© QUT 1998 Produced by QUT Publications 150828 2298
Thank you
AUTUMN 1998 Volume 2 Number 3
Workforce in 21C Quality achiever Life in a vineyard
Alumni Review
CUT ALONG HERE
Craig R. Schloman
Bachelor of Applied Science 1976 (QIT) QUT Fellow
Gifts made to the Alumni Fund during 1997 have helped to:
provide bursaries for socially and financially disadvantaged students;
build the university's endowment fund which will provide for university priorities in the future;
further develop library collections and services; and support the QUT Art Collection.
The QUT Foundation would like to thank the following people who also generously contributed to the 1997 Alumni Fund:
Ramani Balarajah, Pamela Blamey, Gail Boldery, Terence Booth, Patrick Briody, Bemadette Buggie, Paul Cameron, Chrys Castellaro, Andy Chen, Richard Connor, Scott Curtis, Vicki Daniel, Edwin Davis, David Dawes, John Denington, Brendan Dever, John Di Francesco, Judith Dooley, Aoife Duffy, Carmen Emery, Sherridan Emery, Garth Everson, Thomas Franklin, Margaret Fraser, Kathleen Gallagher, Lurline Gedge, Kathleen Gibbings, Andrew Gillies, Donna Glassop, Clare Glazebrook, Andrzei Golkowski, Darryl Green, Michael Hale, Anthony Hayes, Katalin Howlett, Rae Hunter, Graeme Hyland, Paul Inglis, Cynthia Jones, Jan Kendrick, Ruth Kerr, Linda Kilworth, Ann Koreman, Bernard Kunkel, Robyn Laurens, Christopher Lillis, Robert Lindsay, Theo Livanos, Jonaelle Lucas, David Macnaught, Maxwell McAuley-White, Peter McCarthy, Edith McLean, Peter McSweeney, Leslie Miethke, lan Miller, Ronald Morris, Gary Nash, Owen Nattrass, John Nelson, Maris Nichols, Colleen O'Brien, Joyce Parker, Beverley Paterson, Carol Perry, Franz Pinz, Carmen Pochman, Dianne Polson, Andrew Powell, John Purcell, Mark Raymond, Vadim Ribinsky, Christine Richards, Geoff Rowbotham, Nicholas Samios, Laurel Schneider, Michael Shackley, Peter Sheehy, Peter Shilton, Gaie Short, Raymond Shyers, David Stewart, Neville Stitt, Frans Stoopman, Lynne Stratford, Peter Swann, Glyn Thomas, Margaret Thomas, Susan Tickner, Margaret Tweedie, Desmond Voight, Brad Wacker, Denis Warburton, Brian Watt, Geoffrey Wheeler, Bronwyn White, Mary Williams and all those who gave but wish to remain anonymous.
QUT ALUMNI FUNDALUMNI FUND
“I feel it is important to support the tradition of QUT's practical education for a strong future, which is why I am proud to be involved in the development of QUT through the alumni giving
program.”
I would like more information about Alumni Giving to QUT I would like to make a donation to QUT
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Contact:
QUT Alumni GPO Box 2434 Brisbane QLD 4001 Phone +61 7 3864 1837 Fax +61 7 3864 1514 e-mail: [email protected]
Thank you for making your cheque payable to:
“QUT Foundation Incorporated Trust Fund.”
QUT Foundation Incorporated Trust Fund is an approved fund for tax deductable donations.
Q U T L I N K S
View to the future
1
Fanfare greets new academic tradition
2
In brief...
4
The workforce of the 21st Century
6
Quality spurs switch from perfume to pits
7
Life in a vineyard lures engineering graduate
8
Walter's drawings still win praise
9
Gabriel scoops the pool
10
Venturing into business pays off for medalist
11
Study examines future for Australian universities
12
Lucilla in lead role for QUT
13
Last word...
14
Keep in touch...
CONTENTS
http://www.qut.edu.au
Keep your memories
of QUT alive
A range of quality corporate products is now 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.
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Please indicate quantity required and total cost in space below.
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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.
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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
Silver anodised coasters with QUT logo (boxed set of six)
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) $
$ 9.50
15.00
$
25.00
$
40.00
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$
Calendar of events
A university for the real world
QUT’s city campus is about to embark on several ambitious projects which will see the university strengthen the cultural and heritage value as well as the attractiveness of the Gardens Point precinct.
In the next few years, we will have a formal, public art museum in the basement of U Block
(Administration Building) to house our art collection, which is the State’s second-largest, and to showcase our students' work from a number of faculties.
Also, as part of extensive refurbishments to the former
Conservatorium of Music building, the QUT Theatre will be upgraded to a professional, multi-purpose theatre providing Brisbane with a new and unique performance arts venue that can also showcase student performances.
Both the art museum and the theatre will be important teaching facilities for QUT as well as public cultural venues.
With plans for future inner-city development to include a footbridge to connect South Bank to the riverside walkway at the southern end of Gardens Point, QUT’s new cultural venues will close the link between popular destinations in the city and those at South Bank.
If you haven’t had the chance to see QUT’s Gardens Point campus since the front entrance was transformed last year, I invite you to revisit when you’re next in town. What you’ll find is a seamless entrance to the adjacent Botanic Gardens, giving buildings along the former Main Drive a view across a new pedestrian mall and into the delicious greenery beyond.
Other parts of our city campus are to be transformed, with the area behind U Block and around the Library to be extensively landscaped.
Transformation of the architecture precinct (A, D, F and G Blocks) is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
So, all in all, our busiest campus is taking on a more relaxed, sophisticated feel; important developments as we move into our second decade as a university and prepare to meet the new century.
Professor Dennis Gibson Vice-Chancellor
Alumni Events
Friday, May 8
School of Communication Reunion Ball Steppin’ Out with QUT Big Band Brisbane City Travelodge, 7pm Call Ros Petelin (07) 3864 2467
Sunday, June 28
Central Technical College Reunion Call Deborah Sheedy (07) 3864 1068
Wednesday, September 2 Outstanding Alumni Award Call Jill Dale (07) 3864 2821
September 1998
Information Technology Reunion Celebrating 25 years since first intake of students
Call Errolyn Walker (07) 3864 1917 September 1998
Legal Practice Reunion Celebrating 20 years since first intake of students Call Liz Clark (07) 3864 2211
November 1998
Nursing Reunion Celebrating 20 years since first intake students
Call Linda Mungomery (07) 3864 3878
Academy of the Arts Season ’98 Highlights
24-hour What’s On Infoline (07) 3864 3800
May 13–23
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, directed by Mark Radvan, QUT Theatre, GP campus.
May 13
Electra (free concert). Romano and Rudolf Crivici Accessible, ambient jazz-based works
M Block Music Studio, KG, 1.05pm May 20
Contemporary Jazz Hypnosis — Music by Peter Walters (free concert) M Block Music Studio, KG, 1.05pm
June 10–13 Dane Collections ’98 QUT Theatre, GP, 7.30pm
September 30-October 10 Much Ado About Nothing Directed by Jim Vile.
QUT Theatre, GP November 25–28 Dance Graduation Performance
QUT Theatre, GP, 8pm
Fashion cap in navy cotton with suede peak and embroidered QUT logo
$ 6.50
Cover: Award-winning architect Gabriel Poole, see story page 9
QUT Links is published by the QUT Corporate Communication Department, in co-operation with QUT Alumni Relations Unit.
Design and production by QUT Publications Unit.
Photography: Tony Phillips, Suzanne Prestwidge.
Editorial material is gathered from a range of sources and does not necessarily reflect the opinions and policies of the QUT Foundation or QUT.
Q U T L I N K S
1
b y T r i n a M c L e l l a n
A
grand new tradition has been born at QUT, with the university’s first Commencement Service attracting around 500 people to an impressive ecumenical event held in St Stephen’s Cathedral on Tuesday, February 10.QUT Chancellor Dr Cherrell HirstA O gave the official university address for the evening and told dignitaries, staff, students and families that gender, race and other differences within the university community were its strength.
“Through tolerance and
understanding of each other – and each other’s beliefs – we each grow stronger and through mutual respect and shared recognition of each other’s worlds, we grow culturally and spiritually,”
Dr Hirst said.
“Through this process, we enrich each other and, in so doing, create a stronger, less vulnerable, caring, more giving and more tolerant society.
“(We create) a community which is able to focus outwards and not inwards, a community which puts the other first.
“(A community) which truly gives and does not count the cost, a
community which celebrates the joy and the success of the other, one which shares the struggle for freedom and equity with the other and which understands the pain, the maltreatment and the hurt of the other.”
Coinciding with the day in the liturgical calendar which is dedicated to St Scholastica, the Chancellor told the congregation QUT’s first
Commencement Service was dedicated to students and learning.
“How appropriate that, as a university, we gather this day to re- commit our university to the pursuit of knowledge and the gaining of wisdom,”
Dr Hirst said.
“Perhaps our most important goal for 1998, personal and collective, should be to create within our university a real sense of community and to set a model
for other universities to achieve a palpable sense of community.”
At 7pm, the ceremony began with a trumpet fanfare that greeted a colourful procession of clergy, academic staff, university leaders and QUT’s Ceremonies Officer Jim Clayden carrying the university’s mace.
The multi-faith service also featured readings from a variety of spiritual communities – Jewish, Aboriginal, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian – that were punctuated by musical interludes performed by students and staff from QUT’s Academy of the Arts, including one piece composed by a student and performed in public for the first time.
The head of QUT’s Oodgeroo Unit, Penny Tripcony, read an excerpt from A Song of Hope, a poem by the late local poet Oodgeroo of the Noonuccals.
Throughout the evening the air was filled with the delicate tones of the choir, rousing hymns
and the incantations of representatives of the Jewish and Islamic communities.
QUT Chaplain Father Bavin Clarke, who said the opening prayer and took on the role of master of ceremonies, urged “all who teach and learn to seek and love
the truth”.
Immediately after the two-hour
ceremony, QUT Vice- Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson said he was extremely pleased with the roll up of so many people on what ended up being a steamy, wet night.
“It was a
tremendous service, a
really moving experience which created a great sense of occasion,” Professor Gibson said.
“And it was set off beautifully by the music. The choir and soloist were fantastic, the trumpeter great, and the flute was terrific. It’s something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Law students Joseph Christopher and Sivaraja Narayanasamy, both from Malaysia, agreed and said they were impressed by the service and its inclusion of different religious beliefs.
“We’ve only just arrived and all this was unexpected, but we enjoyed it immensely,” Mr Narayanasamy said.
Fanfare greets new academic tradition
“We gather this day to re- commit our university to the pursuit of knowledge and the gaining of wisdom.”
Dr Cherrell Hirst ... focusing outwards
2
NEW VENTURE MANAGEMENT MBA
The first MBA in Australia focused on entrepreneurship, assisting entrepreneurs to specialise their knowledge of planning and launching new businesses, and managing innovation – the MBA (New Venture Management) – began at QUT this year.
DEMAND REMAINS STRONG In contrast to the national trend, demand for
undergraduate places at Queensland universities has remained strong.
Applications for QUT courses rose by 3 per cent over the past year and better OP scores were needed to enter science, engineering and many other QUT courses.
Our position as Australia’s largest provider of bachelor degree graduates into full- time jobs is reflected in student applications.
Nationally, the number of undergraduate students applying for 1998 university entry dropped 3 per cent for the second year in a row.
Reasons suggested include a smaller Year 12 population and higher HECS fees.
On the other hand, while international recruitment has suffered nationally as a result of dramatic currency devaluations in some key markets, QUT has maintained its international enrolment at 7 per cent of its 30,000 total students.
Apart from the obvious cultural benefits of having international students on our campuses, their fees
contribute $25 million a year to QUT’s budget.
Meanwhile, QUT was recently listed by Business Review Weekly as one of Australia’s top 500 exporters at number 310.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY VENTURE WITH TAIWAN
QUT has entered an arrangement with one of Taiwan’s largest information technology bodies and second-largest information service provider – the Institute for Information Industry (III) – to conduct a Certificate of Information Technology course in Taiwan, starting in July.
Many of the students are expected to apply for a second-year place in QUT’s information technology bachelor degree in Brisbane from 1999.
AGREEMENT WITH REDS RUGBY COLLEGE
QUT and Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) have teamed up to ensure rising rugby union stars have a career beyond professional football.
Young players in the QRU’s Reds Rugby College will be offered an education package tailored to their needs.
This semester 16 of the college’s 50 scholarship players began courses at QUT – mostly in the School of Human Movement Studies – structured to fit in with gruelling training hours and the possibility of extended periods of time playing overseas circuits.
SENIOR WOMEN EXCEL QUT women have been achieving great things:
• Chancellor Dr Cherrell Hirst was awarded an AO in the New Year honours;
• Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Reid received an AM and recently left QUT to become Vice-Chancellor of University of Western Sydney;
• former Science Dean Professor Vicki Sara is now full-time chair of the powerful Australian Research Council; and
• Equity co-ordinator Mary Kelly was an elected representative at the Constitutional Convention.
RESEARCH GRANTS SUCCESS QUT performed well in the Australian Research Grants for 1998.
In the collaborative industry ARC SPIRT grants, QUT, with its industry partners, received 20 new grants worth $2.5 million, plus $1.7 million in continuing grants.
In addition, the university won $2.7 million in large ARC grants, $380,000 in small ARC grants, and
$675,000 in infrastructure funding. It also won five new NHMRC grants.
UNIS ON BRINK OF CHANGE In their new book, On the Brink, QUT’s Deputy Vice- Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake and his Principal Policy Advisor Dr Lawrence Stedman analyse how Australian universities can survive and prosper in the current climate of unrelenting demands and expectations stemming from globalisation, rapidly-changing
technologies, funding cuts and calls for greater real- world relevance.
Central to the book’s theme is the thesis that universities cannot look to the past to plot the future and that the changes required in the tertiary sector cannot be undertaken incrementally.
While thoughtful and sometimes confronting, the book gives a lively and accessible presentation of complex issues, supported by specially commissioned cartoons drawn by Australian political cartoonist
Sean Leahy.
BUILDINGS REFURBISHED W Block and the heritage- listed F Block at Gardens Point have been restored for science labs and architecture respectively.
P Block at Kelvin Grove is the new home for QUT’s international college which
In brief...
Queensland Reds Rugby College players and QUT students (l–r) Glen Appleton and Ashley Riley
(l–r) Professor Peter Coaldrake and Dr Lawrence Stedman
4
b y T r i n a M c L e l l a n The following article has been adapted
from a speech recently given to graduating students in South-East Asia by the Assistant Dean of QUT’s Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering,
Dr Janelle Allison.
T
he workforce of the 21st Century is a matter of considerable importance to universities, especially for QUT, which prides itself as being “a university for the real world”.Two decades ago, the relationship between education and work attracted little public attention and a smooth progression from school to work was assumed. Now, we are educating a workforce in which the jobs to be done do not necessarily yet exist.
Vocational training is no longer enough and the next generation of graduates will require more – they will need those technical skills – but they will also need a well-rounded education, together with management, team- building, communication and entrepreneurial skills – to fit into a global and culturally diverse workplace.
A single degree is no longer enough.
These observations give a glimpse of next century’s workforce.
The workforce of the 21st Century
There has also been substantial industrial restructuring across all economic sectors, from agriculture to manufacturing to the service sector.
There is a strong push for greater flexibility – in terms of labour and production modes. Companies are being forced to be more competitive in terms of price, standards and services and this, too, affects the workforce structure.
Economies are more global.
Interdependent regions and cities – not only countries – often compete for markets and opportunities. There is a significant shift from a labour-intensive workforce to a knowledge-based one.
Labour is becoming less regulated, less unionised and jobs less “demarcated”.
This implies a multi-skilled and highly flexible workforce.
Technology makes new structures possible and organisations are now flatter, with less middle management.
Great changes are occurring in the production process and in the products produced and recent trends move away from mass-production to integrated manufacturing. This new approach relies on computer technology, improved communication and a highly skilled workforce.
This trend has reinforced the role of new, mainly small- and medium-sized enterprises in employment creation.
There are two interesting examples or models emerging: the “Third Italy” and the “Silicon Valley”. In the Third Italy model, small firms have highly flexible labour (often family-based), shorter production runs, flexible production systems and considerable amounts of outwork, but they may be highly co- ordinated and computerised. Some larger firms also adopt this approach. The Silicon Valley approach is high-tech, close to universities and R & D, relies greatly on proximity to other firms and is closely networked.
But, these models also point to a polarised workforce – highly skilled and
well paid on the one hand, with others less skilled and less well paid on the other. And many of these industries will adopt just-in-time technology, which further reduces labour needs.
Within technological change, there is a strategic role for new knowledge in the form of advanced technologies, information infrastructure and other forms of innovation.
Indeed, innovation and creativity are also key features of the next generation of workers.
This group will need to be appropriate, highly flexible, accessible and of high quality.
But we need to reflect on the role of human labour. The new technology has problem-solving capacity, is robotic and very user friendly – so what kind of skills does this imply for the workforce?
Will it provide the “human face”?
There are fewer jobs now in agriculture and manufacturing.
The growth in the service sector spans a range of areas, but three stand out – hospitality and personal services;
community and social services; and financial and information services.
There are five critical directions which will affect – indeed, are already affecting – the structure of the workforce in terms of employment, participation rates and the nature of occupations: social changes; industrial restructuring; technological innovation;
the service sector; and cultural diversity.
There are significant social changes – particularly the greater participation of women from all different income groups in the workforce.
Janelle Allison
“Now, we are educating a
workforce in which the jobs
to be done do not necessarily
yet exist.”
Q U T L I N K S
5
These are the growth areas and the trend will be in this direction.
But to understand the workforce of the next century we need to look at the margins of the service sector. What are those jobs now occurring, but somewhat
“fringe”? This is where the future lies.
Many of those tasks which were once done by family members or through volunteer labour will now emerge as jobs and paid employment.
Many management analysts have identified how organisations will employ people from a range of backgrounds.
There is an argument that the exchange of ideas, the sharing of values, and heightened communication skills foster creativity and team work and, thus, strengthen the organisation. So the workforce of the 21st century will be much more diverse.
The factories, the firms, the
boardrooms have been slower than other places to accept change, particularly social change. With this background, it is
possible to sketch some characteristics of the workforce of the 21st Century:
generic skills, high polarisation, more mobility, more service jobs, family friendly.
These changes present exciting challenges for education. The quality of education will become even more important and this implies excellence in teaching. Attention will need to be given to flexible delivery of learning and there will need to be more emphasis on continuing education – lifelong learning.
QUT has already begun to seriously address these issues.
Our faculty, for example, is the only one in Australia in which the built environment professions are co-located with engineering. This offers students opportunities for teamwork, etc., but also creates opportunities for collaborative work not yet considered.
The faculty is developing a Professional Development Program for students so that, while they are doing
their coursework, they also have opportunities to meet and mix with professionals.
The need to graduate students who can work in a culturally diverse and global economy is a significant challenge.
There is a particular emphasis in QUT to internationalise the curriculum and to develop programs which recognise cultural diversity.
Finally, QUT believes that our students should meet the next century with enthusiasm. Thus, our education program is designed to offer interest, challenge, and some enjoyable learning experiences.
While there are issues of welfare, safety and the environment, we must keep in mind that working in the next century will be global, ever-changing, knowledge-based and will rely on good communication and goodwill.
The ties and networks we are building are ways in which we can ensure success.
QUT Alumni can take advantage of a growing number of services and facilities QUT has to offer, including:
Facilities for hire – facilities for meetings, functions and other activities are available for hire, including: classrooms and lecture theatres; dance, drama and visual arts studios (at Kelvin Grove); theatres;
gymnasiums, ovals and tennis courts;
support services (including
audiovisual equipment, catering and refectory facilities); and more. For details, phone (07) 3864 2888.
Health clinics – the Faculty of Health runs three health clinics at Kelvin Grove which alumni can utilise, including the Optometry Clinic (07 3864 5695), Podiatry Clinic (07 3864 5652) and Weight Management Clinic operated by the School of Human Movement Studies (07 3864 5819).
Parking is available for clinic patients.
Library benefits –QUT graduates can apply for associate membership of the QUT Library at a discounted rate.
This membership offers borrowing privileges for $75 a year.
Fitness and sports centres –QUT’s fitness centres are open to the public and offer competitive rates. These centres offer gym, aerobics, circuit training and pump. For more information, phone (07) 3864 2945 (Gardens Point), (07) 3864 3710 (Kelvin Grove) or (07) 3864 4716 (Carseldine).
The Joint Sports Centre on the Gardens Point campus also offers discounts to alumni. It features a pool and squash courts, and offers special programs such as adult and children’s swimming classes, and aqua-aerobics. Contact Alumni Office on (07) 3864 1387 for a letter of introduction.
Electronic media production services –QUT’s Electronic Media Production unit undertakes commercial
work in all aspects of electronic media, for instance making videos.
A new co-location deal with CITEC means EMP clients now have access to interactive satellite television
production and broadcasting facilities, as well as video-conferencing services.
For more information, phone (07) 3864 2207.
Continuing education courses and conference management – the Continuing Professional Education unit offers professional development, vocational support and continuing professional education courses.
Through CPE, employers can also access the specialist expertise of academics for tailor-made design and presentation training programs.
Conference management services are also available. For more information e-mail [email protected] or call (07) 3864 2196 or (07) 3864 3354.
Services and facilities for QUT Alumni
6
b y G l e n y s H a a l e b o s
G
oing from dreams of developing exotic designer perfumes to working in mining may seem like a quantum career leap, but for QUT graduate Sharon Carvolth, it has ensured the sweet smell of success.The move has seen her start her own business, break new ground in the quality field and be named the State’s Career Achiever and Young Achiever of the Year late last year.
“I was blown away by the fact that I won,” Sharon said. “Winning my category (Career Achiever) was one thing, but to then win overall was great.”
Nominated for the award by the Queensland Business and Professional Women’s Association, Sharon beat a field of 21 finalists.
“The judges look for people who are continually achieving, trying to motivate themselves and growing,” she said.
While a chemistry student at QUT, Sharon dreamed of creating the world’s best perfumes. It was her move into the mining industry which won her prestigious accolades and has since mapped out her career path.
Sharon first became involved with mining through vacation work as both a high school and university student, working with ACIRL Ltd and BP.
“BP offered me full-time work as soon as I finished my Bachelor of Applied Science (Applied Chemistry) in 1991,” she said.
“I did quality control testing and developed an interest in quality issues.”
Seeing a new career opening, Sharon undertook the Graduate Diploma in Quality at QUT and was offered a position as a quality officer for ACIRL.
“I was doing consulting work for mining companies on ACIRL’S behalf, visiting companies and seeing how their procedures stacked up against quality standards,” she said.
A Master of Business Quality at QUT came next and, from there, it was
a logical step to link quality issues with safety and environment concerns.
This led Sharon to choose further study, this time a Master of Environment Management at the University of Queensland which is due for completion within 18 months.
“This course looks at environment techniques and their industry
applications as well as examining the legal and social ramifications of environmental change,” Sharon said.
“It’s an important backup to my work. Quality assurance is not the be-all and end-all – there has to be an
integration between quality, safety and environmental responsibilities, so I’m broadening my knowledge in that area.”
Early in her professional life Sharon saw a market niche she could enter.
“There are a lot of quality consultants, but no-one specialising in mining. I felt that, by starting my own business, I could give my clients a much better service if I knew the industry inside out.”
At age 23, Sharon started up Carvolth & Associates, a quality management consultancy to the mining sector which has since been a major
Quality spurs switch from perfume to pits
Do you know an outstanding QUT graduate?
QUT has produced some outstanding graduates in many fields. If you know a graduate who’s made a significant contribution to a profession and to the community, nominate that person now for the 1998 QUT Outstanding Alumni (Graduate) Award.
All graduates of QUT, QIT, BCAE, Central Technical College and their predecessor institutions are eligible.
For more information and a nomination kit, phone (07) 3864 2821 or write to Alumni Relations, QUT Development, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane 4001.
Nominations close Friday, July 10.
Young Achiever of the Year Sharon Carvolth ... continual achievement
success. She now has a broad client base and one, Ensham Resources, has been particularly grateful for her services.
Given a timeframe by Ensham of less than a year to develop an accredited quality system – a process which normally takes twice that long –Shar on shot into action.
“I wrote and implemented a system and had it certified in 46 weeks,” she said.
Life in a vineyard lures engineering graduate
b y G l e n y s H a a l e b o s
Q U T L I N K S
7
“When you can work in something you love and make a good living out of it you’re pretty lucky.”
F
rom his vineyard in the foothills of the Australian Alps, Rick Kinzbrunner muses on the attractions of winemaking which lured him from his original profession of mechanical engineering.“I’m my own boss,” Rick said.
“I meet interesting people from all over Australia and the world, I’m part of a dynamic industry and the people in it get very passionate about what they do.
“I have a house above the winery. It’s in the country, it has a beautiful view, and it’s a healthy lifestyle because you do some outside, hard physical work.
“I loved engineering. It was a part of my life – my father was an electrical engineer – but it didn’t fulfil the artistic side of my temperament.”
But, having jumped ship from engineering to winemaking in the mid- 1980s, the 1971 Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT) Bachelor of
Engineering (Mechanical) graduate still draws on skills acquired in his course.
“The chemistry I studied during engineering helps and, because I use some machines in winemaking, it’s handy if I can design or repair them myself,” Rick said.
From a weekend hobby zipping off to the Hunter Valley while working as an engineer in Sydney, Rick has created a boutique winery producing high- quality wines for a small, discerning market. As his interest in wines and wineries grew, Rick travelled extensively, broadening his knowledge.
“For about seven years in the late 1970s-early ’80s, I travelled between Australia, New Zealand, California and France, working in vineyards and wineries, getting to know the industry,”
he said. “I worked in the cellars, did a bit of laboratory analysis and sold wines at the cellar door.
“Then I did some postgraduate study in Oenology (winemaking) at the University of California (Davis), returned to Australia and worked with Brown Brothers.”
In 1981, Rick decided it was time to go it alone.
“I bought seven acres of land at Beechworth near Wangaratta in Victoria and planted grapes straight away,” he said.
“My first bottle of wine, a cabernet sauvignon, was produced in ’87. The next year I produced a chardonnay as well and the year after, added a pinot noir.
“They’re the three varieties my winery – called “Giaconda” – produces.
It’s too small to expand into other types.”
Giaconda produces about 1,000 cases of wine a year.
“In wine industry terms that’s very small, but it’s high-quality wine, so I get a good price and sell the entire production lot easily,” Rick said.
“My market niche is in hand-made, high-quality, expensive wines – wines that are comparable to the best international ones.
“My wines are special because of the way I make them, using the very minimum of additives, no machine filtration and natural yeast. It’s very traditional processing.
“They’re close to the great classic European wines, not ‘squeaky clean’ like
The Giaconda label, produced by QUT graduate Rick Kinzbrunner ... close to classic
most of the ones made nowadays using a lot of technology. I find those boring.
“My wines are not overly fruity and have complex nuances, more character.
“The chardonnay is the star performer and is known as one of the few very best in the country. It goes to a kind of educated wine market, mostly in Melbourne, and a small amount is exported to England, the US, New Zealand and Singapore.
Described by the Melbourne Age’s Epicure writer Ralph Kyte-Powell as his
“winemaker of the year” for “... single- minded dedication to producing the absolute best he can from his tiny plot”, Rick is making his highly individual mark on the Australian wine industry.
“I love engineering, but for me this is more interesting, artistic and
rewarding,” he said.
“When you can work in something you really love and make a good living out of it, you’re pretty lucky.”
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Walter’s drawings still win praise
three years when Walter was offered a partnership in a long- established practice.
“Architect Harold Cook approached me and Cook and Kerrison got underway,” he said.
“It was a successful and harmonious partnership which hung together for 40 years. With the addition of other partners, the firm became Cook Kerrison and Partners in 1963.
“We did a huge variety of work but my side of the practice mostly
concerned church work – churches, old people’s homes, church offices, halls, manses, etc. – I’ve designed more than 200 churches and church buildings in Queensland.”
It seems churches, their architecture and function were part of Walter’s destiny and his love for church architecture had an unexpected renaissance recently.
“In my final year of architecture, I did some measured drawings of St Stephen’s Cathedral chapel,” he said.
“When the restoration of the cathedral began, project architect Robin Gibson became aware of my sketches and referred to them in his work, describing them as ‘a beautiful set of drawings’.
“It was a real thrill that drawings I did more than 70 years ago were still relevant and useful.”
Walter now lives in Brisbane’s Sinnamon Retirement Village, but retirement is a loose term for this dynamic and charming nonagenarian who is writing his autobiography.
W
alter Kerrison completed his Diploma of Architecture at the former Central Technical College in 1925.His second son, Russell, followed in his footsteps, attaining a Diploma in Architecture in 1967 from the College.
Carrying the family tradition into the nineties, grandson Paul graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Business (Communication) in 1993.
After his graduation, Walter Kerrison was recruited by the Brisbane City Council (BCC) where, over the next 11 years, he designed many
public buildings.
“One of the buildings I’m most proud of, which is still standing, is the South Brisbane library at West End – the one with the clock tower,” he said.
Walter stayed with the BCC until events catapulted him into starting his own business in 1936.
“I won a competition to design a Methodist church in Bundaberg – a big project seating 500 people – and had to decide between sticking with the BCC and starting my own practice to design the church.
“It was a risky decision – my wife and I had one small child at the time – but we decided to take the plunge. I’ve never stopped working since.”
The W.J. Kerrison private
architectural practice had operated for
Pictured above right:
Walter Kerrison
Like stepping stones throughout the institution’s history, the name “Kerrison”
keeps popping up as a bridge between QUT and its predecessor organisations.
Grandfather, father and son – all three generations of the Kerrison family – have launched their careers from a base of knowledge gained from study that, in grandfather Walter Kerrison’s case, began more than 70 years ago.
Adding more resonance still to the parallels between the Kerrison family history and that of QUT, is the fact that, at 95 years of age, Walter Kerrison has the honour of being QUT’s oldest known living graduate – a fact Mr Kerrison describes as “wonderful – quite exciting”.
b y G l e n y s H a a l e b o s
“You’ve got to design houses that suit the people going into them.”
Q U T L I N K S
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A
Queensland architect whose design impetus has been to “continually find more efficient and effective ways of building than the ones we’re normally using” has won the 1998 RoyalAustralian Institute of Architects’
Gold Medal.
The architect, Gabriel Poole – whose houses “make statements” with their bold design, innovative construction and environmental sensitivity – was awarded the RAIA’s highest honour because he has “consistently maintained an exploratory and innovative stance”.
Gabriel began his Diploma of Architecture at the (then) Central Technical College in 1956 and graduated from Queensland Institute
of Technology in the mid 1960s.
He recalled recently how he came to architecture by good luck rather than good design. Originally intending to study medicine, a chance meeting with Robin Gibson and John Dalton – then becoming recognised as two of Queensland’s brightest young architects – led him into the profession.
“I went to work at the same company as Robin while I was a first- year student and, when he went out on his own, I went with him,” Gabriel said.
In the 1960s, Gabriel opened a solo practice on the Sunshine Coast and operates from there today, concentrating on domestic architecture, an area where he believes his profession has often failed its clientele.
“You’ve got to design houses that suit the people going into them,” he said. “I think architects have a reputation of saying to people, well this is the sort of architecture I do and if you don’t want to live in that, you don’t get one of my houses, I don’t think that’s legitimate – architects have a responsibility to fulfil a client’s requirements.
“If they’re good architects, they’ll put clients into something more beautiful than they thought they were going get.
“Nearly all the houses on the market today just don’t work in terms of
Gabriel scoops the pool
ventilation or the way they relate to the environment. That’s crazy.
“In Queensland, orientation, shading, ventilation and materials make a vital difference to comfort and its energy usage.”
True to his philosophy, Gabriel designed his own 1990 award-winning tent house using lightweight steel, plywood, PVC roofing and internal roll-up walls. Since then, 28 houses have followed in this “quadropod system” for building on steep sites with minimal environmental disturbance.
At present he is fulfilling his dream of impacting positively on domestic housing design with his Capricorn 151 range – architect-designed, realistically- priced project houses.
“The price is fixed and people know up front what they’re paying and getting.
“We’re getting 300 people a day through the display home in Coolum and will soon be building two a week.”
In a career spent at architecture’s cutting edge, the RAIA 1998 Gold Medal was due recognition of Gabriel’s achievements.
“It was fantastic,” he said. “It was an acknowledgment of my lifetime’s work – for design, my research, and the way I’ve tried to advance architecture.”
But if that sounds like a grand finale to a career, forget it. Retiring could not be further from Gabriel Poole’s mind.
“Architecture is an old man’s game – as long as you don’t lose your fire,” the 63-year-old said. “By the time you’re 60, you’re a lot better than you were at 30, because you’ve got so much more experience.
“I think one day I’ll probably just roll off the drawing board, pencil in hand, and that’ll be the end of it. But as long as the creative juices are flowing, I’ll keep going.”
Architect Gabriel Poole ... bold, environmentally sensitive designs
Venturing into business pays off for medalist
“The thing that I find most challenging is interpersonal and communication skills.”
b y C a r m e n M y l e r
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hen QUT MBA graduate Dr Roslyn Brandon undertook veterinary studies at the University of Queensland after finishing school, she did not have business on her mind but, today, she is one of QUT’s most entrepreneuring graduates.It was only after years of research, here and overseas, in agricultural, veterinary and pharmacological fields of study – culminating in a PhD in neuropharmacology – that Roslyn’s passion for business was ignited.
Her PhD was done in collaboration with international drug company Reckitt and Colman, where the 1996 MBA Medal winner developed a fascination with product development, Roslyn said.
“I did my PhD in the dosage of aspirin for prevention of strokes and heart attacks and, because we were working in collaboration with a drug company, I became pretty interested in the development of a drug right from its concept to the marketplace,” she said.
“I thought that process was quite fascinating so, when I finished my PhD, I did a short postdoctoral program to see if I could spring into the business area somewhere and I got a position at UniQuest, which is the commercial arm of UQ.”
Her position involved selling the university’s external testing services, particularly in engineering, for private organisations or members of the public.
“I did a lot of cold calling which was a very rude introduction to marketing,”
she said.
“But I did really well in that position and doubled the turnover within a year.
Then they expanded my portfolio to include consulting and testing services
Dr Roslyn Brandon
from throughout the university.”
While working her way up the management ladder at UniQuest to eventually become General Manager of the company, Roslyn set up her own consulting firm, Roslyn Brandon and Associates.
“I did a fair bit of work for State Government and private enterprise both in my own technical area of consulting – pharmacological, waste management control, biotechnology – as well as in this technology transfer/
commercialisation of expertise area,”
she said.
Roslyn then took on a business partner and, eventually, made a full-time commitment to the firm which became Management Strategy & Innovation Pty Ltd (MSI).
“Our main areas of consulting are strategic and new venture management – taking concepts through to the market if someone comes up with an invention, or an invention arises within a company.
“We do feasibility studies and devise the best strategies to get inventions implementing change and growth strategies.
“Our largest market is small to medium-sized enterprises and we find this sector is particularly important because we have some big challenges in running businesses in Australia at the moment,” she said.
Roslyn said she decided to undertake MBA studies “to add to my knowledge base and to give me the formal credentials to assist in what I do”.
With honours, masters and PhD credentials to her name, Roslyn said her future professional development would be of a practical nature, rather than an academic one.
“I’m not overly ambitious,” she said.
“I’d like to grow the firm and expand a bit, but not too much because I’m interested in a balanced lifestyle.
“I’m most interested in my own
development as a professional because this supports the value that I can provide to clients – I’m more interested in that than I am in achieving something ‘out there’ in the world.
“The thing that I find most challenging is interpersonal and communication skills. Effective communication is very rewarding and I would like to grow more as a professional in this area. And then, of course, I’d just like to increase my practical experience in the consulting area and in new venture management.”
Roslyn may get a chance to share her knowledge with students as a guest lecturer in QUT’s MBA (New Venture Management) which QUT is offering for the first time, in 1998.
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Q U T L I N K S
b y T r i n a M c L e l l a n
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QUT-based research team has challenged a growing notion within the national and international academic community with its findings that virtual universities are unlikely to eventuate.The research and its 226-page report, New Media and Borderless Education: A review of the convergence between global media networks and higher education provision, was conducted on behalf of the Federal Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.
The six-member research team included head of QUT’s School of Media and Journalism Professor Stuart Cunningham; education consultant and former QUT senior lecturer Dr Yoni Ryan; journalism lecturer Suellen Tapsall; higher education policy advisor Dr Lawrence Stedman; educational technology specialist Kerry Bagdon; and media studies academic Terry Flew.
Project director Professor Stuart Cunningham said that – contrary to growing speculation among higher education policy makers – Australian universities were not about to succumb to global dominance by one or more
‘mega-universities’.
“At first glance, the ‘mega-university’
– one that carries the clout of an internationally recognised ‘brand-name’
university coupled with a powerful media, entertainment or corporate partner such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation – seems a real threat to the viability of less well-known universities,”
Professor Cunningham said.
“But our research team has visited both educational and global media organisations alike on four continents – and we’ve been in touch with ones on a fifth – and we can report there is little evidence either that this is about to happen or that there is even any intention to head this way.
Dr Yoni Ryan said the ‘death star’
scenario for Australian universities was
“more hype than reality”.
“For most people, the university
‘experience’ is about talking –
interacting in a physical sense – because their learning is stimulated by
interactions with other students and educators,” Dr Ryan said.
Project manager and North American investigator for New Media and Borderless Education Suellen Tapsall said the higher education market was beginning to segment.
“Already we are seeing new providers targeting the non-traditional component and the difficulty for universities which could see that part of their market diminish or disappear is that they rely on that income to cross- subsidise the traditional undergraduate component of their business,” she said.
Dr Lawrence Stedman said a challenge would be to ensure greater cross-portfolio consideration of future policy decisions on the provision of higher education.
“Even future mass media policies are likely to impact on higher education – in all these areas it will be important to have the higher education sector represented and heard,” he said.
Kerry Bagdon conducted intensive research in the United Kingdom and Europe. She said speculation in Australia about what technology could achieve in the university environment was based more on conjecture than fact.
“Firstly, there is an assumption that technology- mediated learning can be delivered faster and cheaper and we’ve found that this, clearly, is not always so,” she said.
“Secondly, there is a dangerous three-pronged supposition, which has yet to be tested by surveys, that everyone will want to learn this way, that
they’ll have the technical literacy to do so and that they’ll have ready access to expensive computer and
telecommunications equipment to make it happen.”
Media studies academic Terry Flew visited Asia as part of the review. He said one of the underlying assumptions that led to the commissioning of the report was an unquestioning acceptance by policy makers and others of the rhetoric of globalisation.
“While many organisations claimed to have a global reach, we found that in fact they were more likely to be servicing local and national markets,”
he said.
Study examines future for Australian universities
Three of the six researchers on the project, Terry Flew, Suellen Tapsall and Stuart Cunningham ... the advance of technology has heightened the need for careful and strategic preparations for the brave new world of education in the new millennium
“At first glance, the
‘mega-university’ seems a real
threat to the viability of less
well-known universities.”
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ith a resume that reads like the credits of a film – covering work as an actor, producer, director, stage manager, set designer, production manager and more – masters graduate Lucilla Teoh is well-qualified for her current role as a drama lecturer.Co-ordinator of the Bachelor of Arts (Drama) course which QUT’s Academy of the Arts offers through LA SALLE- SIA College of the Arts in Singapore, Lucilla is also a recent Master of Fine Arts graduate from QUT.
Her diverse, professional experience in theatre, television and film in Singapore spans more than 10 years.
Milestones include her involvement in producing the nation’s first, full-scale local musical and a recent acting role in the film 12 Storeys, which was
Singapore’s entry to the “Un Certain Regarde” category at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
Lucilla – whose professional life has predominantly been in production – said she found acting in the film, directed by award-winning independent film maker Eric Khoo, to be a strange experience.
“Acting for the camera was a lot more technical than I realised,” she said.
Many people thought I was too different from my character but, after reading the script, I knew it was a good part and, if I could pull it off, it would be something to tell the grandchildren.”
Lucilla’s experience will be valuable for her students, as will her recent masters study on playwriting and directing in inter-cultural theatre.
“I was interested, aesthetically, in looking for a form that embodied Asian and western theatre techniques. I was also very interested in educational theatre,” she said.
“My real passion is education. I love teaching and seeing how I can influence the development of future artists and how, through my educational theatre projects, I can introduce young people to theatre.”
The first batch of graduates from the drama course at LA SALLE-SIA will graduate in July and the course’s industry focus has already enhanced their job prospects, Lucilla said.
“Industry professionals teach some aspects of the course,” she said.
“Because we do not have casting agents in Singapore, we have received requests for talent from television
stations, as well as MTV and the more established theatre companies.”
Lucilla has had a long involvement with one of Singapore’s main theatre companies, Theatre Works, and is currently its education adviser – a role which allows her to be involved in professional theatre and academia.
“I am glad I agreed to do it all because I believe in QUT’s philosophy of preparing students for the real world.
I also support and champion QUT’s recognition of industry experience and expertise when it recruits staff.
“I enjoyed my stay at QUT because it supported my work and gave me the support I needed to learn – this is the nurturing environment I am trying to replicate in Singapore.”
Lucilla said undertaking the role of BA co-ordinator had been a baptism of fire but the course was “firmly on its feet and there is a distinct rise in quality in each succeeding cohort of students”.
And, when the graduating actors undergo their own baptism of fire – the first showcase to Singapore’s industry professionals will be this May – Lucilla will be in the front-row, knowing exactly how they feel.
Lucilla in lead role for QUT
Lucilla, as San San, with her “guardian angel” in the film 12 Storeys
“My character is called San San – a lowly educated, daggy looking woman who lives in a dingy flat with her nagging, adopted mother who never lets her forget how unwanted she is.
“The director was very trusting and gave me a lot of leeway to develop my character.
“The only thing he wanted from me was that the audience would empathise with me.
“The director was very
trusting and gave me a lot
of leeway to develop
my character.”
Q U T L I N K S
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Last word...
CONVOCATION LEADER CHOSEN
Beaudesert optometrist Heather Waldron has been elected QUT’s warden at convocation. (Convocation is the advisory board for the Alumni Association.)
A graduate of the original 1969 class of only four students in QUT’s Diploma of Applied Science
(Optometry), Heather has maintained an active involvement with her alma mater. Her commitment to the university and her profession was recognised by QUT in 1994 when it named her its Outstanding Alumni Award winner for that year.
Heather’s continuing links with QUT and its School of Optometry fit her well for her new role.
“I think the Alumni Association has a number of roles,” she said.
“One of these is to maintain and boost the pride individuals should have in their academic institution.
“QUT graduates should feel tremendous pride in their university since both they and QUT are highly regarded nationally and internationally.
“The association could provide a forum for generating interaction between graduates of diverse professions to exchange ideas and experiences.
“And, because QUT plays a significant role in educating students from other nations, we have the opportunity to establish alumni offshore and around Australia to maintain these graduates’ connection
with the Institution.
“The Alumni can also provide an opportunity for networking, and a forum where new graduates meet former graduates now well established in their careers. It’s important for new graduates to be exposed to these people for the role model value.”
RESEARCH SHOWS TV NEWS IS CHILD’S PLAY
Young children are absorbing much more from television than either their teachers or parents realise, research at QUT has shown.
A three-year study has found adult programs and the nightly television news – rather than children’s programs such as Play School and Sesame Street – are informing children’s play and perceptions of the world.
School of Early Childhood lecturer, PhD student and Faculty of Education graduate Cassandra Weddell was responsible for the research along with Ashgrove West Kindergarten and Preschool director Janice Copeland.
The pair found young children aged from two to five years of age are “active consumers of popular culture” and profoundly affected by news events.
News-savvy preschoolers devised props and story lines to re-enact major news stories – such as the rescue of British yachtsman Tony Bullimore, the Thredbo disaster and the death of Princess Diana – in the playground.
The research – based on interviews with 109 parents
and 124 teachers – also found children between the ages of two and five years watch up to 17 hours of television each week.
QUT TAKES LAW ONLINE QUT is set to offer Australia’s first online postgraduate law course.
The Law Faculty aims to have 15 postgraduate courses online by 1999, in a move that is a direct challenge to the supremacy of intensive postgraduate law courses offered by southern universities.
Faculty of Law Assistant Dean (postgraduate studies) Professor Bill Duncan said the project would give people working in rural areas access to QUT’s highly-regarded postgraduate law courses for a fraction of the cost.
The project, a joint venture with the Queensland legal profession, would use the Queensland Law Foundation’s IBM-managed computer network THEMIS.
“Not only will the connection with THEMIS give us access to people who are working in legal,
Professor Bill Duncan
Government and corporate offices in remote and provincial Queensland but – because IBM links up to Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji and New Guinea – it will be theoretically possible to do a QUT postgraduate subject from either upstate, interstate or overseas,” Professor Duncan said.
“And, by offering courses this way, we can update our courses very quickly, in fact instantaneously, so what we will have to offer our students will be the most relevant and up-to-date legal data available in Australia.”
Professor Duncan said postgraduate students would need only a computer and modem to download lectures and tutorials, to talk to lecturers and to fellow students. This setup would also give students access to a
“virtual library”.
For further information about the new course, contact Professor Duncan on
(07) 3864 2709.
