, speaking in the Central Courtyard, will extend a warm welcome to all Open Day visitors, urging them to make the most of the information available to them. In introducing UNE, he will draw visitors' attention to – among other things – the University's outstanding reputation for teaching quality.

One of the highlights of the day will be a keenly-contested inter-college tug-o'-war contest in the Central Courtyard at 11.30 am.

Open Day will include a comprehensive range of course and academic advice by friendly staff in UNE's Lazenby Hall between 9.30 am and 2 pm to help prospective students choose from the range of studies – and study modes – available. Information about living on campus, exchange programs, student support services, and course application procedures will also be available in the Hall.

There will be an information session for parents at 12 noon in Lecture Theatre A2 in the Arts Building and, elsewhere, a range of lectures and information sessions on particular areas of study (including medicine, law, accounting, nursing and engineering) throughout the day. There will also be regular guided tours of the University's academic, student support, and sporting facilities, and of the student radio station Tune!FM (which will be broadcasting from the Central Courtyard).

A bus tour leaving the campus at 1.30 pm will take visitors to UNE's open-air laboratory "Newholme", used for sustainability studies. Free shuttle buses will provide guided tours of – and transport around – the campus throughout the day.

Open Day hospitality and entertainment will include a free barbecue lunch, a live DJ, activities such as rides on a mechanical bull, an Olympic obstacle course and dual-lane bungee running, and a chance to win an MP3 player.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at 02:15 PM