Anyone for coffee?
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QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2111 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778
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Dynamic youth
dance show
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Amazing Leith and her special family
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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper • Issue 192 • August 3, 1999
Jerry’s surprise visit
W
hen Dianne Eden, the QUT head of Acting and Technical Design, wrote a fan letter to comic legend Jerry Lewis she never dreamed he would call her.“Dianne, this is Jerry Lewis,” he said.
Ms Eden, for once, was lost for words.
Then as the seconds ticked by Mr Lewis thundered:
“Speak to me woman. Are you there?”
And speak she did. About how much the students loved his work; about her passion for QUT’s Academy of the Arts; about the talent of the students.
Touched by her dedication and excited by the school’s work, he offered to conduct a free workshop with the acting students.
Last week Mr Lewis met face-to-face with 50 QUT acting students. For nearly three hours he stood in front of the lights, sharing without reserve his thoughts about acting and living. He told students they had to keep in touch with their “inner child”.
“If a negative individual tries to knock you down and you giggle at him, then they lose,” he said.
“You must keep the child in you alive, including the mischief and silliness.”
Comedian, actor and director Jerry Lewis spent nearly three hours talking to QUT acting students at Kelvin Grove last week.
Throughout the workshop, Mr Lewis switched from earnest father figure to mischievous child.
The audience erupted into laughter as Mr Lewis performed a string of routines. In one he compared how an adult and a nine-year-old behave in a lift.
But he had a serious message for the students:
know your craft, keep in touch with the child within, and always be truthful to yourself.
Mr Lewis – who has lectured in universities for 15 years – is a well-published author on acting and directing and is renowned for his directing skills.
Ms Eden said she recently wrote to Mr Lewis, who is touring Australia, asking him for his autograph for the students.
“I only wrote to tell him every generation loves him and to ask him to sign a program for the students – I never dreamed he would have time for the actors,”
she said.
At the end of the workshop, Academy of the Arts head Professor Peter Lavery and Ms Eden presented Mr Lewis with a certificate making him a Fellow of the Academy.
– Amanda O’Chee By Amanda O’Chee
The Australian Football League has called on QUT’s Brisbane Graduate School of Business to help prepare a watershed report into the future of AFL in Queensland.
A joint announcement was made in Brisbane by the AFL Queensland Review Committee Chairman John Brown and QUT Associate Professor Susan Dann.
Dr Dann will work with three final- year MBA students to collect and analyse research data and then recommend strategies to boost the growth and popularity of AFL in Queensland, and particularly the Brisbane Lions.
The QUT report – due on October 31 – will review the AFL’s marketing, promotion and branding strategies in Queensland, its governance and administrative structures, and investigate growth opportunities for State, country and junior AFL competitions.
Dr Dann said her research team would recommend business and marketing strategies to maximise the growth of AFL in Queensland over the next 10 years.
“This agreement is a great opportunity for the academic and sporting worlds to come together,” Dr Dann said.
Under the agreement, Dr Dann and the MBA students will be able to use the research for academic papers.
“The QUT arrangement will enable us to achieve the blend of football knowledge and external expert advice and assistance which is so critical in a report such as this,” Mr Brown said.
Dr Dann will accompany the committee on its state-wide tour which starts in Cairns on August 13.
Experts to help map future of
Aussie Rules
Industrial action on campus
QUT has been advised that some NTEU staff plan industrial action this week which will disrupt classes.
• See story on Page 2. For more details see Academic EB Update at w w w . q u t . e d u . a u / c h a n / o d v c / ebnewslet.pdf
‘You must keep the child in you alive, including the mischief ’
Page 2 INSIDE QUT August 3 , 1999
From the Inside ... From the Inside ... From the Inside ... From the Inside ... by David Hawke by David Hawke by David Hawke by David Hawke
A word from the Vice-Chancellor
Strike action to disrupt classes
Business warned to prepare for GST
The School of Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design has recruited retired professionals to become associate members of its Research and Design for Ageing International Network.
This new initiative is being co- ordinated by the school’s research associate, Dr Malgosia Zlobicki.
She said selected professional volunteers would offer their services to the school at least once a week.
Dr Zlobicki said she was aware that there were some clinics at QUT that brought in people for assistance, but
“we will basically invite people in with expertise to assist us in all tasks”.
In May, about 20 people from diverse backgrounds attended the first information session for retired professionals where they were encouraged to participate in a range of projects.
“The tasks are varied and include areas in management, administration, cataloguing, computing, photography and editing.”
Dr Zlobicki said there was a need, for example, for assistance with the organisation and promotion of seminars.
For more information email Dr Zlobicki at [email protected] or call 3864 4074. The Web address is h t t p : / / w w w . a i i d . b e e . q u t . e d u . a u / R&DesAge
– Noel Gentner
Design Network recruits volunteers
Fifty of the State’s most aspiring young astronauts converged on Brisbane recently for the Queensland Youth Space Forum.
The high school students constructed and launched model rockets, spoke by video link to NASA astronaut Dr Andy Thomas, conducted micro-gravity experiments and watched as a hybrid rocket motor from the Australian Space Research Institute was ignited and burst into flames.
Astronaut dreams launched
During the three-day camp, students were introduced to cutting-edge space and satellite technology and met world- renowned astrophysicist and the Young Australian of the Year 1999 Dr Bryan Gaensler.
The Queensland Youth Space Forum is run by the Australian Students Space Association (ASSA), which was founded by QUT students.
Yes, Minister, coffee is served at Artisans on the Yard
Taking the first sip of a freshly brewed cup of coffee, Minister for Mines and Energy Tony McGrady officially opened new cafe, Artisans on the Yard, at the Gardens Point campus last week. The Yard and coffee shop front the new design building, D Block, which was opened earlier this year.
By Noel Gentner
The trauma of Y2K will be swiftly followed by the drama that the introduction of GST on July 1 2000 (1J2K) will present, delegates at a School of Accountancy Business Links seminar have been told.
The guest speaker at last week’s seminar was tax expert Steve Howlin, who is senior manager of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Taxation Services.
Mr Howlin has more than 14 years’
GST and VAT experience in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia.
He said that whereas Y2K posed largely technical IT problems, the GST posed broader business and tax technical issues that required whole business solutions.
Mr Howlin explained that the introduction of the GST was not merely a “technical” taxation issue.
“More important to business will be the profound impact the GST will have on the bottom line of business both in the implementation stage and beyond,”
Mr Howlin said.
“The GST represents risks that must be avoided and opportunities that must be grasped. Businesses may fall or rise depending on how prepared they are for the GST.”
He said experience elsewhere in the world showed that there was a surge in demand in the lead up to implementation of GST.
Mr Howlin was the first speaker in the School of Accountancy’s second semester presentations.
The seminars aim to address contemporary issues relevant to the wider business community and to provide a forum for staff and students to liaise with industry representatives in an informal environment.
The next seminar, on September 8, will be addressed by Paul Moni, national accounting advisor of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
On October 19, Andre van Zyl of Value Focused Consulting will speak on performance management.
The seminars are free and are held at 6pm in the Owen J Wordsworth Room on level 12 of S Block at Gardens Point.
For more information email Keitha Dunstan at [email protected] or call 3864 4316.
Tax expert Steve Howlin ...
urges business to be prepared for the implementation of GST.
Amanda O’Chee
L
ectures are likely to be disrupted this week as some QUT academic staff engage in National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) strike action over pay and conditions.This follows strike action at several universities as the NTEU pursues a national campaign which includes a 19 per cent salary increase over a three-year agreement. QUT has offered 5.5 per cent over the period, claiming this figure is sustainable without significant job losses.
Enterprise bargaining negotiations with the NTEU for academic staff have been under way at QUT since February.
Similar negotiations are occurring at universities country-wide in an environment of reduced funding from Government including no salary supplementation, increased levels of competition and changes in expectations of universities in areas of research and teaching.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said QUT would not meet a union claim that resulted in significant job loss and increased workloads for those staff who were left.
“QUT values highly its relationship with academic staff. We wish to continue to foster that relationship through appropriate and affordable workplace and remuneration policies,” he said.
“We recognise NTEU members’ rights to take industrial action, but such action will not increase Government funding, QUT revenue or maintain job security.
“The answer to the problem is at the bargaining table, where we have made progress. We are committed to ensuring that students experience minimum disruption during this period of industrial action and they that will be kept informed.”
While some universities had offered pay increases above the QUT offer, Professor Coaldrake said that each university was different in its mission and activities, and its ability to pay. An analysis of QUT’s resources plan showed the 5.5 per cent was sustainable.
“However, we are continuing to examine our financial capacity to determine whether our position on salary increases may be reviewed without significant job loss and workload implications,” Professor Coaldrake said.
“We are aware that the other Brisbane metropolitan universities have made salary offers to their staff and that the issue of comparability with these universities, in particular, is of concern to our staff.”
President of the NTEU branch at QUT Terry Farr said the strike action had been called following negotiations over a long period with the university in which the union felt management had taken quite a hostile attitude toward the academic staff.
“QUT management have been unwilling to seriously consider concerns raised by staff through the union on issues of a roll back of conditions and pay,” Mr Farr said.
Having your say
Next week I will go around the university to tell staff about the results of the employee opinion survey that all staff recently had the chance to complete.
Although such surveys are an established management tool in many workplaces, they are still a relative novelty in Australian universities.
Universities by their nature are also somewhat resistant to global judgments about staff satisfaction in that they are highly complex organisations made up of diverse academic and professional groups.
The experiences of designing the survey instrument and administering it to staff have themselves been instructive for us in learning about the issues that are important to staff.
The results of the survey give us valuable information about staff perceptions and can set a benchmark for future surveys.
The survey report has identified a number of management and communication issues that the university needs to address in order to
improve the experience of staff working at QUT.
It also points to a number of areas where we seem to be doing well.
Staff opinion surveys are only one tool to use in managing a complex institution.
Nevertheless, the university does take the results of the survey seriously and intends to address the issues which this survey has raised.
– Professor Dennis Gibson
“So I said to my student: ‘Just because Jerry
Lewis says you must listen to the child within,
you can’t say you were too busy playing to
have completed your assignment!’.”
Free Public Lecture on Successful Ageing
To celebrate The International Year of Older Persons 1999 and QUT’s 10/150 Anniversary Year, QUT’s Faculty of Arts is pleased to present a free public lecture by Foundation President of the Australian Association of Gerontology and renowned author Sidney Sax.
His lecture, entitiled “Successful Ageing”, will be held on
QUT F
ACULTYOFA
RTSWednesday 18 August 1999 at 7.00pm, Room C321, QUT’s Carseldine campus, Beams Road, Carseldine.
Sidney Sax has had over 30 years’
experience in health planning and policy making at senior levels.
A supper reception will follow. To reserve your seat please phone Sue Westbrook on 3864 4616.
Business
tax author at QUT forum
Work on the QUT Art Museum got off to a smashing start at Gardens Point campus last month when Art Committee board member Jan Manton donned a hard hat and struck the first blow.
Ms Manton, chairman of the fundraising committee for the museum, swung a sledgehammer to mark the beginning of demolition work in level 1 of U Block.
Teams of workers will be knocking down false ceilings and lowering floor levels at night for six weeks while business in the Chancellery and Division of Administrative Services will
continue as usual on the upper levels of the building.
The construction of the Art Museum is scheduled to be completed by December, while its six galleries – which will include a gallery for graduate exhibitions – will open to the public by February or March next year.
By Andrea Hammond
Researchers at QUT are mapping combinations of human resources strategies to help managers run their businesses more effectively.
A joint alliance between QUT and HRM Consulting promises to put to rest the notion that human resource issues are the “soft stuff” of business management.
School of Management academic Dr John Martin said research by PhD student Michael Bibo would help take the guesswork out of human resource management (HRM) initiatives.
Ultimately results would feed into QUT’s HRM subjects to secure their
Art museum off to smashing start
School of Management academic John Martin (left) and PhD student Michael Bibo .... strategies will remove guesswork from human resource management initiatives.
Hard-edge HR strategies devised
place as the best of their kind in a Bachelor of Business course in Australia, Dr Martin said.
“The stereotypical view out there in the community is that human resources is about soft stuff – feel-good strategies, intuition and the latest HR fad.
“HR has a much harder edge than it’s ever had in the past and this will continue to be the case in the future.
Working with this firm allows us to make the connections.”
Michael Bibo will give up his position as a full-time QUT lecturer to tackle the PhD research.
Under the alliance, HRM Consulting will give QUT full access to its sophisticated computerised database of
HR benchmarking information on Australian and international firms.
Mr Bibo said he hoped to pinpoint combinations of different factors that would be of practical use to Australian businesses.
“I’d like to show that HR initiatives and strategies really can make a difference in organisations, not just in helping people feel better about being in organisations but actually helping run the business better,” Mr Bibo said.
Mr Bibo, a first-class honours student, has been awarded a three-year Australian Research Council Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry) and will divide his time between QUT and HRM Consulting’s offices in Brisbane.
Review of Business Tax author John Ralph at the QUT Business Leaders’ Forum at the Hilton Hotel in Brisbane last week.
By Noel Gentner
A QUT academic has been asked to serve on a national committee investigating the impact of the GST on charities.
The committee meets for the first time in Canberra later this week.
The meeting is being called by the chairman of the Charities/Not for Profit Consultative Committee, Rick Matthews, who is Deputy Commissioner GST in the Australian Taxation Office.
Dr Myles McGregor-Lowndes from QUT’s Faculty of Business, who runs the Program on Non-profit Corporations, has been invited to be part of the committee advising the Government on the GST as it relates to charities and non-profit organisations.
The committee will report to the Government on the critical issues to be resolved in respect of charities and the implementation of the GST.
Dr McGregor-Lowndes has been researching the issues surrounding the effect of tax reform on the non-profit sector and, in particular, the incidence of compliance costs on the sector.
“As non-profit organisations have in the past largely been outside the tax net, these new laws will dramatically impact on their administration and their financial viability,” he said.
“Non-profit organisations that fail to prepare for the GST will suffer severe financial penalties.”
QUT charity expert to
serve on tax committee
By Trina McLellan
W
ith just days to go before the eagerly anticipated Review of Business Tax was presented to the Federal Government, its author John Ralph addressed hundreds of private and public sector executives last week at the QUT Business Leaders’ Forum.Speaking to more than 450 executives at the Hilton Hotel luncheon, Mr Ralph addressed the complex question of what reforms to business taxation were needed to prepare Australia for the next century.
Mr Ralph, banker Bob Joss and Southcorp Chairman Rick Allert have conducted a comprehensive review of business taxation over the past 10 months.
Addressing a press conference before his speech, he said the Federal Government would be likely to release the 700-page report within a matter of weeks, rather than months.
“I understand the report will be issued uncensored with all of its recommendations, but not before the Government has had a chance to put in place a number of measures,” he said.
He said his final report had involved extensive consultation, two discussion papers, an expert study, 18 focus groups
and more than 400 submissions from the private sector.
“I’m pleased to say there was extensive private sector involvement in the review secretariat, with business, academia, management experts and taxation consultants all contributing,” Mr Ralph said.
“What we did was road-test the process that was set out in our first discussion paper by drawing on cross- functional teams.”
This highly successful collaborative model, he said, had been extended to at least one of the document’s recommendations that a proposed business taxation board would consist of a minority of senior public servants from relevant departments and a majority of members from outside the Public Service.
He said this consultative approach had led to recommendations for a much more robust system of business taxation.
The proposed structure would be sturdier than the present system.
Mr Ralph said moves by certain business leaders to survey business sentiment towards compliance with the report’s recommendations before even the community had seen the final document was “premature”.
Art Collection Committee board member Jan Manton at the start of demolition work in level 1 of U Block at Gardens Point.
The new Art Museum will exhibit key works from QUT’s 1,600-strong collection.
The Art Museum and the to-be-completed 400-seat Gardens Theatre will form a new cultural precinct for Brisbane and the QUT community.
Page 4 INSIDE QUT August 3 , 1999
For the second time in his career as a Queensland Minister Tony McGrady filled in at short notice for another minister to officiate at a QUT event. So masterful was he at the Artisans on the Yard opening that the university is determined to find a legitimate reason for the Mines and Energy Minister to come back to the campus as himself.
By Andrea Hammond
M
any retirees living near golf courses “suffer in silence” under a hail of golf balls rather than antagonise wealthy golf course neighbours, says QUT researcher Dr Jeff Wilks.He said residents had clear rights under Australian law but were reluctant to pursue them because of high legal costs and the fear of being seen as troublemakers.
Dr Wilks is principal research fellow with QUT’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q), which is based in the School of Psychology and Counsellling.
“There is this notion that it is pleasant living beside a golf course, that it is an idyllic and peaceful existence whereas often the opposite is true,” he said.
“It is a hidden problem in our community. As new proposals are put forward for new golf course residential estates – often on quite small tracts of land – the golf ball nuisance problem is likely to escalate.”
Dr Wilks, who has conducted research into golf ball nuisance cases in
Residents wary of
crying ‘fore’
Australia and overseas, said people were often only spurred to action when their children or grandchildren were hit by golf balls.
In one case in Sydney, the owners of a property adjoining a fairway collected 101 golf balls in three months. They only took action after a small child was hit by a golf ball.
In another case, golfers teeing off regularly scolded children making noise in a nearby backyard. On another occasion an irate golf player entered the yard and knocked the barking pet dog unconscious with his golf club.
Dr Wilks said golf clubs needed to balance the needs of their members with their responsibility for the protection of people and property on adjoining properties.
“In most cases, if there is a broken tile or broken window, the golf clubs are very good and will step in and pay for the breakage,” Dr Wilks said.
“What the clubs are reluctant to do is change the fairways or make any major structural change that would cost them a lot of money, inconvenience or risk their championship golf course certification.”
Jeff Wilks, principal research fellow with CARRS-Q, discounts the notion that it is pleasant to live near a golf course. He says many retirees living near clubs suffer in silence under a hail of golf balls.
Canny marketing of first novel scrutinised in new publication
International marketing lecturer Tony Peloso (left)( and MBA student Partho Sengupta ... new case studies collection focuses on a controversial marketing campaign.
By Andrea Hammond
The controversial marketing of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is the centrepiece of a collection of case studies to be published soon.
Marketing of a Roy, by MBA student Partho Sengupta, raises questions about the strategies and ethics of Harper- Collins’ aggressive marketing campaign.
While reviewers expressed doubts about the literary quality of the book, the marketing campaign focused on the book’s controversial subject matter and leaked gossip about Roy’s private life.
Harper-Collins also sent the attractive and media-savvy author on a year-long promotional tour which saw The God of Small Things sell four million copies and become a best-seller in 34 countries.
QUT International Marketing lecturer Tony Peloso who is collecting his students’ work for publication, said The God of Small Things was a classic marketing case study.
He said the collection would offer marketing lecturers the opportunity to draw on a rich collection of information.
Other industries and companies to be included in the book include the
Australian funeral industry, the Queensland cotton industry and Qantas.
“It’s giving students something more relevant to draw on than Coca-Cola, or other large American companies, that are stock-of-trade for university marketing education,” Mr Peloso said.
“This book will have some classic marketing cases that I would expect Australian students to be using and enjoying in five or six years’ time.”
Mr Peloso presented a paper on Student case writing as a learning tool at a conference held by the Academy of Marketing Science in Florida in May.
Local youth stage dynamic dance show
Students at the Stage X Performing Arts Festival held in Brisbane.
A group of 600 Brisbane students banded together to form Australia’s largest youth dance performance as part of the Brisbane Stage X Performing Arts Youth Festival in July.
Year 10 students from 10 Brisbane high schools performed in the show, which was organised by QUT’s Academy of the Arts’ School of Dance.
Students performed a 50-minute dance-theatre extravaganza in King George Square for five consecutive days.
The ensemble and show were selected, choreographed and directed by dance lecturer Kristen Bell to celebrate the energy and enthusiasm of Brisbane’s youth.
The project was run in conjunction with the Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Performing Arts Trust.
The ten participating schools were Brisbane Boys College, Corinda State High, Glenala State High, Indooroopilly State High, MacGregor State High, Pine Rivers State High, St Peters Lutheran College, Toowong State High, Wavell State High and the Brisbane City Council-run Flexi School.
‘Prepare students to work in global village’
QUT should consider developing a compulsory subject to prepare students for living in an increasingly diverse society and to work in the international workplace, say the authors of a QUT internal paper.
The paper, Socially and Culturally Responsive Curriculum – Getting Systematic; Broadening the Perspective, is the result of a Teaching and Learning Grant. It audited and analysed the extent of inclusive and international curriculum at QUT and made recommendations for change.
The paper also recommended that the university establish a “one-stop-shop”
support program to assist academics to make their teaching practices and curricula more inclusive.
The recommendations came as QUT’s Teaching and Learning Support Services (TALSS) launched a book, Internationalisation of the Curriculum, to help academics internationalise their teaching practices and courses, in a bid to produce graduates who are “globo sapiens”.
Amanda O’Chee Students from three QUT schools have
joined forces in a competition to design an “art environment” for the three walls of the Kelvin Grove library that face the courtyard known asThe Quad .
Five groups of students from the School of Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design, the School of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Surveying, and the Visual Arts section from the Academy of the Arts submitted proposals for an art/environmental work.
Teams collaborate to design art environment
Visual Arts head Donald Fitzpatrick said many of the designs were exceptionally good.
“If the university proceeds with an art or environment work, architects and designers will be provided with the opportunity to be informed by the winning students’ designs,” he said.
Judges selected Penny Harper, Ashley Paine and May Tse as the winning team to share a $900 first prize, while Norman Cornwell, Craig Jamieson and David
Eustace were chosen as the second prize winners to share $600 and Shawn O’Connor, Rani Morkunas and Elise Aldworth to share a $300 third prize.
Queensland Art Gallery curator of Contemporary Australian Art Tim Morel, Kelvin Grove library designer John Simpson, Tract Consultants (The Quad courtyard landscape designers), partner Stephen White and QUT Facilities Management (Capital Works) project manager Grahame Wright were the judges.
By Andrea Hammond
B
abies just four months old watch an average of 44 minutes a day of television, according to a booklet co- authored by QUT academic Cassandra Weddell.Ms Weddell, a researcher in QUT’s Centre for Applied Studies in Early Childhood, said by the time a child was an adolescent, he or she would have spent more time watching TV than attending school for 12 years.
Getting the Picture: A parent’s and carer’s guide to the better use of television for children is being distributed to general practitioners and paediatricians throughout Australia.
“The booklet not only points out the pitfalls of excessive TV viewing, but offers practical ways for families to use television positively,” Ms Weddell said.
“Parents must understand that supervising children’s television use is as important as supervising their nutrition and schooling.”
Ms Weddell said research had shown that excessive television viewing by children was often found to be an indicator of wider family or social problems.
“We have found that often television is being used as a form of babysitting, which can lead a child to being neglected. Or children may use TV as an escape from stress and conflict in the family or to avoid doing homework.”
Research findings include:
• By 30 months of age many Australian children were watching an average
TV viewing
can dominate toddlers’ lives
of 84 minutes a day of TV, extending to two and ahalf hours a day by the time the child was four years of age;
• the average household viewed more than 22 hours of TV during the week, with the most popular timeslot between 7pm and 8pm;
• children in day care, or whose mothers worked outside the home, tended to watch less television than those at home all day;
• the more TV watched, the less sporting activities they undertook.
Getting in the Picture was written by QUT academic Ms Weddell, Royal Children’s Hospital Child Development Program director Michael McDowell and Sydney academic Louise Baur.
C a r s e l d i n e w i l l h a v e a u n i q u e cybercafe and new media art gallery installed in the current Carseldine Campus Club by November.
The café will have 10 Internet terminals which will use the latest i n f l a t s c r e e n a n d i n f r a - r e d technology.
Coffee and cake will be served in t h e a t m o s p h e r e o f a c h a n g i n g collection of cyberart produced by Q U T ’ s V i s u a l A r t s a n d Communication Design students.
Unique cybercafe for Carseldine
The licensed facility will be run i n c o - o p e r a t i o n w i t h t h e Q U T Student Guild and will be open to the QUT community as well as to residents living nearby.
P r o - V i c e - C h a n c e l l o r o f t h e Northern Corridor Development Dr A d a m S h o e m a k e r s a i d t h e c a f é w o u l d p r o v i d e a n e x c i t i n g n e w technology and gallery venue for all of Brisbane.
“The Cybercafe will be a welcome addition to the campus for QUT staff
and students, as well as for the wider community,” he said.
“It is unusual for a cybercafe to be combined with a ‘new media’ art gallery and a bar in this way – it will be quite different from the four commercial Internet cafes already in Brisbane.
“This is an exciting part of a program of making QUT’s Carseldine campus a centre of cultural and technological activity in the Northern Corridor region.”
– Andrea Hammond
QUT Communication Design students David Agius (in helmet), Aidan Bonel and Holly Robertson have made Carseldine’s Internet Cafe a virtual reality with a 3D walk-through proposal of fixtures, furniture, video screens and high-tech computer terminals. The talented trio used Computer Generated Imagery and a Virtual Reality Walk-Through to communicate their vision of dual-purpose benches, computer pods, screens and projectors that can be “tucked away” and operated, both when the venue is used for dance parties and as a multimedia art gallery and Internet cafe.
Keeping the competition rolling
St Paul’s High School student Andrew Taylor is this year’s winner of the Australian Geography Competition and will represent Australia in the International Geography Olympiad to be held in Toronto, Canada, later this month.
The competition promotes the study of geography in Australian secondary schools and is a joint initiative of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland and the Australian Geography Teachers’ Association.
More than 41,000 students competed in the national competition in which QUT staff and students played a major role.
Geography co-ordinator from the School of Humanities, Dr Iraphne Childs was the competition’s adjudicator for the national final held in Brisbane.
QUT Computing Services staff undertook the massive task of scanning the 41,000 answer sheets and QUT Public Relations students Jane Davies,
Keren Bourne, Andra Bite and Natalie Jensen were responsible for national publicity as part of a public relations campaign assignment.
Ms Davies said it had been a great experience to be involved in the campaign. She said the competition was sponsored by the National Geographic Channel which enabled the organisers to make it a bigger and better event which included a balloon flight over Brisbane for the eight State and Territory finalists.
Australian Geography competition finalists celebrate after the final round of the national competition.
Nursing school notches 1,000th Japanese visit
QUT’s School of Nursing celebrated the 1,000th visit by a Japanese student last month with a special dinner.
Since 1997, 1,000 Japanese nursing students have enrolled in visits of three to four days to the QUT School of Nursing to study aged care, nursing practice and health care.
The study tours have been co- ordinated by QUT School of Nursing senior lecturer Rob Thornton.
Head of School Dr Helen Edwards said the reputation of QUT’s School
of Nursing was well established in Japan – particularly in the Osaka and Kobe regions.
“It is a significant achievement to have this many overseas students come to QUT in such a short time and speaks volumes for QUT’s r e p u t a t i o n i n t h e r e g i o n , ” D r Edwards said.
“The flow-on effects include potential joint research projects and publications between QUT a n d J a p a n e s e u n i v e r s i t i e s a n d academic staff.”
Visiting Japanese nursing students don traditional kimonos for a special end-of-study-trip dinner (background of picture digitally enhanced).
Cassandra Weddell ... TV pitfalls.
Page 6 INSIDE QUT August 3, 1999 By Andrea Hammond
A
survey of central Queensland drink-driving offenders has found a high proportion of them are at risk of developing serious alcohol problems.A majority of those classified as
“at risk” do not recognise their drinking problem and are not taking action to change it.
The survey was conducted by the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS- Q) based at QUT’s Carseldine campus.
The data was collected as part of the evaluation of an Under The Limit driving rehabilitation program being run by CARRS-Q in central Queensland.
C A R R S - Q r e s e a r c h e r M e g a n Ferguson said the nine-month study of about 150 offenders found that 80.7 per cent of men and 75.7 per cent of women had a moderate to high risk of developing alcohol problems.
T h e f i g u r e s w e r e d o u b l e t h e regional average (of 30.7 per cent) for men and 10 times the regional average (of 8.1 per cent) for women.
The survey included the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (audit), developed as part of a World
Drink-driving offenders at risk - study
Health Organisation project on early detection of alcohol problems, Ms Ferguson said.
“This is a question-based test which asks people things like how often they drink, if they could remember things which had happened when they were drunk and whether they felt guilt or remorse after drinking,” she said.
A second test, called the Readiness to Change Scale, found that approximately two thirds (61.8 per cent) of offenders were not taking action to change their drinking problem.
Of the 42.6 per cent of offenders w h o w e r e a t r i s k o f a l c o h o l dependence, according to the audit, more than half (54 per cent) did not recognise their alcohol problem and were not taking action to change it.
“The results suggest that this groups’
drinking habits were negatively impacting on their life, but that they were not prepared to acknowledge that the negative effects could be because of alcohol,” Ms Ferguson said.
“I also found that a majority of offenders would much rather change their driving behaviours than their drinking habits to avoid future drink-driving offences.”
Ms Ferguson said the findings
Drink-driving offenders ... much rather change their driving behaviours than drinking behaviours.
allowed researchers to be more aware of what motivated drink drivers, how to change their behaviours and what interventions would work for them.
“ W h i l e g e n e r a l c o m m u n i t y interventions like Random Breath Testing and mass media campaigns do work in terms of deterring or
Forty years service at QUT and its predecessor institutions has left head of Continuing Professional Education David Hall with some fascinating stories to tell.
Mr Hall, who is also a QUT business graduate, was first appointed as a clerk in May 1959 with the Central Technical College (CTC).
Mr Hall said he had held nine positions in the organisation and was possibly the longest-serving member of the CTC who later moved to QUT.
Mr Hall said he had witnessed “huge changes” over the past 40 years.
“Computerisation has had a big impact.
In the past, everything had to be carried out manually,” he said.
“We had to count up the money for each person individually and actually go round and pay them personally with cash.”
Mr Hall said many young people
“haven’t got a clue how hard it was then, and I think we worked harder in those years and had to be more self-sufficient, more motivated, more organised than we are today”.
“However, we still work pretty hard for our dollar nowadays, because it’s more competitive,” he said.
In 1965, Mr Hall and three colleagues were seconded by the then Director- General of Education to set up QIT administration, admissions and examination procedures, “and that was really the start of QIT, with about 8,000 technical college students”.
Looking back over 40 years, he said it was important “to enjoy your work”.
Four decades since joining uni and still going strong
Head of Continuing Professional Education David Hall ... seen huge changes at QUT over the past 40 years.
A visit to Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam earlier this year was no holiday, but achieved worthwhile Asian community service links according to QUT’s Faculty of Arts Assistant Dean Dr Kathryn Gow.
During her tour, Dr Gow said she survived a plague of mosquitoes and a riot in Malaysia, “and actually took an hour off one day to shop”.
Dr Gow attended a meeting in Malaysia’s North West Selangor as a guest of Amanah Iktiar Malaysia (AIM), an organisation which adopted the Grameen Bank model of mobilising resources for the rural poor through the provision of small lines of credit for small businesses.
“It was gratifying to see the Malaysian Government financially backing the work of AIM, which has a proven track record
Malaysian visit lots of work and little play
in conducting microfinance credit schemes for the rural poor,” Dr Gow said.
“I was able to interview several families whose lives have been changed markedly because of this access to credit through AIM.
“My induction to the work of AIM was essential in understanding the complicated process of establishing a similar loan scheme in rural Vietnam.”
Dr Gow said she had discussions with women who had taken small loans for dress making, fish mongering, cosmetics selling, jewellery making and also talked to women who had taken out larger loans for fruit and vegetable shops, road-side cafes, and second-hand furniture outlets.
In Vietnam, Dr Gow was assisted by QUT Human Services graduate Nguyen Hong who acted as an interpreter and research assistant.
A team of QUT academics has played a major role in the development and implementation of a new university course called Studies of Asia.
The course is being made available throughout Australia to increase teachers’
knowledge and understanding of Asia.
The project’s success has been highlighted by the Queensland Education Department’s decision to use two of the Studies of Asia modules as an in-service program, delivered by QUT, for the State’s teachers.
Substantial funds will be contributed by the department to pay for course fees for 20 teachers and also provide relief teaching funds to their respective schools.
The program, which is at the level of a master’s unit, will run as a 40-hour continuing education course over two long weekends in September and November.
QUT academics who contributed to the program were senior lecturer in the School of Cultural and Policy Studies Dr Anne Hickling-Hudson, lecturer in
QUT team develops material on Asia
the Oodgeroo Unit Dr John Synott, and senior research assistant Jeune Son.
Members of the teaching team are Jane Williamson-Fien (humanities) and Deborah Henderson (professional studies), both experts in the cultures of Asia.
The QUT modules are based on five months of intensive research into the Australian Government’s Asian Studies policy, issues in Asian societies and cultures, anti-racist education and teaching for cultural diversity.
Dr Synott said the course would help to implement Australian Government policy by increasing information about Asia, especially in the school system.
“Among the very important goals of the Studies of Asia modules is to further the progress of anti-racist education in Australia, develop an understanding of cultural and social diversity and challenge stereotypes and uninformed opinions about other cultures,” Dr Synott said.
– Noel Gentner
Printed academic journals could be extinct within a decade, two QUT academics have predicted.
The two lecturers, from QUT’s School of Early Childhood Education, have launched one of the world’s first on-line early childhood education journals in a bid to make academic journals more accessible, cheaper and easier to use.
Death knell sounds for printed journals
Journal editors Dr Nicola Yelland and Dr Susan Grieshaber have defied academic traditions and will not publish a print version of the journal.
Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood (CIEC) is a fully-refereed, research-based journal with an international editorial board, that challenges the mainstream approach to early childhood education
dominated by child development. The journal, will be published three times a year and has attracted 1,500 subscribers.
Dr Yelland said subscriptions would be free for the first two years. Following this, subscription fees would remain at a fraction of the fees for print-based journals.CIEC can be found at www.triangle.co.uk/ciec
educating the general public, there’s still a lot of people who haven’t responded to these campaigns and they are the ones we now have to try to target,” she said.
By Amanda O’Chee
F
ive years after South Africa became a democracy, QUT’s new film and TV head John Hookham can talk candidly about the days when he dodged a hit squad and sheltered ANC fugitives from the apartheid system.Those years of being targeted by the white National Party Government for being an outspoken critic of apartheid will become the basis of a semi- autobiographical film to be written and directed by Mr Hookham as part of his PhD.
Mr Hookham, who joined QUT in February, will return to South Africa this month to begin filming and to retrace the days when he was lucky to escape an assassination attempt.
“When I was teaching in South Africa at one stage the South African Government had decided to silence a number of very outspoken academics who were critical of the regime and had power and influence in some quarters,” he said.
“There were a number of hit squads who went about assassinating people and one of my friends, David Webster, was assassinated. I discovered some time after that my name was on the assassins’ list.”
Alerted to the pending “hit” by the attorney investigating his friend’s death, Mr Hookham remained safe until the police hit squads were exposed by the media two months later.
In what could be a very provocative film, Mr Hookham will also recount and re-enact the months when he hid
Film head to document the dark days of apartheid South Africa
leading ANC dissidents from the apartheid government during the 1985 State of Emergency.
“The moment the State of Emergency was declared, the police started to round people up and were holding them without trial,” Mr Hookham said.
“I was approached to hide people in my house and that evening four people came around and hid in my house for some time. One of those people was there for about three or four months
and, although I didn’t know it at the time, he was public enemy number one.”
The then “public enemy”, Obed Bapela, now serves on the executive of the ANC Government and chairs the party in Gauteng Province. Mr Hookham intends to interview Mr Bapela during his visit.
Mr Hookham, who left South Africa six years ago, has enjoyed a long career in film, during which time he has specialised in writing and directing.
His films have been shown in festivals throughout the world, including the Cannes Film Festival, and he has worked with big-name Hollywood director Jan de Bont, who directed Speed and Twister.
Having started a film co-operative in Johannesburg, Mr Hookham said he would like to improve QUT’s film and television course by providing more information on how students can market their films at home and abroad, and improve the quality of their scripts.
An expansion of clinically based research work and encouraging research linkages and networks with health care providers are some of the major priorities for QUT’s Director of the Centre for Nursing Research.
Professor Mary Courtney, who was appointed director of the centre earlier this year, said staff had developed expertise in a range of clinical nursing areas including mental health care, aged care, health care ethics, pain management, disability, oncology and women’s health.
She said she hoped to encourage post- graduate research students to undertake more clinically focused, evidence-based research in order to support nursing practice within the health sector.
Professor Courtney is former head of the Department of Health Services Management and Public Health at the University of New England. She was also previously postgraduate courses co-ordinator with QUT’s School of Nursing.
“Established in 1993, the centre initially had an emphasis on mental health nursing but that emphasis has gradually evolved to reflect the wider range of nursing research,” Professor Courtney said.
“The centre has a growing number of research students studying for honours, MAppSc (Research) and PhD programs.
“Many of the centre’s researchers have already begun to attract significant research grants from health care and government agencies.
“The Pain Management Research team led by Patsy Yates, has received NHMRC funding for two years to evaluate various patient education strategies for improving pain management for cancer patients.
Nurses renew focus on clinical research
“As well, the Women’s Health Research team, led by Debra Anderson, is working on a number of different projects including an investigation of various aspects of menopause as well as symptom management in breast cancer patients.”
Professor Courtney said another active group, the Gerontological Nursing
The individual needs of elderly people in nursing homes were frequently ignored by well-meaning nursing staff, according to School of Nursing Head Dr Helen Edwards.
She said it was not unusual for nurses to overlook the capabilities of elderly patients in their efforts to help them.
“Some elderly people may be dependent is some areas, such as needing help to get into the shower, but may be independent in other areas – for example they may still be able to wash themselves,” Dr Edwards said.
“It is important that nurses work to strike a balance between respect and care when they deal with elderly patients, but it has been well documented that this does not always happen.”
Dr Edwards has pioneered a workplace education program to improve the quality of life of nursing home residents by promoting the use of “independence supporting behaviours” among nursing staff.
She presented her findings at the Communication for all Ages conference, the fourth International Conference on Communication Ageing and Health, at the Gold Coast International Hotel in July.
Jointly organised by QUT and the University of Queensland, it was the first time the international conference has been held in the Southern Hemisphere.
– Andrea Hammond
By Trina McLellan
“You just do not understand what it is going to be like until you go through it,” seems to be the catchcry of those who have been diagnosed with leukaemia or similar blood disorders.
Just ask QUT School of Public Health research fellow Dr Pamela McGrath who is working on several projects to support patients and their loved ones.
“There is now a huge body of research available on the medical aspects of various treatments, but few researchers are looking closely at the psychosocial aspects of these treatments,” Dr McGrath said.
“The medical advances with many of these diseases are exciting. However, because of our technological progress, many patients are now asked to undergo at times very difficult procedures over long periods. It is important that we understand the emotional and social aspects of these experiences.”
One project Dr McGrath is pursuing involves work with patients undergoing high-dose chemotherapy regimes such as bone-marrow transplants and stem- cell transplants at three of Brisbane’s larger hospitals, the Mater, the Wesley and the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
“The response to the research has been extremely positive, with the hospitals being supportive of the project and patients keen to enrol in the research and enthusiastic to talk about their experiences,” she said.
Using mostly qualitative, explorative research methods in her three-year research project, Dr McGrath is using open-ended questions to tease out general patterns and differences in treatment experiences and resulting psychosocial reactions.
Although Dr McGrath has found the notion of post-traumatic stress a useful framework for her research, she is interested in documenting factors which reduce stress as well as understanding reasons patients may be vulnerable to the distress of treatment.
Dr McGrath has received the support of bodies like the Queensland Leukaemia Foundation and the Financial Markets Foundation for Kids, as well as interest from government and medical circles and international academic recognition for her research and publications.
New QUT film and television head John Hookham ... a PhD film project to return to South Africa to retrace his life of dodging bullets and assassination attempts under apartheid.
Professor Mary Courtney ... encouraging research linkages.
Patients’
‘realities’
revealed
US methods
‘not relevant’
Many Queensland public schools need to rethink their discipline methods to ensure they are in tune with today’s rapidly- changing society, a QUT study has found.
School of Cultural and Policy Studies PhD student Delia Hart says many schools are using outdated behavioural management packages.
Her thesis – Deviance Busters: Who Do Schools Call to Respond to the New World Order – describes packages as having little cultural link to Australian children because they are devised by American psychologists.
“Schools need to be discerning when it comes to buying some of the behaviour management packages that are being presently marketed,” Ms Hart said.
“My study found that there was no rigorous research evidence to suggest that
‘popular’ behaviour management packages bring about any long-term change in the behaviour of young people either during or after school.”
Program to help elderly residents
Research team, had recently completed a study of attitudes and practices of health professionals regarding the care of older patients in acute care, while Associate Professor Helen Edwards was involved in a project examining ways of promoting independence for older people in aged care facilities.
Page 8 INSIDE QUT August 3, 1999
Check out more What’s On entries at http:// www.whatson.qut.edu.au/
Send your What’s On entry to [email protected] or (07) 3210 0474.
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Corporate Communication Department.
Each story has been checked with the source prior to publication. Letters to the editor are welcome via mail or email [email protected] Corporate Communication address: Level 5, M Block, Room 514, Gardens Point or GPO Box 2434 Brisbane 4001. Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university or the editorial team.
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Andrea Hammond (07) 3864 4494.
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Our Internet site: http://www.qut.edu.au/
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About your newspaper
By Andrea Hammond
M
other-of-six Leith Harding is developing a model designed to help parents ease the way of adopted Third World children into their new Australian families.Leith hopes that professionals will also use her model, part of her PhD research at QUT’s Carseldine campus.
With three adopted children of her own and more than 16 years’ voluntary work with inter-country adoption support groups, Ms Harding is well versed in the hurdles and the joys of adoption.
An executive member of the Australian African Children’s Aid and Support Association for 12 years, Leith has also been a source of information and support for dozens of families adopting Ethiopian, Filipino, Thai and Korean children throughout Queensland.
It was her first-hand experience, combined with a dearth of empirical information about children from other countries joining Australian families, that prompted her to enrol in postgraduate studies in psychology with QUT in 1996.
Mrs Harding graduated with first class honours in 1998. She was awarded the QUT Australian
Mother-of-six offers support for adoption
QUT PhD student Leith Harding cuddles adopted son Ben, 11 (on right) and Thomas Powell, 4, (centre front) – just one of the many children her family counselling work has helped. Surrounding her are her children (clockwise from left) Stazia, 14, Todd, 17, Luke 17, Loren 21, Shae, 20, with (Thomas's twin brother) Anthony Powell.
Psychological Society Prize for her thesis on the self- concept of intercountry adopted children and the attitude toward adoption in Australia.
“Now my aim is to build an adoption transition model that will outline what stages children from Third World countries go through when they are adopted into Australian homes,” Mrs Harding said.
“For example, one section of my thesis will look at the reaction of adopted babies to the different smells, sleeping habits, language and handling which they may encounter in an Australian home.
“There are lots of things that Australian parents may be able to do to ease children into their new environment – for example, Ethiopian babies are used to having incense smells around them.
“Things like this may seem small but if you have first-time parents flooded with the impact of being parents after years of infertility, little things are easily overlooked.”
Mrs Harding’s academic and community achievements have seen her nominated for one of 12 QUT Northern Corridor Achiever Awards.
The awards are designed to recognise Carseldine students and graduates who have made a significant contribution to business, the arts or the local community.
Users of QUT’s increasingly busy computer network often find their email intray loaded with notices of upcoming events which can, later, prove difficult to find.
But, thanks to an upgraded service launched last week, event notices will now be available centrally on QUT’s home page via the News & What’s On link at the top left-hand corner of the page.
Corporate Communication Department Director Peter Hinton said that the upgraded What’s On service was launched simultaneously with the university’s on-line news release service.
“Both of these services are an integral part of our new Corporate Communication Department website,” Mr Hinton said.
Mr Hinton explained that, while the university had many activities each day, there had really been no centralised point to check out upcoming events.
“Out of that need initially grew What’s On, a service that people may have seen in Inside QUT and on posters around the campus for the past year or so,” Mr Hinton said.
“For the past few months, a team from our Department and the Publications unit has been working to create an on-line version of What’s On.
“The new system is designed to give staff and students – and, where relevant, visitors to our website – one-stop, on-line access to what’s happening across the university.
Email relief as event
notices move to WWW
“It’s also designed to redirect the growing load of event emails on the staff email server.
“It may take a little time for people to get fully used to this new system, but the service will be backed up by one weekly email from the service’s moderator to all staff, advising of key events and pointing them, via a hotlink, to the central site.
“It will also deliver, for the first time, an ability for students to readily check out some of the staff and student presentations that go on across the university at the one location.”
Mr Hinton suggested people bookmark the site – http://www.whatson.qut.edu.au – for ease of access and that they submit details for new events via that site.
He said the sorts of things that would be listed on the site would include, but not be limited to:
• special events
• seminars and conferences
• training and development courses (staff or student)
• postgraduate presentations (such as oral defenses and confirmations of candidatures)
• Academy of the Arts performance dates
• Student Guild events
“To add an event, simply follow the hyperlink at the bottom of the What’s On at QUT page, fill out the form and submit it for moderation. Turnaround time will be under one working day,” Mr Hinton said.
SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTANCY
Sept 8 The Regulators’ Dilemma:
International frauds - Y2K and the big 5. Paul Moni. For more information email [email protected] or call 3864 4316.
CARSELDINE CAMPUS Aug 5 1999 Carseldine
Employment Expo. 1-5pm.
To be opened by Queensland Minister for Education Dean Wells. Activities include market booths for students to obtain information from employers, professional associations and recruiting agencies. For further information contact the Expo hotline on 3864 4725.
SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION Aug 20 Silver Anniversary Ball.
7pm. Grand Windsor Ballroom, Carlton Crest Hotel. Tickets
$60. Contact Cynthia Harris on [email protected] or call 0409 268 393.
STAFF & STUDENT COURSES
EQUITY SECTION
Oct 25-7 C a r e e r M o v e s : V a l u i n g Skills, Planning Futures.
Two-day course for female general staff at HEWA3-5.
9.15am-4.15pm K108, KG. To register call Lilijana Simic on 3864 5601.
HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT Aug 4 Staff Orientation Program .
For new staff or other interested staff. Contact Human Resources
Department’s Dora deLaat on 3865 5610 or Tanya Needer on 3864 9605.
STUDENT GUILD Recreation courses.
Everything from winery tours, surf camps to women’s car maintenance and belly dancing. Further details in the Semester Two Recreation Handbook.
Contact Kirsten Fraser on [email protected] or call 3864 1213.
FROM THE ACADEMY Aug 21-24 Cosi by Louis Nowra
Aug 21 at 8pm, Aug 22 at 2pm, Aug23 at 8pm and Aug 24 at 8pm. Contact Karen Willey at [email protected] or 3864 3453.
SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, EVENTS
CENTRE FOR MEDIA POLICY PRACTICE Aug 6 Meanings of the Wall: News
media and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989 . Lee Duffield. Noon-2pm. B509, GP. For more information contact Danna Dale on [email protected] or call 3864 1729.
Aug 12 Diversity, Differentiated Citizenship and the Public Sector. Professor Charles Husband. Noon-2pm. B509, GP.
For more information contact Helen Yates on [email protected] or call 3864 1231.
AUSTRALIAN HOUSING AND URBAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE Aug 12 Seminar on Infrastructure,
I n e q u a l i t y a n d L o c a l Responsibility. Dr Michael Cohen. 5.30-7pm. Carlton Crest Hotel, Anne Street. For more information contact Anne Krupa on [email protected] or call 3864 2097.
