Lou (Mary-Louise) Conway
Lecturer, Faculty of The Professions, School of Business Economics and Public Policy
Qualifications
BOcc Thy (UQ), MBA (NE), PhD (NE)
Contact
| Email: | mconway@une.edu.au |
| Room: | W42, Room 401 |
| Phone: | 02 6773 3919 (or +61 2 6773 3919 overseas) |
| Fax: | 02 6773 3148 |
My academic career began in 1995 here at UNE teaching management, organisational behaviour, and organisational change in a part-time capacity. Between 2005 and 2007 I completed my PhD and returned to full-time academic work in 2008. Operating an agricultural enterprise with my husband over the last 20 years keeps me well grounded in the practical reality of management and business. My early professional background as an Occupational Therapist taught me to appreciate the extraordinary capacity of people to adapt and change. As an educator within the Management and Organisational Studies discipline my passion is in supporting students to learn about designing and creating optimistic places of work.
Areas of Teaching
I teach within the Management and Organisational Studies discipline and co-ordinate an undergraduate unit, titled Contemporary Management (MM200) and a postgraduate unit, titled Processes of Management (GSB721). Both of these units are core units within a number of business awards and offer high levels of interaction between students.
Research interests
My research interests focus on regional development and the role of government, public policy and business in regional communities. In 2002-2003 Professor Alison Sheridan and I conducted a survey of women in small business in the Armidale region for the NSW Department of State and Regional Development (now renamed NSW Industry and Investment). My doctoral thesis titled ‘Let’s hear it from the Board… An analysis of regional development governance in Western Australia and New South Wales’ was conferred in April 2008. In 2009 working with Professor Brian Dollery from the Centre for Local Government, I examined the demise of the New England Strategic Alliance of Councils (NESAC). I was awarded an Internal Faculty Research Grant (Rural Resurgence Funding) in 2009-2010 for the project titled “Regional development governance in resource affected communities of the New England North West” ($4200).
Examples of Research Projects
Exploratory study of women in small business in Armidale; an analysis of regional development governance in NSW and WA; the role of community activism, in particular the activities of Caroona Coal Action Group, in regional development in the Liverpool Plains.
Publications
Working Papers
|
Conway, M-L. and Dollery, B. 2009 Constructing ‘Regional Development’ in the Boardroom: Evidence from New South Wales and Western Australia, Centre for Local Government, University of New England, Armidale, new South Wales, ISSN 1835-761X. Conway, L. and Dollery, B. 2009 An Analysis of New England Strategic Alliance Model, Centre for Local Government, University of New England, Armidale New South Wales, ISSN 1835-761X. |
Journal Articles:
Conway, M-L, Dollery, B. And Grant, B. (2011) Shared Service Models in Australian Local Government: the fragmentation of the New England Strategic Alliance 5 years on, Australian Geographer, vol. 42, No. 2, pp 207-223.
Conway, L., Dollery, B. And Grant, B. (2011) The Construction of Regional Development in the Boardroom: A Comparative Analysis of New South Wales and Western Australia, Journal of Economic and Social Policy, vol. 14, Article 8.
Conway, M-L., Dollery, B. E. and Grant, B. 2011 (forthcoming), ‘Shared Service Models in Australian Local Government: The Fragmentation of the New England Strategic Alliance Five Years on’, Australian Geographer, June.
Pini, B., Sheridan, A. and Conway, M-L. 2009, ‘Gendering Regional Governance: A Framework for Analyses’. Public Policy, vol. 4, no.1, pp12-29.
Conway M-L . 2006, ‘Boardroom Revelations - board members making meaning of regional development governance’. Sustaining Regions, vol. 5, No. 3, pp 3-16.
Sheridan, A., Pini. B, and Conway L. 2006, ‘Modestly staffed and modestly resourced: An exploratory critique of women’s entry to rural and regional governance’. Rural Society, vol. 16, no. 3, pp 271- 282.
Conway, L., & Sheridan, A. 2005, ‘Women, Small Business and Rural Location’. Rural Society, vol. 15, no. 1, pp 55-73.
Sheridan, A. & Conway, L. 2001, ‘Workplace flexibility: Reconciling the needs of employers and employees’. Women in Management Review, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 5-11.
Conway, L & Sheridan, A. 1997, ‘Part-time employment: family friendly but career unfriendly’, Disciplining Rita Symposium Proceedings, J. O’Sullivan (ed.), University of New England, pp. 59- 62.
Conference Papers:
Conway, M-L. 2008, ‘The Meaning of Regional Development, according to Board members’, Proceedings of the XII World Congress of Rural Sociology, “Envisioning a Prosperous Rural Future in a Globalizing World” 6-11 July 2008, Goyang, Korea.
Conway, M-L. 2006, ‘Boardroom Revelations - board members making meaning of regional development governance’. Proceedings of the Australian New Zealand Regional Science Association International (ANZRSAI) Conference, Beechworth, Victoria, 26-29 September.
Conway M-L. 2005, ‘The Stitching Up of Regional Development Governance: metaphorically speaking’. Proceedings of the Australian New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference, Canberra, ACT.
Sheridan, A & Conway, L. 2003, ‘Women in Small Business in Regional Locations’. Proceedings of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ) Conference, Ballarat, Victoria.
Sheridan, A & Conway, L. 2002, ‘Women in Small Business in Regional Locations - an Armidale case study’. Proceedings of the Australian New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference, Beechworth, Victoria.
Sheridan, A. & Conway, L. 1999, ‘Flexibility, part-time work and the role of HRM’. Proceedings of the Organisations Looking Ahead: Challenges and Directions Conference, Griffith University, Queensland, November.
Conway, L. & Sheridan, A. 1999, ‘Part-time employment: Making the most of the fastest growing segment of the Australian labour market’. Proceedings of the Australian & New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference, Adelaide, South Australia, December. Awarded Best Interactive Paper of the Conference.
Conway, L. 1997, ‘Action-based learning in Distance Education’. Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference, Wollongong, New South Wales, December.
Conway, L. 1987, ‘The Future of Supported Employment in Queensland’. Proceedings of the SEARCH Conference funded by the Commonwealth Department of Community Services and Health, Brisbane, Queensland.
Consultancy Reports
Sheridan, A., Conway, L and Harris, J. 2003 ‘Armidale: Healthy People Living and Learning in a Healthy Environment’. A consultancy project commissioned by the Economic Development Committee of the Armidale Dumaresq Council to examine the potential for the development of the health and well-being sector within the Armidale region.