VERSITY MEDALLISTS
Arts
Kathleen Elizabeth Horton Bachelor of Arts (Hons) with 1st class honours.
Wendy Joy Dorman Bachelor of Arts (Music).
Margaret Lang St Godard Bachelor of Social Science.
Built Environment and Engineering
David Thambiratnam Bachelor of Engineering
(Electronics) with 1st class honours and Bachelor of Information Technology with distinction.
Paresh Kumar
Bachelor of Engineering
(Electronics) with 1st class honours and Bachelor of Information Technology with distinction.
Catherine Dorothy Smith
Bachelor of Architecture with 1st class honours.
Business
Elizabeth Margaret Masen Bachelor of Business (Hons) with 1st class honours in accountancy.
Rhys David Evenden
Bachelor of Business (Hons) with 1st class honours in economics.
Scott Churchill
Bachelor of Business (Hons) with 1st class honours.
Andrew Luke
Bachelor of Business (Hons) with 1st class honours.
Education
Judith Anne Howard
Bachelor of Education (Primary) with 1st class honours.
Lorraine Joyce McMurtrie
Bachelor of Education (Adult and Workplace Education) with 1st class honours.
Health
Sandra Christine Hayes Bachelor of Applied Science (Human Movement Studies) with 1st class honours.
Carmel Patricia Finn
Bachelor of Nursing (Hons) with 1st class honours.
Information Technology Christopher Pavlovski Bachelor of Information
Technology (Hons) with 1st class honours.
Karen Joy Nelson Bachelor of Information
Technology (Hons) with 1st class honours.
Law
Franki Ganter
Bachelor of Laws with 1st class honours.
Benjamin Peter White
Bachelor of Laws with 1st class honours.
Kathryn Leigh O'Shea
Bachelor of Laws with 1st class honours.
Science
Karen Michelle Crawford
Bachelor of Applied Science (Hons) with 1st class honours
Joanne Louise Berger
Bachelor of Applied Science (Hons) with 1st class honours.
© QUT 1997 Produced by QUT Publications 143508 1427
QUT medals are awards
made in recognition of academic excellence.
JUNE 1997
Volume 2 Number 1
Education remedy Pioneers head home What goes around comes around
LI KS
Alumni ReviewQ U T L I N K S
Lifelong learning
QUT LINKS is published by the QUT Public Affairs Department, in co-operation with QUT Alumni Relations Unit – Phone (07) 3864 2950.
Design and production by QUT Publications Unit.
Photography: Suzanne Prestwidge and Sharyn Rosewarne.
Editorial material is gathered from a number of sources and does not necessarily reflect the opinions and policies of the QUT Foundation or QUT.
1
Spencer spins a special place for breakfast listeners
2
In brief...
5
Lifelong learner makes important links for Leading Schools
6
What goes around comes around for dedicated historian
7
More graduates 'hit the books'
8
Higher education is the remedy – Beattie
10
Pioneering pair return home
11
University – a two-way street for Karyn
12
Industry captains recall their time at Central Tech.
13
Last word...
14
Keep in touch...
An
opportunity for you
Following feedback from readers, QUT Links has been redesigned to better meet some of the information needs of the university's alumni.
One of its primary functions is still to provide a range of networking opportunities for the ever-growing pool of graduates from QUT and its predecessor institutions.
We will continue to do this via feature and news articles, and 'Keep in Touch', and in future editions we will introduce paid advertising.
Mailed to around 13, 000 influential QUT graduates like yourself (a vast majority of whom have elected to receive QUT Links), as well as key business and media outlets, the new-look QUT Links delivers an attractive target audience for any advertiser.
For details of rates and deadlines for QUT Links advertisements, contact David Lloyd-Jones on (07) 3880 0528.
CONTENTS
http://www.qut.edu.au
QUT and its predecessor institutions
have a long history of providing education and training for people who work in the central business district or in other places around the city and want to study part-time.
Any week-day evening at 6pm, you can see this phenomenon in action as the 'night shift' of part-timers make their way down George Street just as the 'day shift' (generally looking far more like full-time students in their dress and demeanour) head home.
In recent years, those who were once part of the 'day shift' have increasingly turned up some years later as part of the 'night shift', or perhaps have taken extended leave from work to once again join the throng of full-time students.
Some of these people returning to QUT come to study for a higher qualification with the hope of furthering their existing career; some are doing a second degree as a way of making a career change.
It's reassuring to see familiar names and faces around the University. Not only does it comfort those coming back for further qualifications but it also emphasises to our staff and newer students the practical benefits of lifelong learning.
At QUT, we're proud of our graduates. They're certainly welcome back at any time.
Dennis Gibson QUT Vice-Chancellor
Keep your memories of QUT alive
A range of quality corporate products is now being offered to QUT alumni.
This range will be expanded progressively, and in future editions of QUT Links we'll advertise new products. Pictured right are the products available now; a description of each with its price, well below retail, is provided on the order form.
Order form
Please indicate quantity required and total cost in space below.
Name Address
Phone
Return form to: Whatsinaname, 72 Pembroke Road, Coorparoo Qld Australia 4151 Phone (07) 3847 2466 Fax (07) 3847 2470.
Please photocopy this order form before completing it.
Allow three weeks for delivery of goods. Orders may be faxed or posted.
Please make cheques payable to Whatsinaname. Payment must be received before goods will be despatched.
PRODUCT Unit cost
S M L XL XXL
Total cost
ACCESSORIES Unit cost Quantity
required Deluxe polo shirt
with embroided logo (Australian-made)
$45.00
Size
Key ring in brushed silver metal with QUT logo
Fashion cap in navy cotton with suede peak and embroided QUT logo
Stainless steel insulated cappuccino cup with saucer – laser engraved QUT logo
Stainless steel insulated mug with laser engraved QUT logo
Wall Street ballpoint pen in stainless steel with 24 carat gold-plated trim (made in Spain) – engraved QUT logo
Wall Street fountain pen in stainless steel with 24 carat gold-plated trim (made in Spain) – engraved QUT logo
Total cost
TOTAL (+ freight $8.00) $
6.50
$15.00
$
25.00
$
25.00
$
40.00
$
45.00
$
An
opportunity for you
A university for the real world
1
W
hen Spencer Howson imagines people listening to his morning show on ABC Radio 612-4QR, he visualises them stretching and yawning in his bed or enjoying breakfast at his dining table.It is an unusual technique for keeping in touch with an audience but one that obviously works, as the young announcer has cut large swathes through the radio-ratings jungle since taking on the prime breakfast spot six months ago.
He is winning over ‘core’ 40-plus ABC listeners – many of whom were devoted to their daily dose of his long- time predecessor, Peter Dick – and is attracting more.
If ABC marketing strategists prove to be correct, Spencer Howson, 25, will be the lure that will have 30-something audiences turning off commercial stations and tuning into the national broadcaster much sooner.
So what is the secret of Howson’s style that his seen him go from relative obscurity – after graduating from QUT
in 1991 with a Bachelor of Business (Communication) majoring in journalism – to the ABC’s plum breakfast-broadcasting spot in less than five years?
Opinion is divided, but an amiable style, impeccable manners and a faint Lancashire accent combine to make him the new, friendly and reasonable voice of the breakfast listening in South-East Queensland.
Masterfully produced by Zara Horner, Breakfast with Spencer has moved away from frothy and gossipy interviews into a format firmly based on local stories and trimmed with quirky snippets.
“We try to focus the program on information that is local, interesting and useful to people to help them through another day in South-East Queensland,”
Howson said.
“This year we are doing something that’s not being done by anyone else. I think we are treating our
Spencer spins a special place for breakfast listeners
“I think we are treating our audience with a bit more respect than we did in the past”
audience with a bit more respect than we did in the past and that’s nothing against the previous presenter (Peter Dick) – he’s a terrific broadcaster.
“We still have fun, because people don’t want to be bombarded with politics and discussions of the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice Commission at 7am. Nobody wants politics at the breakfast table.”
The emphasis on local and useful information has been underlined by the use of a “roving reporter”, who is sent on unusual assignments suggested by listeners – such as finding out how the bulbs are changed in the big lights at the
’Gabba.
Listeners tuning in for the first time learn an ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain, garden gnomes really are stolen and taken on trips around the world, along with budgeting tips and the day’s news headlines.
Talkback segments give eager listeners a chance to have their say on some of the soft news issues of the day – grandmas fined for driving too slowly, the ethics of commercial radio stations alerting people as to where speed cameras are positioned and how Kieren Perkins should balance fatherhood and his career.
b y A n d r e a H a m m o n d
As the dawn breaks each weekday, QUT journalism graduate Spencer Howson is cracking jokes, telling tales and stirring sleepy city-dwellers into life from the ABC studios in Toowong
2
QUT TEAM DEVELOPS ROSS RIVER VACCINE
A vaccine for Ross River virus could be on the market within a few years, according to QUT’s Dr John Aaskov, following the signing of an agreement with Austrian manufacturer Immuno.
Dr Aaskov, who heads the World Health Organisation’s Queensland Arbovirus Reference Centre at QUT said more than 5,000 Australians a year were affected by the virus with their symptoms persisting for months or even years.
The virus, which is mosquito-borne, causes fatigue and arthritic-type pain in the joints and can be accompanied by a fever.
GENETICISTS IN BANANA BREAKTHROUGH
QUT’s Faculty of Science researchers have developed Australia’s first genetically engineered bananas.
Healthy banana plants – standing about 9cm high – have been cultivated from a single cell which has been successfully injected with extra genes.
The successful procedure is an important step towards creating virus-resistant bananas for growers through- out Australia and overseas.
Led by School of Life Sciences’ head, Professor James Dale, the QUT team is targeting the bunchy-top virus and the banana brack
As well as QUT, the Consortium of Australian Tax Schools will include the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne and the Australian Tax Institute, a professional body for tax lawyers and accountants.
Director of post-graduate law programs at QUT Professor Doug Fisher said co-operation between member institutions would provide potential students with access to a pool of expertise which any single university would have difficulty matching.
Professor Fisher said QUT’s Law Faculty welcomed the opportunity to augment its existing postgraduate offerings in tax beginning this semester.
“From this semester we will be offering tax specialties in two Master of Laws degrees,” he said.
“At QUT, we will be offering units in Taxation of Partnership and Trusts as well as Taxation of Corporate Entities.”
He said students could also travel to Sydney or Melbourne to take other units which would be cred- ited toward their QUT degree. These units, he said, were full fee-paying.
“Most of the units on offer are the equivalent of one semester of study but are available in an intensive mode which dramatically shortens
the time taken to complete them,” Professor Fisher said.
“The intensive courses are also attractive to students from throughout the Asia- Pacific region. So, beginning in 1998, the consortium will begin actively recruiting students from these areas.”
Professor Fisher said he believed that, in time, the consortium’s courses would become an industry standard in the tax profession.
AUSTRALIA DAY HONOURS FOR QUT PAIR
Paralympic swimmer and biomechanics PhD student Brendan Burkett – who last captained Australia’s successful Paralympic team – was one of two QUT people to be officially recognised on Australia Day.
After collecting a swag of swimming medals at three successive paralympics – a gold and a silver in Atlanta in 1996, bronze in Barcelona in 1992 and silver in Seoul in 1988 – Brendan received an Order of Australia.
Meanwhile, Academy of the Arts drama lecturer and theatre director Don Batchelor received the Lord Mayor’s Australia Day Cultural Award for his sustained contribution to the theatre and the Brisbane community.
CAELLI WINS
PRESTIGIOUS FELLOWSHIP The head of QUT’s School of Data Commun- ications, Professor Bill Caelli,
In brief...
mosaic virus and expect to have resistant banana plants commercially available within five years.
KEDRON PARK CAMPUS SOLD State Cabinet has approved the purchase of QUT’s former Kedron Park campus by the Department of Emergency Services.
Emergency Services Minister Michael Vievers said the department planned to relocate its headquarters as well as ambulance and fire brigade facilities to the site.
With the sale price for the inner-northern suburbs campus just over $4 million, QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson said proceeds had been ear- marked for refurbishments to the former Conservatorium building on the Gardens Point Campus.
LAW JOINS TAX CONSORTIUM QUT’s Law Faculty has cemented its place in a multi- state consortium which will consolidate the cream of tax law educators in Australia into a single entity.
Professor James Dale and Doug Becker inspect an Australian first...
a genetically engineered banana plant growing successfully in a test tube
3
Professor Bill Caelli
is one of a select group of five people to receive a fellowship from international computer industry newspaper
Computerworld.
GRADUATES IN RADIO AND TV SHUFFLES
High-profile QUT journalism graduate, Ellen Fanning, who anchored ABC Radio’s AM program out of Sydney until early this year, has moved to television.
Ms Fanning is now reporting and producing for the late evening current affairs program Lateline, which is also Sydney-based.
Meanwhile, going the opposite way, a familiar voice has returned to ABC Radio in Brisbane. Former Channel 7 Today Tonight host and journalism graduate Carolyn Tucker is back with ABC Radio reading the news.
STRONG START TO UNI YEAR With total enrolments topping 30,000 this year, QUT is performing strongly in a number of intake areas.
A 30 per cent increase in new scholars from more than 50 overseas countries ensured a record 850 newcomers swelled the ranks of new and
continuing international students studying at QUT to well over 2,000.
Two of QUT’s largest courses this year are the Faculty of Health’s Bachelor of Nursing and the Faculty of Business’ Bachelor of Business (Human Resource
Management), with both topping the 400-student intake mark.
The brand new Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition
& Dietetics) – which had more than 230 first- preference applicants for 30 quota places, resulting in an OP3 cutoff – has been so successful, students in this course will have been drawn from the top 4 per cent of academic achievers.
Across the board, the Faculty of Education had around 15 per cent more first-preference applicants this year (1,565) than last year (1,361), while its Bachelor of Education (Primary) recorded 499 first-preference applicat- ions this year, up from 356 last year.
MBA WINS SPOT WITH SWISS RE
Master of Business Administration
(International) student Vivek Kuruvila – one of only three students from Australia to be selected to work with Swiss Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurers – is spending two years training in Zurich after completing his QUT degree
The top floor of the historic but empty F Block ... recently damaged by fire but due to undergo significant restoration work
following an on-campus recruitment visit by the insurance giant.
NEW PROGRAM TO LIFT PASS RATES
QUT is set to become the Australian leader for a cost- effective, student-centred learning program which lifts results in difficult course units.
Originating in the United States as “supplemental instruction”, the program has been validated by the US Department of Education as
“exemplary”, having shown to improve student academic performance in targeted, historically difficult course units.
As a result of its success, attrition rates have been reduced within these course units, while student re- enrolments have increased and graduation rates have improved.
The program – which is being implemented at QUT as Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) – was brought to QUT in 1992 by former physicist Professor Ron Gardiner, who was then Associate Pro-Vice- Chancellor (Academic).
Now there are close to 1,000 students in 12 course units spread across four faculties involved in the PASS program at QUT, which is co-ordinated through the university’s Academic Staff Development Unit.
Having entered into a formal inter-institutional agreement with the origin- ators of the program – the University of Missouri at Kansas City – QUT is expected to become the leader for the learning scheme throughout Australasia.
FIRE DAMAGES HISTORIC BUILDING
The Gardens Point campus’ historically signif- icant F Block was damaged by fire at the beginning of the first semester.
Located in the middle of the Parliamentary end of the city campus, F Block was vacant at the time and in the process of being prepared for restoration when the fire occurred.
The damage to the red- brick building was contained to one section of the upper floor, causing minimal struc- tural damage and surrounding buildings were not damaged.
Once the building has been restored, QUT’s Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering plans to use it as a teaching-workshop facility.
It is believed an electrical fault caused the fire.
4
In brief...
c o n t i n u e d TUTORIAL SUPPORT GOES
ON-LINE
Taking their tutorials into new territory with the latest technology, QUT Built Environment & Engineering educators have begun supple- menting a first-year core unit with a web-based learning environment.
The faculty’s School of Mechanical, Manufacturing &
Medical Engineering subject – Materials 1 – has more than 300 students each year and Associate Professor John Bell said the web was able to provide an efficient means to distribute information about timetables, venues, practical groups and worked solutions to class tests.
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS ANNOUNCED
Faculty of Business students Angela Scheers and March Bahnisch have been presented with the 1997 Suzanne Lines Memorial Scholarship in industrial relations.
Sponsored by the Australian Services Union and the Brisbane City Council, the annual scholar- ship is in memory of the late BCC employee Suzanne Lines and is funding this year’s HECS fees, Guild fees and textbook expenses for the two students. Both students are completing Graduate Diplomas in Industrial Relations.
Meanwhile, marketing student Sharon Slattery has been named the 1996 Coca- Cola Scholarship winner.
The scholarship, worth
$10,000 over three years, was presented to the Faculty of Business student by the General Manager of CCA Beverages, Pat Molloy.
Another Faculty of Business student, Lani McFarland, has been presented with the Metway Bank Scholarship for second- year students majoring in banking and finance.
Leading Queensland chemical company Incitec Ltd has presented scholarships to three QUT students to con- tinue their studies.
Wayne Dearness, who graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering in 1995, received a postgraduate scholarship in tribology worth $10,000.
Final-year business management student Neil Dwyer received a $5,000 business scholarship, while final-year mechanical engineering student Nathan Pash received a $5,000 engin- eer ing scholarship from Incitec.
QUT Faculty of Built Environment & Engineering student Christopher Reilly has been awarded the $5,000 1997 Mackay Sugar scholarship.
Mr Reilly is in his final year of a combined Bachelor of Electrical Engineering
(Electronics) and Bachelor of Information Technology.
QUT’s Student Guild has awarded two sports scholarships and four half scholarships to support athletes who are attending and representing the university.
Waterpolo specialist Gail Miller, a first-year Bachelor of Applied Science (property economics), and diver David Lyons, a third-year Business- Law double degree student both received full, $2,500 scholarships from the Guild.
Swimmer Greg Shaw (Health), touch footballer Sharyn Williams (Education) and triathletes Greg Jordan and Leesa White (both Health) each received half- scholarships of $1,250.
The Guild has also recently launched a fund- raising program called the
“Friends of QUT Sport”
and is seeking tax-deductible donations to support the university’s participation in a range of sports. For inform- ation about the program, contact Dr Don Gordon (07) 3864 1684.
Aerospace avionics engin- eer ing student Ryan Regan was one of five finalists for the recently presented Schneider Award of Excellence.
Mr Regan, a final-year student, received $500 in the annual award, which is open to final-year electrical engineering students.
CALLING ALL LAW GRADUATES
QUT’s Law Faculty is trying to track down graduates from the past two decades to help celebrate its 20th anniversary later this year.
With around 3,000 graduates having completed degrees at QUT – or, before that, QIT – the search is on in earnest to find their most recent addresses
According to the Acting Dean of Law’s personal assistant Sherry Corfield, an anniversary steering comm- ittee has been established with sub-committees for a special gala dinner, an anni- versary gift and an
anniversary symposium.
If you are a Law graduate – or know of one who has not been in touch with the university recently – contact the faculty office on (07) 3864 2706.
5
Lifelong learner makes important links for Leading Schools
A
s the Queensland Government moves to give school principals greater flexibility and responsibility, QUT Master of Education graduate Daryl Hanly is working to ensure they have the skills to meet the challenge.Daryl is co-ordinator of Education Queensland’s Centre for Leadership Excellence which is developing the professional standards to be applied to school principals under the
Government’s Leading Schools program.
“Leading Schools are schools that will lead the way into the future – that will lead the way into the school-based management structure we are moving into in Queensland,” Daryl said.
“They will be different from other schools in a number of ways.
“One will be the governance in the school – there will be a school council structure – and there will be specific educational outcomes for which the principal will be accountable.”
Daryl said principals would be given increased flexibility in the area of curriculum development and in the way allocated resources were used to help deliver outcomes.
“Our work is about setting the standards for performance and providing leaders with processes for reaching those standards,” he said.
“The standards framework will articulate the performance outcomes and the centre will co-ordinate the provision of professional development and training which will be outsourced to other providers.
“Universities such as QUT have shown keen interest in being partners in this provision.”
Prior to taking on the co- ordinator’s role, Daryl spent 20 years in school administration.
“I did my teacher training at Kelvin Grove when it was the teachers training college and, after graduating in 1964, taught in the country before coming to Kelvin Grove High School to teach adults in the late 1960s,” he said.
“Kelvin Grove High was actually a dual campus for many years with two principals, one for adult education and one for the day courses.
“I then moved to a deputy principalship in Townsville for five years, then principal for five years at Kirwan High School until 1983 and then, from 1984 to 1995, I was principal at Kelvin Grove High School.
“While principal at Kelvin Grove I tried to establish closer links between the secondary school and what later became QUT. I was anxious to model a marriage between a university site and a school site.”
Daryl said it was this 20 years of experience as a principal and deputy principal which was the source of his deep interest in the professional development of school leaders.
“I saw this position in the Centre for Leadership excellence as a chance to take a lot of my practice and some of the theory and put it into a larger
framework,” he said.
“That’s why I’m here, because I have a keen interest in the development and training of leaders and aspiring leaders.”
Daryl completed his Master of Education in 1995 while principal at Kelvin Grove.
“I had started a masters degree when I was in Townsville but I was really anxious that as soon as a Master of Education came on board at QUT I wanted to be involved,” he said.
“I was attracted by the way in which the courses were offered at QUT, especially the way the coursework was rooted in practice.
“I could see significant practical applications of what I was doing.
“That’s what I really liked, that I could apply the learning to my own work.”
A devotee of lifelong learning, Daryl has commenced his Doctor of Education studies at QUT.
Queensland Centre for Leadership Excellence co-ordinator and Master of Education graduate Daryl Hanly
b y T r i n a M c L e l l a n
“Universities such
as QUT have shown keen
interest in being partners
in this provision”
6
A
s a school girl in the 1950s in the Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Cooroy, the bright lights of Brisbane and the possibility of a university education and a career seemed a world away to Ruth Kerr.However, with the encouragement of the local chemist and the support of her parents, she turned an embryonic dream of becoming a school teacher into a career as one of Queensland’s leading historians and archivists.
“Cooroy was full of farmers and practical women but few, if any, educated people other than the doctor, the dentist and the chemist,” Dr Kerr said.
“The local chemist stimulated a half dozen bright students in the 1950s to be educated properly. He told us how to further our studies and told our parents too.”
Today Dr Kerr and her husband continue this tradition of fostering a love of learning with generous donations to a range of institutions including QUT’s Foundation.
“We are interested in fundamental research in science and the humanities,”
Dr Kerr said.
What goes around comes around for dedicated historian
b y To n y W i l s o n
“I give money to QUT’s School of Humanities led by Professor Cameron Hazelhurst who, I believe, is a very solid scholar of history and his work is really worth supporting.”
After completing high school, Dr Kerr commenced a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Queensland and obtained a Certificate of Teaching from the Kelvin Grove Teachers College.
In 1978 she completed a Graduate Diploma in Library Science at QIT and, in 1986, was awarded her PhD in history from the University of Queensland.
Dr Kerr taught at a number of Queensland schools before taking on a job as an archivist with the Queensland Government.
“The office was on a Government reserve surrounded by lots of other Government and medical institutions which were all quite depressing really,”
she recalled.
“My window overlooked the high-security, 19th-Century section of Boggo Road Jail.”
“My window overlooked the high-security, 19th-Century section of Boggo Road Jail.”
Historian Ruth Kerr at work
Dr Kerr toiled for eight years in the dusty back rooms of the archives office before being seconded to the Crown Law Office to undertake research on the Mabo case which subsequently established Native Title rights for Torres Strait Islanders.
“My job was to gather oral history from the residents and principally to do a lot of searching in Government Departments for the records which relate to Murray Island and the administration of the Torres Strait,”
she said.
“The research took me to Cambridge University and into the Torres Strait.
“I was the first person given access to study the records of the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs which showed a sustained history of independence in attitude by the traditional residents as well as an attachment to their lands.”
Mrs Kerr continues to work in the area of Native Title for the State Mines and Energy Department.
F
or two graduating QUT students completing three intensive years of study late last year, there was little time to relax before they were back to work on the other side of the world.The students, Albert Katryan and Eon Boucher, are cadets employed by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco).
By mid-January they were each working in one of Guysuco’s eight mills, tackling process and quality control issues and participating in the
introduction of new technology for the Tate & Lyle-managed plants.
Having recently been the first two Guysuco cadets to complete Bachelor of Applied Chemistry degrees at QUT, the pair arrived back at work just as Guyana’s crushing season started to move into full swing.
Aged in their early 20s, the pair worked hard at their studies while in Brisbane, not only completing their requisite subjects in the minimum time, but also taking extra subjects in mechanical engineering in each of six semesters at QUT.
“But it’s not that hot once you’re at uni and we really appreciated the greater range of facilities available at QUT, the advanced technology
laboratories and media-equipped lecture theatres.
“They’re just not available in universities at home.”
Mr Katryan said that the pair’s employer had been so pleased with the success of their first two cadets that four more would be studying in Queensland this year.
Pioneering pair return home
“We really appreciated the greater range of facilities available at QUT.”
“We had limited free time while we were studying, so we didn’t get much of a chance to relax or see the sights,”
Mr Boucher admitted. “We just had our heads stuck in our books most of the time.”
When classes were finished each semester, the pair spent valuable time in a variety of Australian sugar mills, including Tate & Lyle’s Millaquin mill in Bundaberg, the Rocky Point export facility and a northern New South Wales mill called Broadwater near Ballina.
Mr Boucher, who comes from the capital of Guyana, Georgetown, and Mr Katryan, who comes from Corriverton – a rural community on the border with Suriname and only slightly north of the Equator – said they had really enjoyed attending university in Australia.
“Despite the fact we come from an equatorial country, it has been a lot hotter in Brisbane than we had expected it would be,” Mr Katryan said.
Eon Boucher and Albert Katryan take a short break in the City Botanic Gardens before heading home to Guyana earlier this year
b y T r i n a M c L e l l a n
More graduates ‘hit the books’
Q
UT is opening its doors to an increasing number of graduates who are returning to further their qualifications.Some have started a second degree, some a higher degree and others opt for one of the university’s wide range of professional short courses.
With continuing professional education (CPE) courses run over either summer/autumn or winter/spring, many graduates find they are enjoying being back in the habit of tertiary studies.
Attracting students from all over Australia and more than 14 other countries, QUT has a total of 104 postgraduate degree courses and more than 200 CPE courses on offer this year.
QUT is also offering mid-year entry for all of its postgraduate courses and for undergraduate courses in all faculties except Education and Law.
According to feedback from those advancing their careers at QUT – or engineering a career change – what appeals is that they have a number of options to complete their studies.
Depending on their professional or personal commitments, they can choose from standard coursework completed full- or part-time on campus to a combination of coursework and research or even classes conducted in their own workplace.
They can also have access to the latest technology and resources, with many lectures delivered in media- equipped lecture theatres and libraries boasting a growing number of electronic and database research tools and facilities.
For further information about QUT’s postgraduate courses, call Celia Chalk on (07) 3864 3124.
For details about CPE courses or to be put on the mailing list for twice-yearly CPE catalogues, call (07) 3864 2196.
b y T r i n a M c L e l l a n
Alumni coming back to QUT will surely notice the facelift at the George Street entrance ...
a new pedestrian mall overlooks the beautiful Botanic Gardens
10 7
Higher education
is the remedy – Beattie
The roulette wheel of politics that saw Peter Beattie rocket from the backbench to Health Minister and then to Opposition Leader in the State Parliament has left him with one regret – he was forced to cut short his PhD doctoral studies at QUT.
The Member for Central Brisbane converted his three-year PhD study of the Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms to a masters degree in 1996, graduating through QUT’s Arts Faculty
in April this year.
While he may not have the academic honour he originally sought, Queenslanders have Peter Beattie – would-be-Premier with a rock-solid commitment to Fitzgerald’s recommendations and the vision of accountability, honesty and integrity in government.
QUT masters graduate and Opposition Leader Peter Beattie ...
postgraduate study cements
commitment to honesty and integrity in public administration and the
criminal justice system
“I’ve already made it clear that when we win the next State election we will be committed to the Criminal Justice Commission and the account- ability provided by the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee (both key Fitzgerald reforms),” the Opposition Leader said.
“I found it (postgraduate study) useful, not just in the process of recording a period of history and examining it in terms of what it meant and how it worked, but to evaluate it in my own head.
“If we keep the spirit of the early dream – of honesty and integrity in public administration and the criminal justice system – then it will be a useful record of what was done (through the Fitzgerald reforms) and what can be improved on for the future.”
Mr Beattie’s 76,239-word thesis The Window of Opportunity: The Fitzgerald Experiment and the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission 1987-1992 explores whether the inquiry achieved in practice what Tony Fitzgerald, QC, intended.
The terms of reference of the 1987 inquiry originally covered possible illegal police misconduct but were extended three times to cover the general maladministration of the criminal justice system, the political structure and corruption.
During the next two years the Queensland political system and police force were rocked to the core with revelations of corruption, bribes and politicisation (of the police force) at the highest levels.
Tony Fitzgerald’s recommend- ations included the establishment of the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) and the Electoral and Administration Reform Commission (EARC) to
reform the criminal justice, administrat- ion and electoral systems in Queensland.
Peter Beattie, a solicitor by profession, was never far from the inquiry action: he served as one of the Labor Party’s solicitors and later, as an MP, as the first chairman of the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee – the parliamentary watchdog for the Criminal Justice Commission – from March 1990 to August 1992.
“I’ve always had an interest in fighting corruption and mechanisms that could be put in place to achieve that,”
he said.
“I decided that it was important that there be some record kept of that early period, 1987 to 1992: an examination of how the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee and the Criminal Justice Commission interfaced, what they had sought to do and how they had tried to achieve it.
“I came to a number of conclusions (through my thesis): I am concerned that if there isn’t public interest in the ethical behaviour of politicians, public servants and police- men, there is a danger standards will slip and we will revert to the corruption we saw in the 1970’s and 80’s.
“I reached the view that the power to investigate organised crime should be removed from the Criminal Justice Commission and handed to a separate crime commission; that the reform has to be maintained, and that the Criminal Justice Commission’s accountability processes were adequate in terms of the parliamentary committee.”
Honesty in Government isn’t the only thing Mr Beattie is passionate about. Education is also an issue that lies very close to his political heart and one
b y A n d r e a H a m m o n d
of the golden keys that has helped him ease open the doors to success.
The youngest of seven children from a traditional, working-class family, he was an outstanding student and the first member of his family ever to go on to higher education.
An arts and law degree transformed the ambitious Atherton High School student into a promising young solicitor who then became the Labor Queensland State Secretary, overseeing 16 Federal and State election campaigns before becoming a Member of Parliament himself in 1989.
“Education means that you can transcend whatever financial or personal circumstances you may have – I guess I realised quite early that education was a way to improve yourself,” he said.
“My government will be heavily committed to education and health:
health because it’s a quality of life issue and education because its transcends an individual’s financial circumstances and gives an opportunity for merit for people to succeed on.”
Peter Beattie served on QUT Council for two terms between 1990 and 1995.
“I guess I realised quite early that education was a way to improve yourself.”
Q U T L I N K S
9
Higher education
is the remedy – Beattie
The roulette wheel of politics that saw Peter Beattie rocket from the backbench to Health Minister and then to Opposition Leader in the State Parliament has left him with one regret – he was forced to cut short his PhD doctoral studies at QUT.
The Member for Central Brisbane converted his three-year PhD study of the Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms to a masters degree in 1996, graduating through QUT’s Arts Faculty
in April this year.
While he may not have the academic honour he originally sought, Queenslanders have Peter Beattie – would-be-Premier with a rock-solid commitment to Fitzgerald’s recommendations and the vision of accountability, honesty and integrity in government.
QUT masters graduate and Opposition Leader Peter Beattie ...
postgraduate study cements
commitment to honesty and integrity in public administration and the
criminal justice system
“I’ve already made it clear that when we win the next State election we will be committed to the Criminal Justice Commission and the account- ability provided by the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee (both key Fitzgerald reforms),” the Opposition Leader said.
“I found it (postgraduate study) useful, not just in the process of recording a period of history and examining it in terms of what it meant and how it worked, but to evaluate it in my own head.
“If we keep the spirit of the early dream – of honesty and integrity in public administration and the criminal justice system – then it will be a useful record of what was done (through the Fitzgerald reforms) and what can be improved on for the future.”
Mr Beattie’s 76,239-word thesis The Window of Opportunity: The Fitzgerald Experiment and the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission 1987-1992 explores whether the inquiry achieved in practice what Tony Fitzgerald, QC, intended.
The terms of reference of the 1987 inquiry originally covered possible illegal police misconduct but were extended three times to cover the general maladministration of the criminal justice system, the political structure and corruption.
During the next two years the Queensland political system and police force were rocked to the core with revelations of corruption, bribes and politicisation (of the police force) at the highest levels.
Tony Fitzgerald’s recommend- ations included the establishment of the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) and the Electoral and Administration Reform Commission (EARC) to
reform the criminal justice, administrat- ion and electoral systems in Queensland.
Peter Beattie, a solicitor by profession, was never far from the inquiry action: he served as one of the Labor Party’s solicitors and later, as an MP, as the first chairman of the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee – the parliamentary watchdog for the Criminal Justice Commission – from March 1990 to August 1992.
“I’ve always had an interest in fighting corruption and mechanisms that could be put in place to achieve that,”
he said.
“I decided that it was important that there be some record kept of that early period, 1987 to 1992: an examination of how the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee and the Criminal Justice Commission interfaced, what they had sought to do and how they had tried to achieve it.
“I came to a number of conclusions (through my thesis): I am concerned that if there isn’t public interest in the ethical behaviour of politicians, public servants and police- men, there is a danger standards will slip and we will revert to the corruption we saw in the 1970’s and 80’s.
“I reached the view that the power to investigate organised crime should be removed from the Criminal Justice Commission and handed to a separate crime commission; that the reform has to be maintained, and that the Criminal Justice Commission’s accountability processes were adequate in terms of the parliamentary committee.”
Honesty in Government isn’t the only thing Mr Beattie is passionate about. Education is also an issue that lies very close to his political heart and one
b y A n d r e a H a m m o n d
of the golden keys that has helped him ease open the doors to success.
The youngest of seven children from a traditional, working-class family, he was an outstanding student and the first member of his family ever to go on to higher education.
An arts and law degree transformed the ambitious Atherton High School student into a promising young solicitor who then became the Labor Queensland State Secretary, overseeing 16 Federal and State election campaigns before becoming a Member of Parliament himself in 1989.
“Education means that you can transcend whatever financial or personal circumstances you may have – I guess I realised quite early that education was a way to improve yourself,” he said.
“My government will be heavily committed to education and health:
health because it’s a quality of life issue and education because its transcends an individual’s financial circumstances and gives an opportunity for merit for people to succeed on.”
Peter Beattie served on QUT Council for two terms between 1990 and 1995.
“I guess I realised quite early that education was a way to improve yourself.”
9
F
or two graduating QUT students completing three intensive years of study late last year, there was little time to relax before they were back to work on the other side of the world.The students, Albert Katryan and Eon Boucher, are cadets employed by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco).
By mid-January they were each working in one of Guysuco’s eight mills, tackling process and quality control issues and participating in the
introduction of new technology for the Tate & Lyle-managed plants.
Having recently been the first two Guysuco cadets to complete Bachelor of Applied Chemistry degrees at QUT, the pair arrived back at work just as Guyana’s crushing season started to move into full swing.
Aged in their early 20s, the pair worked hard at their studies while in Brisbane, not only completing their requisite subjects in the minimum time, but also taking extra subjects in mechanical engineering in each of six semesters at QUT.
“But it’s not that hot once you’re at uni and we really appreciated the greater range of facilities available at QUT, the advanced technology
laboratories and media-equipped lecture theatres.
“They’re just not available in universities at home.”
Mr Katryan said that the pair’s employer had been so pleased with the success of their first two cadets that four more would be studying in Queensland this year.
Pioneering pair return home
“We really appreciated the greater range of facilities available at QUT.”
“We had limited free time while we were studying, so we didn’t get much of a chance to relax or see the sights,”
Mr Boucher admitted. “We just had our heads stuck in our books most of the time.”
When classes were finished each semester, the pair spent valuable time in a variety of Australian sugar mills, including Tate & Lyle’s Millaquin mill in Bundaberg, the Rocky Point export facility and a northern New South Wales mill called Broadwater near Ballina.
Mr Boucher, who comes from the capital of Guyana, Georgetown, and Mr Katryan, who comes from Corriverton – a rural community on the border with Suriname and only slightly north of the Equator – said they had really enjoyed attending university in Australia.
“Despite the fact we come from an equatorial country, it has been a lot hotter in Brisbane than we had expected it would be,” Mr Katryan said.
Eon Boucher and Albert Katryan take a short break in the City Botanic Gardens before heading home to Guyana earlier this year
b y T r i n a M c L e l l a n
More graduates ‘hit the books’
Q
UT is opening its doors to an increasing number of graduates who are returning to further their qualifications.Some have started a second degree, some a higher degree and others opt for one of the university’s wide range of professional short courses.
With continuing professional education (CPE) courses run over either summer/autumn or winter/spring, many graduates find they are enjoying being back in the habit of tertiary studies.
Attracting students from all over Australia and more than 14 other countries, QUT has a total of 104 postgraduate degree courses and more than 200 CPE courses on offer this year.
QUT is also offering mid-year entry for all of its postgraduate courses and for undergraduate courses in all faculties except Education and Law.
According to feedback from those advancing their careers at QUT – or engineering a career change – what appeals is that they have a number of options to complete their studies.
Depending on their professional or personal commitments, they can choose from standard coursework completed full- or part-time on campus to a combination of coursework and research or even classes conducted in their own workplace.
They can also have access to the latest technology and resources, with many lectures delivered in media- equipped lecture theatres and libraries boasting a growing number of electronic and database research tools and facilities.
For further information about QUT’s postgraduate courses, call Celia Chalk on (07) 3864 3124.
For details about CPE courses or to be put on the mailing list for twice-yearly CPE catalogues, call (07) 3864 2196.
b y T r i n a M c L e l l a n
Alumni coming back to QUT will surely notice the facelift at the George Street entrance ...
a new pedestrian mall overlooks the beautiful Botanic Gardens
Q U T L I N K S
10 7
11
S
ome people cannot get enough of QUT . . . just ask Karyn Brinkley.In a relationship with the university which stretches back almost 15 years, this Business graduate has at various times been a full-time
undergraduate, part-time postgraduate, full-time general staff member and a part-time academic. Today she is a member of the university’s Council.
Karyn completed a communication degree in 1985, majoring in advertising.
“The last six months I was studying I was working at an ad agency, Norris Brown, part-time and went full- time when I finished the degree,” she said.
“They were bought out by Mojo, so I worked for a very brief time for Mojo.
“From there I went to a string of advertising agencies – the mid-’80s was a very turbulent time in advertising and one place after another was closing down.
“I seemed to pick all the ones who got the phone call on Monday from New York saying ‘Close (that agency) down’.
“I think I had eight jobs in the space of three or four years in advertising – but I was never out of work for longer than two days.”
Fed up with the insecurity, Karyn began working for the Queensland Forestry Department as an information officer.
“I got into community liaison and consultation roles – it was about the time of the Fitzgerald inquiry into Fraser Island – the other Fitzgerald inquiry,” she said.
“At the same time I was studying my masters degree in communication management at QUT in environmental conflict resolution – I started that degree in 1990 and finished in 1993.”
In early 1994, Ms Brinkley returned to her alma mater as deputy director of QUT’s Public Affairs Department.
University a two-way street for Karyn
“QUT has given me a lot ...
and serving on Council is an opportunity to give something back.”
“I was really thrown in the deep end – I had one morning’s briefing and then the director went overseas for three months and I was it,” she said.
“While working at QUT I also tutored undergraduates and postgrads in communication.”
Karyn left QUT in 1995 to take up her current position as manager of corporate communication for the Port of Brisbane Corporation.
Shortly after leaving QUT she was elected as one of two convocation representatives on QUT Council.
“I enjoy the ethos of QUT and I really believe in what the university is trying to do. QUT has given me a lot, both personally and professionally, and serving on Council is an opportunity to give something back,” she said.
Karyn said that involvement in Council was a way of preserving the prestige of the degrees held by graduates.
“It is important that the university you went to continues to have a good reputation for its courses and the quality of its graduates.”
b y To n y W i l s o n
Port of Brisbane corporate communications manager and Business graduate Karyn Brinkley catches up on a little light reading before a QUT Council meeting where she is a convocation representative
12
Industry captains recall their time at Central Tech.
b y N o e l G e n t n e r One of QUT’s predecessor institutions, the
Central Technical College, was located on part of what is now the university’s Gardens Point campus in the heart of Brisbane. Two of the college’s graduates recall their long and constructive links to this centre of higher learning.
R
ecalling his time as a student at the Central Technical College in the mid-1950s, Graham Drummond, isn’t sure he could face another nine years of night classes.But the chief executive of Allgas Energy Limited acknowledges the value of what his studies have allowed him to achieve and the growing need to demonstrate advanced qualifications.
“It was a seven-year civil engin- eering diploma –␣ all done at night – and when I graduated, we found the diploma was not being recognised by the Institute of Engineers,” he recalled.
“Central Tech. then ran a conversion course which was acceptable that took me another two years of study.”
However, he said, the effort had provided a good grounding because students “could apply what you were
learning at college to what you were doing on the job”.
But, he noted the requirement for qualifications had changed vastly.
“The old days of having an initial qualification and sitting on one’s laurels for the rest of one’s career are gone,”
Graham said. “We are going to be on a course of continuous education.”
In the past Graham has worked with QUT’s Foundation to help bridge the gap between institutions and the business world. His assessment is that QUT is going in the right direction.
“I think the university is going places, it has got the runs on the board, the enthusiasm, but it will have to continually strive to meet these new challenges.”
For fellow graduate Jack Hutchinson, a course “inadvertently”
undertaken years ago at the Central Technical College was fortunate for him as the head of a Brisbane, construction firm.
The chairman of Hutchinson Builders Pty Ltd – a family company established by his grandfather in 1912 – Jack recently became president of the Queensland Master Builders’
Association, having previously been national president of the Australian Institute of Building.
“I left school with a Senior pass, which was a bit of a rarity for someone starting an apprenticeship in the ’50s, and my father sent me down to the college, saying that I had better do something else as well as carpentry.”
At the college Jack was asked whether he would like to study archi- tecture, to which he replied he “couldn’t even draw a straight line”. A course in quantity surveying was then suggested and he replied he’d never heard of such a discipline.
“I had no idea what he was talking about, but I said: ‘Okay’,” he confessed.
“I was probably terribly lucky, because it was a good course and, strangely enough, something that suited me and proved a great grounding for the business later.”
Eight years after graduating in 1958, Jack joined the family company which, today, builds schools, hospitals, commercial and industrial buildings and does some civil engineering work.
Jack’s son, Scott, is now the managing director of the family company and, while a university degree is not a prerequisite to be an employee of the company, Jack said, “we are finding that most of the people achieving results for us are graduates from QUT”.
Allgas chief executive Graham Drummond . . .
‘The old days of having an initial qualification and sitting on one’s laurels for the rest of one’s career are gone’.
Hutchinson Builders Pty Ltd chairman Jack Hutchinson reflects on the calibre of graduates . . .
‘most of the people achieving results for us are graduates from QUT’
13
While most links on the Alumni home page are now ready to access, a couple will be “under construction” for a little while yet.
Alumni Relations officer Leesa Watkin, said the site was the culmination of several months’ work.
“In the real world, many organisations are now using the World Wide Web to communicate with important audiences and we value both the interest of alumni in QUT and what’s happening here as well as what
‘networks’ we can foster between our alumni,” Ms Watkin said.
WEEKES MOVES TO QUT The former managing director of Castlemaine Perkins, Ray Weekes, has joined the Faculty of Business as an adjunct professor and
“CEO in residence”.
Mr Weekes’ responsibilities will include helping to establish an external Dean’s advisory board and a Graduate School of Business advisory board, as well as setting up forums for key business leaders and lecturing in strategic management areas and corporate governance of the university’s MBA program.
Business Dean, Professor Trevor Grigg, said Mr Weekes’
strong network of local, national and international business contacts would be particularly beneficial to the faculty.
DO YOU KNOW AN OUTSTANDING GRADUATE?
The search is already underway for QUT’s Out- standing Alumni for 1997.
This annual award recognises the valuable contributions made to professions and the community by QUT graduates.
Finalists are also judged on their contribution to QUT’s goals of optimising teaching, research and community service.
Nominees can come from any profession and may be noted for their achievements
on local, state, national or international levels.
This year’s presentation will take place at an Alumni Breakfast to be held on September 3 at the Heritage Hotel.
For a nomination form or more information, contact Jill Dale on (07) 3864 2821.
ALUMNI GET NEW WAY TO KEEP IN TOUCH
In keeping with the new-look QUT Links, the university’s Alumni Relations Office has launched its revised World Wide Web site for its members to access up- to-date information about QUT and other alumni.
The new WWW site can be accessed either from QUT’s home page (which is located at http://
www.qut.edu.au) or, directly from QUT Alumni’s home page, (at http://
www.qut.edu.au/pubs/
00org/development/alumni/
alumni_home.html).
From the alumni home page, easy to follow icons point to handy information about QUT’s Career Mentor Scheme, Convocation, QUT today (and yesterday), the Outstanding Alumni Award, scholarships, continuing professional education, postgraduate courses and events as well as links to current QUT publications and forms to allow graduates to update their details with the university.
Your thought will make a real difference
Queensland University of Technology GPO Box 2434 Brisbane 4001 By thinking of QUT in your will, you can make a real difference to research and teaching programs which directly benefit the community.
In health, for example, QUT researchers have made strong, practical contributions to our understanding of leukaemia, Ross River virus, diabetes and cancer.
QUT scholarships too, help bright students become outstanding professionals with their feet firmly on the ground.
If you'd like to make a real difference, contact Jenny Kelk, QUT Development Office, on (07) 3864 2147.
A university for the real world
Become a contributing member of
QUT Foundation Incorporated
You can become a member of QUT Foundation by providing direct support to QUT's teaching and research programs through tax deductible donations of $100 or more per year.
Complete this form and send it with a cheque (made payable to QUT Foundation Incorporated) or your credit card details to:
QUT Foundation Incorporated GPO Box 2434
Brisbane Qld 4001
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