Young achiever mines for
success
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Law goes online to offer greater access
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QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2111 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778
Journalists to face effects of trauma
‘O’ what a week
Relaxing before the Vice-Chancellor’s orientation welcome … see Page 5 for more on O Week by Glenys Haalebos
Turning nature on itself by manipulating predator/prey relationships is the principle behind groundbreaking Queensland research into controlling toxic blue-green algae in the State’s freshwater bodies.
The research — a collaboration between QUT, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the CSIRO — has received a major boost from a recent $237,000, three-year Australian Research Council Strategic Partnerships with Industry Research and Training (ARC SPIRT) grant to QUT.
The grant, combined with DNR funding of around $254,000 over three years and additional monies from CSIRO, directs an amount exceeding half a million dollars to the research, elevating it to major project status. School of Life Sciences senior lecturer Dr Chris King, pictured below, said the program would look at biological control of nuisance algae.
“The idea is that, in freshwater bodies, there are microscopic animals called zooplankters that feed on the algae,” Dr King said. “If you can boost zooplankter numbers so there are always enough to eat the algae before it blooms, you’ve managed to control it.
“QUT will document the biomanipulation aspects of the project and develop a model which can predict how effective this control measure is going to be under different circumstances.
“DNR and CSIRO are actually going to test the effectiveness of biomanipulation using freshwater bodies — Lake Moogerah and Maroon Dam.”
Dr King said blue-green algae was a problem in Australian freshwater bodies when it bloomed and released toxins.
“Toxin-producing algae can harm stock and there is a possibility that humans swimming in or drinking toxin-polluted water could suffer some illness as a result,”
he said.
“We’re trying a ‘clean/green’ method of controlling the algae — using natural enemies to help eradicate the problem. In the past, chemical approaches have been tried but weren’t successful. Often the chemical treatment caused the algae to break down, releasing tastes and odours into the water.”
Nature to fight algae
by Andrea Hammond
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.
TV news proves child’s play
Centre of Applied Studies in Early Childhood (CASEC) researcher Cassandra Weddell and Ashgrove West Kindergarten and Preschool director Janice Copeland found young children 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 elaborate story lines to re- enact major news stories in the playground — such as the dramatic
rescue of British yachtsman Tony Bullimore, the Thredbo disaster and the death of Princess Diana.
The research, based on interviews with 109 parents and 124 teachers and extensive observation of children, also found children between the ages of two and five years watch up to 17 hours of television each week.
Ms Weddell and Ms Copeland presented their findings at a CASEC Continued Page 2
Q u e e n s l a n d U n i v e r s i t y o f T e c h n o l o g y N e w s p a p e r ■ I s s u e 172 ■ March 3-16 1 9 9 8
Page 2 INSIDE QUT March 3-March 16, 1998
From the Inside… by David Hawke
A fair go for Queensland
A word from the Vice-Chancellor
… TV news proves child’s play — research
From Page 1
seminar: How young children show what they know about the media at QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus on February 23.
Ms Weddell said she believed parents needed to take a greater interest in what children were watching, however peripherally, and to defuse violent or disturbing images by teaching children to become “critical viewers”.
“Our research indicates that even very young children are not passive viewers and are able to discern political, economic and social influences both within Australia and globally,” she said.
“They show empathy and understanding, are aware of cultural diversity and are able to articulate in detail what they understand about certain scenarios, that are then replicated in play.
“The news genre is something that children latch on to because news reports are short, succinct pieces that have a beginning, a middle and an end, and the pictures and the spoken text match.
“Shows such as the Funniest Home Video Show have an even greater impact
on children, simply because almost every story has a child or animal being hurt or laughed at.”
Ms Weddell said the study found parents were often not aware of how much their children gleaned from news flashes and promotions screened during children’s television programs.
“We found children were able to piece a story together even when they had not seen the complete story. In households where the television is part of background noise — perhaps in another room during the evening meal — children were easily able to understand and make sense of a story,” she said.
“Parents need to be aware that commercial television stations are only obliged to program one hour of television per day for children in the two- to five- year-old age group — hence young children are watching many programs designed for much older audiences.
“Parents also need to be mindful that young children will want to be where the family is congregated and that often this will be in front of the television in the evening. Once again, if parents and
older siblings are watching adult programs, young children will absorb the images presented on TV.
“What makes our research unique is that we are acknowledging the negative effects of television but we are also saying children’s viewing should not be completely censored and restricted to The Wiggles and Play School.”
Ms Weddell said strategies that parents could employ included allocating a certain number of hours for children to select and watch television programs each week, and pre-recording favoured documentaries shown late at night.
“I think parents can, and should, talk about violent cartoons, even pre-record them and use the pause button to talk about whether this is how we would really treat someone, or the cartoon effects that have been used,” she said.
“Our research found even children who haven’t seen (popular) cartoons are persuaded into very anti-social behaviour and I think the really important thing is offering alternative activities that can engage the children in a positive way.”
by Andrea Hammond
Researchers at QUT’s School of Early Childhood are developing a teaching package to encourage young children to retain their positive view of the world.
A project supervised by the school’s Associate Professor Susan Wright and senior lecturer Dr Barbara Piscitelli, in conjunction with the Queensland Catholic Education Commission (QCEC), aims to help youngsters keep their sunny dispositions longer.
Preschoolers to Year 3 students at two Catholic schools in the Rockhampton diocese will this year continue a specially- designed futures education package co- ordinated by QCEC senior research officer Dianne Reardon and the Rockhampton Catholic Education Office.
“We are trying to develop strategies and processes to help children go beyond their normal mindset,” Professor Wright said.
“The underpinning philosophy of futures education is that all of us are individuals with minds that can have an influence in
our world. If we have a positive view on what this is, then we can shape society in positive and productive ways.
“We are helping children realise that they are not simply the recipients of society, but the shapers of society.”
Professor Wright said she hoped the futures curriculum might be adopted by Australian teachers and parents in the education of young children. She said research had shown that from about six years old, children’s perspectives of the world around them began to change.
“We are deliberately jumping in while these children are young and positive, while their minds are still quite pliable and open to a lot of experiences and input from other people,” she said.
“I guess we are trying to counterbalance what is assumed to be, developmentally, a natural progression — that as people become more informed they can become cynical.
“We are increasingly finding that by about eight years old children are saying and feeling they can’t do anything to change the world. If we can positively influence children’s attitudes and beliefs before this age, we may have a better chance of helping children become empowered through positive attitudes which will, ultimately, benefit our society as a whole.”
Package to help kids stay positive about their world
Jamboree State School Year One student Andrew Cox … children need to learn optimism
Going from dreams of developing exotic designer perfumes to working in the mining industry may seem like a quantum career leap, but for QUT graduate Sharon Carvolth it has brought the sweet smell of success.
The move has seen her start her own successful business, break new ground in the quality field and — the highlight to date
— be named Queensland Career Achiever and Young Achiever of the Year in late 1997.
“I was blown away by the fact that I won,” Ms Carvolth said. “Winning my category (Career Achiever) was one thing, but to then win overall was just great.”
Ms Carvolth, who was nominated for the award by the Queensland Business and Professional Women’s Association, beat a field of 21 finalists.
“The judges look for people who are continually achieving, trying to motivate themselves and growing,” she said.
As a chemistry student at QUT, Ms Carvolth dreamed of creating the world’s
best scents, but it was her move into the mining industry which won her prestigious accolades and mapped out her future career path.
Ms Carvolth became involved with mining through her vacation work as a high school and university student, working with mining companies ACIRL Ltd and BP.
“BP offered me full-time work as soon as I finished my degree in 1991,” she said.
“I did quality control testing and developed an interest in quality issues.”
Seeing a new career opening, Ms Carvolth undertook a Graduate Diploma in Quality and then a Master of Business Quality at QUT. She is currently completing a Master of Environment Management at the University of Queensland.
Seeing a market niche, at age 23 Ms Carvolth established Carvolth & Associates, a company offering quality management consultancy to the mining sector.
— Glenys Haalebos
Young Achiever has found formula for success
The editorial deadline for next issue (March 17-30) is March 6.
About your newspaper
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Public Affairs Department and has a circulation of 15,000.
Readership includes staff, students, and members of the QUT community.
The newspaper is delivered to specially-marked boxes in community areas at the university’s Gardens Point, Kelvin Grove and Carseldine campuses.
It is also circulated to business, industry, government and the media.
Media may reproduce stories from Inside QUT. Each story has been checked with the source prior to publication.
Letters to the Editor are welcome via mail or e-mail (maximum of 250 words).
The Public Affairs Department address is Level 5, M Block, Gardens Point, or GPO Box 2434 Brisbane 4001.
The opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university or the editorial team.
If you know of a story which should be told in Inside QUT contact one of the journalists in the Public Affairs Department:
Carmen Myler (acting ed) 3864 1150 Andrea Hammond 3864 1150 Glenys Haalebos 3864 2130 Noel Gentner (p/t) 3864 1841
Fax 3210 0474
E-mail [email protected] Photography: Tony Phillips
Advertising: Joanne Garnett 3864 1840 As successful applicants for higher
education places in 1998 begin their chosen courses and the unsuccessful look around for other options, a glance at admission statistics for universities around the country is instructive.
Since the cutbacks to previously announced levels of Commonwealth funding in 1996, the number of offers made to commencing students has understandably fallen nationally for both the 1997 and 1998 intakes.
But, in most states, there has also been a fall-off in demand for student places.
The figures for applications for 1998 places show that total applications fell over 1997 levels in all states except Queensland and Victoria. But only in Queensland was there an increase in applications combined with a decrease in offers.
For the prospective student, higher demand for undergraduate places, combined with no or negative growth, simply means it will be tougher to get into Queensland universities.
Students who are unsuccessful in Queensland of course have the option of moving to a state with lower demand to get into university or enrolling in a distance education course, but these options can be disruptive or unsatisfying.
Some years ago, the Commonwealth Government recognised Queensland’s high population growth and historically low participation rates by awarding special “growth” places to the State.
The latest application figures show that the distribution of tertiary places between states is still unfair.
The Government should look at a funding mechanism that responds to student demand by redistributing tertiary places to states and regions with high demand.
— Professor Dennis Gibson
10x3 ad for mobile tax accountants
by Glenys Haalebos
Australia’s first “victims of trauma and media program” to be run in a journalism course will be launched at QUT today (March 3).
The result of a rare, cross-discipline collaboration between psychology and journalism — and between American and Australian universities — the program will be launched by its US developer, Professor Frank Ochburg, clinical psychiatrist and originator of the ‘Stockholm Syndrome’.
(The Stockholm Syndrome is said to occur when people held captive identify strongly with — and sometimes fall in love with—␣ their captors.)
QUT’s School of Social Science Professor Gary Embelton learned of the program being run at the University of Washington (Seattle) and Michigan State University, while undertaking post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research at Harvard in 1996.
“As a psychologist, I realised traumatic events which receive media coverage impact on both the victim and the reporter,”
Professor Embelton said.
“The research being undertaken in the US program indicated American journalists, particularly those continually covering traumatic events, suffered on-going stress.
“This work has profound implications for both social scientists and journalists in Australia in understanding and dealing effectively with PTSD in that profession locally.
“This is one of the cross-disciplinary program’s most innovative features. It draws on the inside knowledge of journalism educators who understand the cultural milieu of the newsroom.”
Professor Embelton enlisted the support of QUT School of Media and Journalism journalism co-ordinator Cratis Hippocrates and the pair made successful representations late last year to Professor Ochburg, as Director of the US Dart Foundation, for funding to replicate the program in Australia.
Mr Hippocrates said the foundation had allocated $US20,000 to establish a QUT program — an amount to be matched dollar-for-dollar by local funding.
Media students to witness effects of trauma first-hand
“The program has four stages,” Mr Hippocrates said. “They are: curriculum development; undertaking local research;
developing in-house courses for journalists;
and establishing emergency response teams to debrief media in events like Port Arthur.
“Stages one and two will be done this year — the program will be introduced into an ethics unit in the QUT journalism course this semester, and we will replicate the US research in Australian media.
“Stages three and four are longer-term tasks,” Mr Hippocates said.
He said the program would involve student workshops where victims of trauma, particularly victims of crime, related their experiences of the media during that event.
“By exposing students to these stories, we hope future generations of journalists will develop a greater awareness of the impact of such traumas and their media coverage on both the victims and themselves,” he said.
“The workshops will be conducted under the supervision of a psychologist.”
— Glenys Haalebos
Head of QUT’s School of Human Movement Studies Professor Tony Parker has been appointed organising committee chair for the 2000 Pre-Olympic Scientific Conference — the world’s largest sports science conference.
As the successful bidder for the conference over Melbourne and Perth, Brisbane will host around 3,500 local, national and international delegates drawn from a myriad of sporting and sports-related disciplines and interests.
Professor Parker said the conference, to be held in the week preceding the Sydney Olympic Games, was organised in conjunction with the International Federation of Sports Medicine, the world’s oldest multinational sports medicine body, which includes more than 110 countries.
“We have managed to get just about every professional and scientific discipline area in the field … holding their meeting at this conference,”
Professor Parker said.
“We will have sports physiotherapists, scientists, sociologists and psychologists, sports medicine representatives, physical educators, health educators, coaches and trainers, to name a few.
“The scope of the conference is enormous, both in terms of attendees’
professions and of the issues that will be covered.”
Parker to chair pre-Olympic committee
Professor Parker said he hoped to provide the conference with a cultural focus on sport and the arts in Brisbane.
“The Brisbane Festival will be running at that time (September) and I would like to see it linked to the Olympic Games — to sport, art and culture — so that we can express Australian culture to the thousands of overseas conference delegates,” he said.
“Discussions have already taken place between the Lord Mayor and the State sports minister in this regard.
“We’re hoping International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch will officially open the conference — he opened it in Dallas prior to the 1996 Atlanta games.”
As first vice-president of the International Council of Sports Science and Physical Education, Australian representative to the Executive of the International Federation of Sports Medicine and a life member of Sports Medicine Australia, Professor Parker appears an eminently suitable choice for organising committee chair of the Pre-Olympic Scientific Conference.
“I felt very honoured to be invited to undertake this role,” he said.
The nation’s most prestigious sports medicine body, Sports Medicine Australia (SMA), recently presented its highest award
— the President’s Award — to QUT’s head of the School of Human Movement Studies, Professor Tony Parker.
In its 35-year history, the SMA has accorded this honour to only one other recipient.
Professor Parker said it was a great honour to receive the award, which was given in recognition of his “outstanding and continuing contribution to sports science in Australia, Oceania and internationally”.
Professor Parker has been involved in sports medicine in an official capacity for 18 years in Queensland, as well as nationally and internationally.
He helped found, and is president of, the Australian Association for Exercise and Sports Science — a body which looks after the professional interests of human movement studies’ graduates.
— Glenys Haalebos
Volunteers help determine safe level of exercise
Victims of traumatic events are not the only ones to feel the impact … journalists who cover their stories can also experience post-traumatic
stress disorder in the aftermath of tragedy
“It will be a team effort. I’m responsible for the organisation, but the host body is Sports Medicine Australia and they have a conference secretariat, so we’ll be working with national and international counterparts to pull it all together.”
Professor Parker said the Pre-Olympic Scientific Conference had been held in the week prior to the Olympic Games since the 1970s.
More than 80 people have volunteered to join a QUT Weight Management Clinic study to determine their ideal level of exercise intensity.
All of the volunteers are overweight and/or have high blood pressure. They will receive expert advice on the exact level and frequency at which they should exercise to improve their health.
The research project has been funded by Polar, a Finnish company which produces an extensive range of heart-rate monitors.
QUT School of Human Movement Studies researcher Andrew Ramage (pictured, above, monitoring a volunteer) said the project would help people with special exercise needs to determine individual guidelines for their own exercise programs.
“It’s basically to try and optimise performance and the benefits these groups gain from the work they put into exercise without placing them at increased risk of cardiovascular complications,” Mr Ramage said. Volunteers will participate in three one-hour sessions of treadmill, lactate and gas analysis tests at the clinic at Kelvin Grove campus.
Page 4 INSIDE QUT March 3-March 16, 1998
Goddess in the machine
by Carmen Myler
Writing about computers and technology seems worlds apart from writing about meditation and goddess worship, but QUT Computing Services’
technical writer Jason Copeland has managed to do both successfully.
Mr Copeland — whose usual Q U T p u b l i c a t i o n s i n c l u d e newsletters Computing News and T e a c h i n g T e c h n o l o g y a n d t h e popular Student Computing Guide
— has recently signed a contract to have his first book, God the Mother, published in electronic form on the World Wide Web.
The book is about meditation, k u n d a l i n i ( p r i m o r d i a l e n e r g y ) awakening, goddess worship and spiritual ascent as a basis for self- improvement, Mr Copeland said.
“ I t ’ s a l s o a b o u t t h e s o c i a l , psychological, moral and political implications of seeing and feeling God as female,” he said.
Mr Copeland said after having his kundalini awakened in 1980 by a spiritual teacher, he discovered a
“more correct and healthy” view of God as a feminine source of creation.
“ I f y o u ’ r e s t a r t i n g f r o m t h e patriarchal perspective of the male
God, then it is a feminist view of t h e d i v i n e b u t r e a l l y i t i s universalist, because the divine is above, and anterior to, all human attributes,” he said.
“It’s becoming obvious that the world’s patriarchal, materialist, hard science paradigm is radically wrong.
“We’ve got to bring back religion but not a religion of belief. We don’t need belief, we need experience.
“Through meditation, people can develop intuitive, insightful experience that says ‘I don’t care if you worship differently from me as long as you recognise that my spirit is the same as yours and we have a joint duty to treat each other with love, courtesy, consideration and nurturing’.”
Mr Copeland said he had done a lot of meditating, contemplation and cogitation in preparing the book, which took him seven years to write.
God the Mother will be published electronically by Brisbane-based web publisher Infocis, which has a “virtual bookshop” site online at http://
www.infocis.com/
The author said he thought the World Wide Web was “a spiritual thing” and, therefore, ideally suited as a vehicle for his first venture into publishing.
“The web is perceived through machinery — through computers, servers, junction boxes, wires and satellites — but the web is not those things,” he said.
“It runs through all these machines but the reality of the web is that it is pulsating, electronic energy.”
From technology to
transendence … QUT technical writer Jason Copeland (pictured, left, meditating in the City Botanic Gardens) has written his first book, God the Mother, which will be published on the World Wide Web later this year
“I would like to work closely with other lecturers from different faculties — learning from them, sharing some of my reflections and experiences with them, and getting their feedback.
“Having identified some good practices, I can then analyse why they work and, with the collaboration of the individual lecturers, video what they are doing and ultimately produce resource material and guides to various learning strategies.”
During his year with ASDU, Dr Watters will also work with the Teaching, Reflection and Collaboration (TRAC) network groups, particularly
“Genius” (Generic Skills in Undergraduate Study), PBL (Problem-based learning), CLATS (Collaborative Learning and Teaching Strategies) and the 2002 Teaching and Learning Plan.
The teaching fellowship comprises $25,000 for the successful applicant’s faculty to fund 1998 academic year teaching relief and $10,000 to the successful applicant for project costs.
— Glenys Haalebos
Watters commences fellowship
School of Maths, Science and Technology Education senior lecturer Dr Jim Watters is the successful applicant for the Division of Academic Affairs’
inaugural $35,000 Teaching Fellowship.
Dr Watters commenced his fellowship with the Academic Staff Development Unit (ASDU) on February 9.
ASDU acting director Dr Patricia Weeks (pictured below with Dr Watters) said applicants for the 1998 Teaching Fellowship were required to make a written submission, give an oral presentation to demonstrate their teaching expertise and put forward a project they wished to develop.
Dr Watters’ project will explore student-centred and authentic learning practices such as problem- based learning, collaborative learning, peer teaching and the formation of learning communities.
“The project is looking at identifying good practice that already exists in the university and which takes into account contemporary views and beliefs about learning,” Dr Watters said.
Study tour finds QUT leading edge
Child care facilities will not be restored to Gardens Point campus until mid-year, following fire damage to the building late last year.
Campus manager Paul Abernethy said, in addition to repairing smoke damage caused by the small, after- hours fire, the university was taking the opportunity to make other improvements to the facility.
Child care services, run by QUT’s Student Guild, are available at Kelvin Grove and Carseldine campuses.
Fire causes child care wait
Going online in 1998 and achieving international accreditation last year has contributed to the growing popularity of QUT’s Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education).
Academic Staff Development Unit lecturer Denise Scott said the course for practising postgraduate teachers within QUT, was now an “internationally portable qualification”.
“Being available via the Internet now makes the course more accessible and flexible,” Ms Scott said.
“We have block teaching days at the beginning of each semester followed by individual contact with lecturers — or e-mail where desired. Two block teaching days were held in early February with the 50 staff enrolled this year.
“So far, we’ve had 70 graduates in the four years the course has been running.”
The course received accreditation from the United Kingdom’s Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) last year.
“Participants come from a wide range of teaching experience — from beginning university teachers, to someone who has been a tertiary teacher for 25 years.
Head of QUT’s School of Media and Journalism Professor Stuart Cunningham has been elected as a fellow in the Australian Academy of the Humanities’ newly-created Cultural and Communication Studies section.
He is the first — and so far the only
— QUT academic admitted to the academy, which accepts those judged by their peers to have “outstanding scholarly achievement” and to be
“outstanding in the profession”.
Professor Cunningham, also deputy director of the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy, is a leader in the development of specifically Australian forms of cultural studies.
His academic publications include Framing Culture: Criticism and Policy in Australia (1992) — the first book- length contribution to what is now known as cultural policy studies.
Cunningham wins accolade
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An international study program has convinced Academic Staff Development Unit (ASDU) acting head Dr Patricia Weeks that universities worldwide are grappling with similar problems and QUT is “up there with the best” in dealing with them.
The 11-day program for senior academics and administrators in higher education —Transforming Teaching and Learning: Refocusing on the Academic Mission — demonstrated US examples of best practice in teaching and learning.
Dr Weeks said she and colleagues from tertiary institutions in Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Australia visited key private and public North American institutions, major research organisations, and multi- campus and community colleges.
“It was interesting to see the institutions we visited dealing with the same issues QUT is facing,” she said.
“Funding, flexible delivery, large classes, student fees, overseas students, research, teaching issues, tenure, promotions were under review wherever we went. But a major concern was how to improve the quality of student learning in an effective, efficient and flexible way, and how to use new technologies to maximum effect.”
Dr Weeks said contrasting QUT and American university facilities, sharing common concerns, and gleaning
“transferable” ideas had been among the main benefits of the tour.
“I am still convinced that ASDU and QUT are more active in many ways than many of our overseas counterparts, and can confidently claim to be forerunners in educational development,” she said.
— Glenys Haalebos
Educators meet
online for course
International student orientation activities this year included the first QUT International College university diploma students who were welcomed to the university on February 5.
Based at Kelvin Grove campus, 2 7 i n t e r n a t i o n a l s t u d e n t s h a v e enrolled in the University Diploma in Business and 23 will undertake t h e U n i v e r s i t y D i p l o m a i n Information Technology.
On successful completion of the diplomas, the students will be able to transfer directly to the second year of a degree program in the Faculty of Business or Faculty of Information Technology.
An integral part of the university, QUT International College provides international students with bridging, foundation, diploma and English language programs at Kelvin Grove and Carseldine campuses.
Orientation Week had something for everyone, as QUT’s 7,500 new students, and many continuing students, explored the university and had some fun along the way.
O Week officially started on February 10 with the university’s inaugural Commencement Service at St Stephen’s Cathedral.
Earlier in the day, QUT’s international students were welcomed to the university at an international students’ lunch.
Despite the dark skies on February 11, thousands of students poured onto Gardens Point campus for the Vice- Chancellor’s Welcome to enjoy food, music and entertainment, and to pick up some information and inspiration with which to begin the year.
The event was preceded by the Student Guild’s Clubs and Societies Forum which showcased the wide variety
The week that was
Orientation Week 1998
of international, special interest, sporting and faculty-based groups (around 85 of them) for students to join.
In the days that followed, the Guild hosted a range of activities across the three campuses including market days, breakfasts, parties and movies.
The week came to a close on Saturday, February 28 with an O Week concert featuring The Superjesus, Snout and Webster at Arena in Fortitude Valley.
As the party hats are replaced with thinking caps, Inside QUT pays a pictorial tribute to the week that was.
A chance to eat and meet … 1998 International Students’ Director Hirokimi Nishio talks to new international nursing students at the international students’ lunch
Diplomates welcomed
Left: President of QUT’s baseball club Nathan Ezard, at Carseldine
Above: Double degree students have twice as much fun at O Week
… just ask second-year electrical engineering/aerospace engineering students Marisa Quinell, left, and Beth Agnew, and fifth-year electrical engineering/information technology student Ken Radke
Second-year student Angela Norcott tries out a mechanical snow board at Gardens Point’s market day.
Above: The Punk Fairies from QUT’s Academy of the Arts spread their joy among new students (l-r) Lynda Lemmon
(drama), Manar Barakat (information technology) and
Fiona Bruce (science)
Right: Keeping an eye on her daaaahrlings … Zelda embraces new MBA (International) students (l-r) Shiv Kumar Sultania and Kunal Bhargava
Below right: Investigating the properties of the humble snag
… Faculty of Science Dean’s Scholar Phillip Wuth is served by staff member Jackie Diery at the faculty’s “sausage sizzle” to welcome new students
Third-year industrial design student Mitch Shakespeare
Page 6 INSIDE QUT March 3-March 16, 1998
An international research team has released an in-depth report comparing the patterns of illicit drug use in Australia and the United States.
The team — which was lead by Dr Jane Maxwell, the Chief of Research at the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, who is currently visiting Australia — also included Australians Jeremy Davey from QUT’s School of Social Science and Paul Dillon from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.
Drug report released
All three researchers participate in an international think-tank, the Community Epidemiology Work Group, which meets twice a year to discuss developments in international drug trends.
Their report is available via the Internet (in Acrobat.pdf format) at http://www.tcada.state.tx.us/research/
Aus-a4.pdf and gives a picture of the drug scene in both countries as well as usage by juveniles and adults in prison and detention facilities.
It was a case of mostly all work and no play on a South Pacific island for a QUT project team late last year.
Five final-year students and their supervisor from the School of Communication spent three weeks in Samoa producing electronic promotion material for two universities.
The students — Julie Dickson, Michelle Harmsworth, Tamara Logan, Mette Lundorf and Jennifer Ng — were supervised by associate lecturer Judy Gregory.
“The students worked very long hours to get through the entire project and actually only had two days off in the three weeks they were there,” Ms Gregory said.
“I think that before we went over there our idea of what the project involved was perhaps a little smaller than what the universities had in mind.”
Ms Gregory said the students produced promotional material for the National University of Samoa and the University of the South Pacific.
She said six television and two radio advertisements were produced for the National University to promote its courses to the local market, and a 10- minute promotional video was developed on the educational facilities offered by the Agricultural College within the University of the South Pacific.
Ms Gregory admitted the group had had some preconceived ideas for
Respecting ethnic and cultural heritage in an education environment can be a challenge.
But the challenge is far less daunting for more than 100 academic and general staff from Australian universities who have attended special two-day REACH workshops at QUT over the past two years.
The third such workshop was run recently by QUT Academic Staff Development Unit’s Patricia Kelly in conjunction with two workshop facilitators from the United States, Colleen Almojuela and Gary Howard, and Griffith University’s Glenys Charlton.
For the first time, Ms Kelly said, around 10 per cent of the 40 staff from eight higher education institutions who attended this year’s REACH program
— Leadership for Diversity: Achieving Equity in the Educational Workplace — held senior positions.
“It’s really important for there to be high- level understanding of what we’re trying to achieve, so we are particularly pleased to see these managers,” Ms Kelly said.
Professor William Renforth, who heads QUT’s School of Marketing and International Business, was one of the participants in the December workshop.
He said it was important for educators to be “more responsive to the communities we serve”.
The Director of Research at the School of Indigenous Australian Studies at James Cook University, Dr Sue McGinty, said diversity was a key concern for JCU in its daily dealings with students and staff.
“For instance, we have a rapidly growing proportion of Aboriginal students, the largest in Australia in fact,”
Dr McGinty explained, “And what we’re striving to create is a more culturally inclusive curricula”.
Mallika Prasad-Chowta — the Cultural Diversity Services Manager at the State Library of South Australia — said she had come to the REACH workshop to gather ideas and to evaluate her own cultural diversity training approach.
Equity Co-ordinator at Central Queensland University Robert Main said his university was seeking to
‘indigenise’ and ‘internationalise’ its curricula and general operations.
“What I’m taking away with me (from REACH) will be ideas for small changes, but I can see they will provide big results.”
Tracking patterns of illicit drug use … Chief of Research at the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Dr Jane Maxwell is
part of an international research team which includes Jeremy Davey from QUT’s School of Social Science
promotional material produced along Western lines, with “slick and fast”
advertising concepts.
“However, what was suitable for the Samoan market was quite different,”
she said.
“To our Western eyes the ads are quite slow, but interestingly, the Samoan people think they are very fast.”
Ms Gregory said the feedback she had received was most encouraging with the QUT students viewed there as experts in their field.
Ms Gregory said the project was one of a number of projects which had been arranged by a former dean of QUT’s Business Faculty, Professor Bernie Wolff, who now works in Samoa for the National University.
by Noel Gentner
Students work hard in Pacific paradise
Leaders reach out for diversity ideas
by Trina McLellan
With State and Federal governments joining the majority of Fortune 500 companies in adopting software giant SAP’s comprehensive R/3 suite of financial management and human resources modules, QUT has struck a unique educational deal to help meet the demand for more trained users.
Director of the university’s Information Systems Management Research Concentration Associate Professor Guy Gable said QUT had, along with other universities around the world, developed a partnership with SAP which was formalised in December.
According to Professor Gable, the collaboration with Sapient College — the education and learning division of SAP — was born out of the realisation that an increasing number of information technology graduates would need to become familiar with more comprehensive software packages.
(SAP’s R/3 features financial, logistical, human resource, project management, manufacturing, workflow and a number of industry-specific modules.)
at the earlier planning and later reporting stages,” Professor Gable said.
He said Sapient College had supported QUT to the tune of $2 million worth of R/3 software, while Digital and local R/3 reseller Data#3 combined to help QUT in funding the implementation of Digital Alpha hardware, Microsoft software products and installation services.
A third, advanced undergraduate subject will be introduced this year based on the SAP fourth-generation language used to create R/3, Professor Gable said.
“A business process re-engineering subject is to be introduced from second semester and we have other new subjects under development.
“Already there has been early interest from other universities in running similar programs involving SAP and industry.
“I believe these real-life approaches — to forging useful links with industry, providing interesting and relevant project work for students across suitable timeframes and involving experts to work closely with students — epitomises QUT’s continued commitment to quality teaching and learning,” Professor Gable said.
So, earlier last year — with support from Sapient College and Queensland Treasury’s Financial Information Systems Branch, a large local R/3 user
— QUT’s School of Information Systems installed the R/3 enterprise application software for educational and research use.
Last semester almost 100 students completed the first two subjects involving R/3: a capstone undergraduate subject, Information Systems Management, and a masters-level subject Enterprise Application Software.
In the masters subject, Professor Gable had students undertake eight separate R/3-related empirical projects for real- world users, including Queensland Treasury, Queensland Transport, Price Waterhouse, BHP IT, Coopers &
Lybrand, and the Department of Public Works and Housing.
“By involving our undergraduate Information Systems Management students as one of the stakeholder groups in our postgraduate Enterprise Application Software projects, I entrusted our undergraduates with a formal evaluation of the graduates’ work, both
Software giant forges close links with university in educational deal
Promoting education in paradise … associate lecturer Judy Gregory (front left) and Professor Bernie Wolff with the Samoan Minister for Education, the Honourable Fiame Naomi Mataafa (centre), (then) final-year communication students (l-r) Jennifer Ng, Tamara Logan, Julie Dickson,
Michelle Harmsworth and Mette Lundorf, and locals Whether it was making slime, watching
worms turn sewage into fertiliser or clambering down a mine shaft, for 460 budding science buffs it was three days of full-on science.
The Siemens Science Experience, held earlier this year, was a program to show
Year 10 students the wonders of science and encourage them to consider science- related degrees and careers.
School of Physical Sciences associate lecturer Steve Coyne said the program was offered to academically-able science students and included workshop and site visits.
“Sites visited were the Department of Natural Resources Effluent Re-use Project, the Redlands Shire Council Biosolids Re-use Project, the Department of Primary Industries Animal Research Institute and the University of Queensland’s mine,” Mr Coyne said.
Budding science buffs enjoy experience
Check out What’s On at http:// www.qut.edu.au/pubs/02stud/whatson.html.
Send your What’s On entry to [email protected] or via fax on (07) 3210 0474.
FROM THE ACADEMY
Mar 11 The Solo Drummer. Graduate Grant Collins performs a wide variety of contemporary and traditional drumming styles. KG/M Block Music Studio. 1.05pm. Free. Leanne Cutler at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3685.
Mar 18 Night Music for Lunch. Virtuoso pianist Eugene Gienger will perform Chopin Noctourne Op. 9 no. 1 and Brahms Sonata in F minor Op. 5. KG/M Block Music Studio. 1.05pm. Free. Leanne Cutler at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3685.
Apr 1 Li Ling Chang, Soprano. The aria from Monteverdi to Puccini. KG/M Block Music Studio. 1.05pm. Free.
Leanne Cutler at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3685.
Apr 22 Metebelis Trio. Helen Travers (violin), Iseult Clark (horn), Andre Dutoit (cello), Mitchell Leigh (piano).
Featuring the Brahms horn trio and the Mitchell Leigh piano trio. KG/M Block Music Studio. 1.05pm.
Free. Leanne Cutler at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3685.
Apr 29 Topology. Christa Powell (violin), Bernard Hoey (viola), John Babbage (saxophone), Kylie Davidson (piano), Robert Davidson (contrabass). Works in minimalist and post-minimalist styles by Philip Glass, Terry Riley and Robert Davidson. KG/M Block Music Studio. 1.05pm. Free. Leanne Cutler at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3685.
May 13 Electra. Romano and Rudolf Crivici — electric violin, viola and lexicon sampler. Accessible, ambient jazz-based works including original material composed for the group by Romano Crivici and Linsey Pollak. KG/M Block Music Studio.
1.05pm. Free. Leanne Cutler at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3685.
May 20 Contemporary Jazz Hypnosis — Music by Peter
Walters. Mark Turner (guitar), John Zappia (saxophone), Peter Walters (bass), Paul Hudson (drums), David Skelton (piano and keyboard). KG/
M Block Music Studio. 1.05pm. Free. Leanne Cutler at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3685.
CONFERENCES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS
• Justice Studies
July 8–10 Australian and NZ Society of Criminology 1998 Conference — “Crime, Criminology and Justice:
Current Trends and Future Directions”. An opportunity to hear the world’s leading criminological researchers. ANA Hotel, Gold Coast. Katerina Ginis at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3188.
STUDENT GUILD EVENTS March 3 International Women’s Day Celebrations — KG March 4 International Women’s Day Celebrations — CA March 5 International Women’s Day Celebrations — GP.
Noon-2pm. Includes free music, vegetarian food and massage in a celebration of International Women’s Day in the lead up to the main event, a rally at Emma Miller Place on Saturday March 7. Women’s Services Department on (07) 3864 5528.
March 12 Aussie Beer Fest . Kidney Lawn. GP. 11am-3pm.
Recreation on (07) 3864 4716.
March 13 St Patrick’s Day Celebration . Campus Club. GP.
March 20 Beach Volleyball — QUT Cup. Oz Sports, Lang Park.
12noon-4pm. Recreation on (07) 3864 4716.
April 5 Biathlon . QUT Sports Centre. GP. 6.30am-8.30am.
Recreation on (07) 3864 1688.
April 24 QUT Swimming Carnival . Sports Centre. GP. 11am- 4pm. Recreation on (07) 3864 2934.
May 22 Basketball — QUT Cup. CA. 12noon-4pm. Recreation on (07) 3864 4716.
May 28 End of Semester Bash. Victory Hotel. 7pm onwards.
Recreation on (07) 3864 4716.
July 5 Concert. River Stage. Band lineup to be advised in future What’s On).
July 5-9 NCUSA Games hosted by QUT. Includes baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, golf, hockey, netball, rugby league sevens, rugby union, short course swimming, soccer, softball, squash, tae kwon do, tennis, touch football, volleyball, water polo. Brisbane.
Recreation on (07) 3864 5536.
QUT has allocated $675,000 to the 1998 Teaching and Learning Development Grants Scheme.
Of that sum, $600,000 has been awarded to six Teaching and Learning Development Large Grants and
$75,000 to 10 Teaching and Learning Development Small Grants.
For 1998, applicants were asked to target the development of flexible delivery in teaching and learning.
• 1998 TEACHING AND LEARNING DEVELOPMENT LARGE GRANTS
Professor Ken Bowman and Dr MaryLou O’Connor-Fleming (Faculty of Health) Implementing flexible delivery in large undergraduate classes in the Faculty of Health using across-faculty teaching teams
— $145,155
Professor Vicki Sara and Dr Al Grenfell (Faculty of Science) Problem-based delivery: A flexible approach to developing generic skills though problem- based learning in introductory science programs — $157,049
Professor Weilin Chang and Dr Janelle Allison (Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering) Using flexible delivery to develop and enhance a Professional Development Program for Built Environment and Engineering students — $136,800
Professor Malcolm Cope and Professor Bill Duncan (Faculty of Law) Flexible delivery of the LLM coursework program in collaboration with the legal profession
— $84,249 (see story this page)
• Cross-faculty projects
Professor John Gough (Faculty of Information Technology), Dr Christine Bruce (Information Systems) Faculties involved: Arts, Built Environment and Engineering, Business, Health, and Science. Information literacy resources for QUT postgraduate students via a self- paced flexible delivery package — $20,000 Professor Roger Scott (Faculty of Arts), Suellen Tapsall (Media and Journalism) Faculties involved: Information Technology, Arts and Education.
Technological literacy: Building a foundation for flexible delivery
— $149,207
• 1998 TEACHING AND LEARNING DEVELOPMENT SMALL GRANTS
Dr Graham Jenkins and Ashantha Goonetilleke (Civil Engineering) Enhancing the application of theory and practice in engineering design using a computer-based hydraulic design manual — $7,769
Dr Elizabeth Parker, Melinda Service, and Dr MaryLou O’Connor-Fleming (Public Health) A multi-purpose interactive video package on contemporary public health issues for flexible delivery teaching and learning — $6,419 Professor Judith McLean (Academy of Arts) Mentoring and supervision in aesthetic education: a project/partnership to create powerful drama teachers
— $7,919
Joanne Foster, Associate Professor Robyn Nash, Karen Theobald , Belinda Fentiman, Jackie Cunningham and Lindy Humphreyes-Reid (Nursing) Development of an integrated self-paced learning package to promote quality on- campus clinical education for pre- registration nursing students — $7,807 Jill Franz (Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design), Dr Luis Ferreira and Professor David Thambiratnam (Civil Engineering), Jack Williamson and Kristine Jerome (Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design), Donna Pendergast and Melinda S e r v i c e ( P u b l i c H e a l t h ) H o w t o i d e n t i f y s t u d e n t s ’ c o n c e p t i o n s
— $7,919
Ross Brooker and Pam Dickson (Human Movement Studies) Profiling student teacher achievement during practice teaching: a developmental process
— $7,891
D r J a n e l l e A l l i s o n ( B u i l t E n v i r o n m e n t a n d E n g i n e e r i n g ) Socially and culturally responsive curriculum — getting systematic;
broadening the perspective — $7,919 P r o f e s s o r B i l l L i m a n d J a c k Willaimson (Architecture, Interior a n d I n d u s t r i a l D e s i g n ) , J u d i t h Matthews (Division of Information Services) Creating a web site for c o l l a t i n g a r c h i t e c t u r a l d e s i g n exemplars as reference materials to facilitate teaching and learning of architectural design — $7,919 D r A b d u l l a h S h a n a b l e h ( C i v i l E n g i n e e r i n g ) , D r B h i s h n a Bajracharya (Planning, Landscape A r c h i t e c t u r e a n d S u r v e y i n g ) Interdisciplinary collaboration on sustainable development: A teaching and learning initiative within the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering — $5,794
Dr Wageeh Boles (Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering), Dr Hitendra Pillay (Learning and Development) Matching students’
cognitive styles to computer-based instruction for enhanced learning
— $7,639
— Andrea Hammond by Andrea Hammond
QUT’s Faculty of Law aims to have 15 postgraduate courses on-line by 1999, in a move that is a direct challenge to the supremacy of intensive law postgraduate courses offered by southern universities.
Faculty of Law assistant dean (postgraduate studies) Professor Bill Duncan said the project would give
alternative dispute resolution, where students have to participate in role play.
“So all our courses, except those which require active participation and physical presence of students, could be delivered on-line or flexibly.”
Grants for teaching and learning target flexible delivery
QUT set to offer Australia’s first online postgraduate law course
QUT has awarded an $84,000 1 9 9 8 T e a c h i n g a n d L e a r n i n g Development Large Grant for the establishment of a server linked to THEMIS and the upgrade of existing coursework units.
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, Government and corporate offices in remote and
provincial Queensland — because IBM links up to Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji and Papua 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.”
He said postgraduate students would need only a computer to download lectures, tutorials and assignments, talk to lecturers and fellow students, and have access to a “virtual library”.
“THEMIS only began about 12 months ago but already has about 700 users. In two or three years time it will be an enormous legal resource␣ — once you are on the network you have complete access to statutes and loose- leaf textbooks related to Queensland and it is expanding all the time,”
Professor Duncan said.
Online postgraduate courses were “a stepping stone” to offering a range of undergraduate law courses on-line to students throughout the world, he said.
“Obviously the implications for the undergraduate external courses haven’t escaped us — once we have this up and running for postgraduate students, we will use it as a template for the undergraduate course,” Professor Duncan said.
“We can deliver any course flexibly except one or two, such as advocacy or
Faculty of Law assistant dean (postgraduate studies) Professor Bill Duncan … law going online to offer greater access
Page 8 INSIDE QUT March 3-March 16, 1998
by Noel Gentner
While QUT’s student body has produced several champions in recent months, some members of the university’s staff are also proving to be successful in the sporting stakes.
QUT staff have among them a world champion, a newly formed Triathlon team which has tasted success in its first competitive outing, as well as many other staff active on the Australian and international sporting scene.
World champion Mark Kingston, a School of Human Movement Studies’
administration assistant, has a busy schedule planned this year, contesting three major overseas titles.
Mr Kingston won the world title, in his age group, of the Powerman short- course championship held in New Zealand last November.
This year, Mr Kingston is taking his long-service leave to meet his commitments.
This month, he begins five weeks of preparation and competition in a Powerman short-course duathlon in Hawaii.
The Hawaiian duathlon consists of an 8km run, 90km bike race plus a 15km run.
Mr Kingston said he saw the event as a “warm up” for the world long-course championships at Zof i ngen Switzerland on June 7.
Last year, Mr Kingston finished 12th in the amateur section in the 30- to 39- year-old age group in the Swiss event.
“The Hawaiian competition won’t be anywhere near as hard as the Zofingen event which is called the hardest one-day race in the world,”
Mr Kingston said.
“The Zofi ngen race begins with an 8.5km run, a 150km bicycle ride and finishes with a 30km run.
“I remember last year, the day of the race it was minus three degrees, it was windy, it was cold — you do question your sanity sometimes but I’m going back for more this year.
“I don’t know why I push myself, but I like a challenge — a physical challenge.”
Mr Kingston said he spent about 25 hours a week training and was up practically every morning at 3am.
Staff set their sights on success
World chamption duathlete and human movement studies administration assistant Mark Kingston … preparing for Hawaii
of human resources’ strategic services section).
They won the corporate teams c a t e g o r y o f t h e B r i b i e I s l a n d Triathlon Series with a time of 1:00:08 for the 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run.
Mr Ryan said “the effort was not too bad as an opener,” because the race’s Individual Open winner’s time was 54 minutes, recorded by a professional athlete.
He said the team hoped to compete in further events later in the year and fly the QUT corporate banner.
“Our program so far includes the Australian Triathlon championships at Mooloolaba in May and the Noosa Triathlon later in the year,” Mr Ryan said.
Staff and students on QUT campuses will experience a new era in the provision of food, drink and facilities this year.
Coffee shops, cafes offering a greater variety of food and better services are among initiatives to be implemented following new contract arrangements signed late last year.
SSL Education Services (Spotless) won the contract from about nine other tenders and will continue as the core refectory caterer on QUT’s three campuses.
QUT Registrar Ken Baumber said the new contract provided greater potential for diversification and flexibility.
“The previous contract with Spotless was pretty much all-inclusive, providing sole exclusive rights to deal with everything — while the new situation keeps our options open in a number of areas,” Mr Baumber said.
“For example, the university will be able to establish specialist facilities such as coffee shops, and campus users will be able to select their own caterers for functions held on campus.”
Mr Baumber said negotiations were already underway with coffee shop franchisees to build and operate shops on QUT campuses.
He said there were at least two opportunities for coffee shops: one was at Kelvin Grove campus, where the university was offering a franchise similar to a Coffee Club-Aromas operation.
The facility would fill a gap on the campus and offer “a pleasant environment for a cup of coffee, a slice of cake or a light lunch,”
Mr Baumber said.
He said the QUT Student Guild had also been approached with a proposal to expand the Gardens Point- based Degrees Cafe concept to Kelvin Grove.
“Renovations are being carried out in the Community Services building at Kelvin Grove and, when complete, an area will be offered to the Student Guild for a Degrees Cafe and
QUT enters brave new world in
campus catering
associated liquor bar outlet,” Mr Baumber said.
There was also potential to establish specialist facilities in the former Conservatorium of Music building, or X Block, at the Gardens Point campus, he said.
“When the QUT Theatre is fully operational there will need t o b e s o m e t y p e o f s e r v i c e provided for the theatregoers,” Mr Baumber said.
“If a service is set up for theatre patrons at night, you may as well have it operational during the day.”
QUT’s manager of capital works, Mr Tom Moore, said the Brisbane firm, Peddle Thorp Architects had been appointed to provide a conceptual design for the building.
He said the design work would also involve the concept of a “dedicated entrance” to the building and redevelopment options for the area between X and Y Blocks.
Mr Moore said a preliminary conceptual design was expected to be received from the architects at the end of March.
Mr Baumber said there was also a change in the provision of food and drinks in the 45 vending machines on QUT’s three campuses.
“Previously the management of these outlets had been part of the core contract, but a separate contract has now been let and the vending machines will be provided by an independent operator, Quick Quench,” Mr Baumber said.
“This will result in a much wider variety of goods to be stocked in the machines.
“What we are doing is responding to what people want and what they want is a range of facilities and a diversity of goods available.”
Mr Baumber said he believed there were also possibilities on the Gardens Point campus for a staff club.
“I guess we are talking about two or three years down the track,”
Mr Baumber said.
— Noel Gentner
Colleagues, friends and former students of recently retired humanities lecturer and historian Bob Leach have been shocked to hear of his sudden death on Christmas Day.
Mr Leach was a dedicated member of the National Tertiary Education Industry Union and retired from QUT in the middle of 1997.
According to a close friend, School of Media and Journalism’s Gary MacLennan, Mr Leach was a seasoned campaigner and well-known citizen of West End.
“Though he dedicated his life to political causes, Bob’s was a multi-faceted personality,” Mr MacLennan said in a tribute to Mr Leach. “He was … a great conversationalist. He enjoyed life and his family and his friends.”
Mr MacLennan said Mr Leach had taught at QUT and its predecessor institutions, coming to Kelvin Grove when the Colleges of Advanced Education were amalgamated in the 1980s.
Leach’s legacy lives on
Winner of the Robert Leach Memorial Prize Daniel Ingram, right, with head of
QUT’s School of Humanities Professor Wayne Hindsley … the prize is awarded
to the best student going into the Bachelor of Arts (Humanities) program Staff learned a valuable lesson in
computer security last week, via the QUT community e-mail group.
The group frequently features accommodation notices, but early last week it carried an accommodation notice that couldn’t be missed.
An e-mail arrived from a “sparky”
research assistant seeking a private
house, near the CBD, for a couple of hours after work. Seems the staffer was looking for a place to have an “off- campus quickie” with their partner.
The same staffer e-mailed the group a bit later on to explain that s/he had been the butt of a practical joke after leaving an e-mail account open on an unattended computer terminal. Oops!
Premier awards new students
Two commencing QUT engineering students have been awarded Premier’s Awards.
Shaun Bellamy, who is studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Computer Engineering), and
The list of racial and sexual harassment contact officers at QUT has been revised for 1998 and the university’s Equity Section is notifying staff and students via posters and the Internet.
These officers are available to provide confidential advice to staff or students involved in a complaint of discrimination or harassment —
Help is at hand for harassment
including people who feel they may have experienced discrimination, those who may have had a complaint made against them, or supervisors conciliating complaints.
Visit http://www.qut.edu.au/daa/
equity/r&shcont.html for a full list of contact officers or phone Equity on (07) 3864 2699.
N o e l K a y , w h o i s s t u d y i n g a d o u b l e d e g r e e B a c h e l o r o f Engineering (Civil)/Bachelor of A p p l i e d S c i e n c e ( M a t h s ) , w e r e recently presented with their awards at a special ceremony.
Families who have had a newborn in the past decade may recall a yellow booklet they received in the hospital which encouraged them to introduce babies to reading from the earliest age.
That booklet, Reading ... your baby’s future, was produced by a group of QUT early childhood education students.
Their project was overseen by lecturer Kaye Throssell, who is the co-author of the booklet’s sequel, Reading ... your child’s choice, for parents and guardians of children aged three to six years of age.
Its authors, from QUT’s School of Early Childhood — Ms Throssell, Bev Broughton, Rod Campbell, Cassandra Weddell and Jenny Mobbs
— officially launched a small initial print run of the new booklet last month.
Head of school Professor Gerald Ashby said the project would not have been completed but for the dedication of its authors, particularly Ms Throssell who had recently retired. The project had some funding from the Department of Education and the Faculty of Education Community Services Committee.
Booklet targets young readers
He said for the Hawaiian event he had been cycling about 400km and running about 70km a week.
“I will have a week off after the event and then begin training for Switzerland which will involve about 600km a week on the bike and running about 90 to 100km a week,” Mr Kingston said.
“The world short-course championships in Japan at Kyoto on October 4 will be my last race, win, lose or draw.”
Meanwhile, at the other end of the sporting spectrum, the newly formed QUT FlyByes triathlon team had their first outing last month.
The team consists of cyclist Peter Sullivan (finance manager), runner Brian Fenn (facilities manager), and swimmer Bill Ryan (associate director
