QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2111 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778 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 1 5 8 ■ March 4 - 17 , 1 9 9 7
QUT’s Gardens Point campus has a new, more elegant look following the recent official re-opening of the main entrance from George Street b y t h e F e d e r a l M i n i s t e r f o r R e s o u r c e s a n d E n e r g y S e n a t o r Warwick Parer.
The Minister dedicated the new paved and landscaped pedestrian m a l l w h i c h m e e t s t h e S t a t e parliamentary forecourt at the Botanic Gardens end of George Street in a short ceremony on February 21.
Senator Parer has had long links to the university, having been a member of the former Queensland Institute of Technology’s council from 1977 to 1984, rising to deputy chair before winning his Senate position.
“What growth there has been since the time when I would park my car on Main Drive to attend those meetings,” Senator Parer recalled.
“Back then, QIT had around 8,000 students all studying on its only campus here at Gardens Point and its budget was around $35 million.
“Today it has around 30,000 students studying here and two other Brisbane campuses, backed by an annual budget of around
$250 million.
“In 1984, just a quarter of the s t u d e n t s w e r e f e m a l e . T o d a y women account for more than half the places at the university.
“The courses available for study have broadened considerably and 20 per cent of today’s students are undertaking postgraduate studies.
“ O v e r t h e y e a r s , Q U T h a s enhanced its role.
“It is now not only a place of practical learning but one which encourages such learning to go hand-in-hand with leading-edge research and numerous industry projects.
“ F o r i n s t a n c e , Q U T ’ s $ 4 0 million co-operative research centre in diagnostic technologies has p r o d u c e d , f o r i n d u s t r y , s o m e remarkable developments over its relatively short life.”
Senator Parer said that, despite the changes over the past dozen or so years, QUT had carried on QIT’s strong tradition of training graduates for the real world.
“It’s pleasing to see that this university is now the nation’s largest provider of bachelor degree graduates taking up full-time employment.”
Thanking the Minister for his attendance, QUT Chancellor Dr Cherrell Hirst said that QUT Council had been working to r e m o v e t h e p h y s i c a l b a r r i e r s between the university and the botanic gardens for more than a decade.
Dr Hirst also congratulated Professor Gibson for the fortitude to see through the changes “when, on the first day of the works, the Federal Government announced its higher education budget cuts”.
Main Drive history . . . page 3
Pedestrians happy as senator opens new gateway to uni
Pedestrians make the most of the redeveloped entrance to QUT’s Gardens Point campus after it was officially opened by Federal Resources and Energy Minister Senator Warwick Parer
Geneticists herald banana breakthrough
Page 3
‘Moral panic’
concern for child carers
Page 4
O Week wrap
Page 12
A word from the Vice-Chancellor
by Noel Gentner
A final report on a QUT research study into post-operative pain management has demonstrated the effectiveness of educational strategies.
The two-year study, which was funded by the Federal Government, was carried out by the Clinical Research Team at the School of Nursing and led by the project’s chief investigator Robyn Nash.
Mrs Nash said the main aim of the research had been to further enhance the management of pain for hospital patients.
“Despite significant advances in pain management, a growing body of research suggests many patients
Education strategies aid pain management – study
attitudes about pain and pain management.
This revealed that, even though a majority of patients believed that freedom from pain was important, many indicated they would wait until their pain was bad before asking for help, she said.
“Importantly, more than a third of the patients (with pain during the past 24 hours) did not ask anybody for pain- relieving medication,” Mrs Nash said.
“Addiction was considered by patients to be a real danger and many were concerned about side effects from pain medication.”
“In general, nurses reported a willingness to administer narcotic analgesia with the majority believing that
Those of you who arrived at the Gardens Point campus for the first time during Orientation Week may have been pleasantly surprised by the views of the city botanic gardens as you walked from George Street down the newly paved and landscaped walkway known as Main Drive.
For oldtimers at Gardens Point, the unveiling of the new-look Main Drive was a radical transformation.
Gone were the unsightly fences which separated the campus from the gardens. Gone were the parked cars and bitumen which gave a scruffy appearance to our main entrance.
The new Main Drive entrance provides a wide, impressive walkway that incorporates magnificent vistas through and over the adjacent gardens, and yet still clearly defines the boundary between the two.
T h i s h a s b e e n a s i g n i f i c a n t achievem ent for the univer sity, fulfilling one of the ambitions of
the 1985 study commissioned by the then QIT and the Brisbane C i t y C o u n c i l o n t h e f u t u r e development of the Gardens Point peninsula.
I t w a s f i t t i n g t h a t S e n a t o r Warwick Parer, a Federal Minister and a former deputy chair of QIT Council, was there to open the new Main Drive.
Senator Parer reminded us in his speech of just how long QIT had looked at the fence between the campus and the gardens and d r e a m e d a b o u t h a v i n g i t removed.
The renovation of Main Drive e m p h a s i s e s t h e v e r y h i s t o r i c a l importance of this space while allowing the campus to present a more friendly and inviting face to the world.
Professor Dennis Gibson
Welcome changes as fences go
QUT has maintained its commitment to developing innovative teaching and learning projects with grants totalling almost $600,000 confirmed for 1997.
The Teaching and Learning Large Grants Scheme has allocated $501,598 for six projects.
Teaching and Learning Projects co- ordinator in the Academic Staff Development Unit, Robyn Daniel, said the large grants were for projects which sought to implement faculty- or institution-level change.
“They must be clearly linked to the university Teaching and Learning Strategic Plan and with targets within faculty and school plans,” she said.
Funding totalling $72,251 was also provided for 13 projects under the Teaching and Learning Small Grants Scheme for projects which enhance teaching and learning within the university.
Successful project co-ordinators and projects are:
Large Grants
Dr Kym Irving, Early Childhood and Amanda Schnitzerling, Teaching and Learning Support Services
The application of multimedia computer- based technology in the teaching of child observation skills.
This project aims to develop eight multimedia instructional modules for early childhood, primary education and human movement students.
Dr John Hynd, Computing Science The InfoTech ILE: An integrated learning environment for the Faculty of Information Technology.
This project aims to develop and integrate: a flexible Web-based interface; a set of automated visualisation tools; and an active learning environment.
Dr Graham Kerr, Human Movement Studies Multimedia computer-based education programs in health, performance and rehabilitation.
Successful teaching and learning grant applicants announced
This project will create multimedia teaching packages which will be fully integrated into the teaching of large student groups.
Kerry Bagdon, Information Services Resources for foundation studies in technological literacy.
This project will identify, adapt and develop a base set of teaching and learning resources to ensure students acquire key aspects of technological literacy.
Trevor Stanley, Accountancy
Interactive multimedia teaching of Accounting Information System (AIS) cycles.
This project involves the development of a highly interactive multimedia package on CD- ROM.
Glenn Thomas, Planning, Landscape Architecture & Surveying
Landtech learning modules collaborative:
Planning, Landscape Architecture & Surveying (QUT), and Faculty of Env. Design (UC).
This project, in collaboration with the University of Canberra, seeks to complete two further modules to provide structured, self- paced, interactive learning environments for landscape architecture students.
Small Grants
Dr Mohamed Deriche and Professor Boualem Boashash, Electrical & Electronic Systems Engineering
Co-operative learning applied to electrical engineering units in multicultural university classrooms.
This project will develop and implement co- operative learning in teaching some units offered for electrical engineers.
Dr Graham Jenkins, Civil Engineering Enhancing student understanding of a water hammer using computer simulation.
This project will develop a Windows-based program to simulate a water hammer.
Dr Luis Ferreira, Professor David Thambiratnam, Civil Engineering
Development of computer-based interactive teaching tools for civil engineering analyses.
This project will develop computer-based tools to enable students to solve real-world problems in transport planning and structural analysis.
Associate Professor Frank Bullen, Bevan Boyce & Les Dawes, Civil Engineering
Group project-based learning in geotechnical engineering.
This project will develop a group project- based learning approach to assist students to understand the application of complex theory to real engineering.
Dr Janelle Allison, Planning, Landscape Architecture & Surveying
Cross-discipline workshops in urban land development for students in Built Environment and Engineering.
This project will develop two workshops where property economics, civil engineering and landscape architecture, planning and surveying students work in teams on a land development project.
James Woolley, Planning, Landscape Architecture & Surveying
A computer-assisted architectural and design science teaching and learning kit.
This project will develop computer-assisted text for architecture and design students.
Richard Coker, Lexie Smiles, Planning, Landscape Architecture & Surveying andTom Strickland, Electronic Media Production
Development of a video to reinforce visualisation and comprehension of projection and perspective drawing methods for large foundation year design classes.
This project will provide students access to video reinforcement of complex projection, perspective drawing and sketch rendering techniques.
Stephen Kajewski, Construction Management
The development of an interactive multi-media package, utilising the resources of the Internet and WWW, that allows students to appreciate the complexities of construction practices via virtual touring of construction sites.
This project aims to produce an interactive multi-media package that will allow students to undertake a ‘virtual’ tour of a construction site.
Dianne Smith, Planning, Landscape Architecture & Surveying and Robert Taylor, QUT Counselling
The design process: A video to assist first-year interior design students to understand the nature of designing and, in doing so, reduce their high levels of stress.
This project will develop a video to help interior design students in establishing realistic expectations.
Fiona Martin and John Pyke, Law Developing interactive and Internet-based study guides and course materials for undergraduate law students to enable them to learn through flexible teaching approaches.
This project will establish a program of workshops for law school academics on interactive educational materials and placing materials on the World Wide Web.
Jeremy Williams, Economics & Finance Problem based learning in first year economics This project will develop a problem-based collaborative learning in small groups project.
Ruth Christie, Computing Science A study in peer assessment and problem-based learning for a first-year class of 500+ with support training for the tutors involved.
This project aims to implement the concept of problem-based learning and peer marking to improve students’ understanding of programming and problem solving.
– Tony Wilson
From page 1
Main Drive not only has great historical significance for the State, according to the Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson, but is also a new physical reminder of the link to historical scholars.
“When the screens were removed from around the works, I could for the first time in my 14 years at this university see the most magnificent fig tree overlooking Main Drive,” Professor Gibson said.
“It reminded me of the very first university, the Lyceum in Athens, where Aristotle taught his students underneath the trees, although no doubt those were probably olive trees.
“Being a mathematician myself, I’m a fan of Newton and his apple tree at Cambridge.
“Who knows, maybe in 500 years time, people may remember Alice Wong and her theory of international economics developed under this magnificent fig tree.”
Professor Gibson said that, originally, Main Drive was the carriageway to the Governor’s residence – Old Government House – which was built in 1862.
“When Parliament House was built in 1868, the length of the drive was a symbol of the link between the Queen’s representative and the Parliament,” he said.
“Generations of students will remember moving down George Street and along Main Drive to attend various educational institutions – the University of Queensland from 1911 until it moved to St Lucia, the Central Technical College from 1914, QIT from 1965 and QUT since 1989. It has also been a focus of planning for those institutions, with buildings facing the driveway and all paths within the campus leading away from it.
“The renovation of Main Drive has been part of a long-term redevelopment plan for the Gardens Point peninsula developed in 1985.”
by Andrea Hammond
QUT Faculty of Science researchers have developed Australia’s first genetically engineered bananas.
Healthy banana plants, standing about three-inches high, have been cultivated from a single cell which has been successfully injected with extra genes.
The success of the injection procedure
— known as “transformation” in scientific terms — is a step towards creating virus-resistant bananas for growers throughout Australia and overseas.
School of Life Sciences head Professor James Dale is leading the team which aims to have bananas that are resistant to Australia’s virulent bunchy-top virus, as well as the banana brack mosaic virus, commercially available within five years.
Professor Dale said QUT was only the third research organisation in the world to have reported the successful transformation (adding new genes) of banana plants.
A procedure masterminded by plant biotechnology PhD student Doug Becker for the bluggoe cooking banana would now be applied to the popular cavendish eating banana, he said.
“We have injected a reporter gene and a marker gene successfully into these banana plants – now we can start doing the important work and that is duplicating these steps and putting virus- resistant genes into bananas,” Professor Dale said.
“This is really a major hurdle we have overcome. We’ve got all these virus- resistant genes ready to go but didn’t have any way of putting them in because transformation and genetic engineering of bananas is very difficult.”
The baby banana plants are being grown in test tubes, in what is essentially a plant humidicrib, in state-of-the-art laboratories at QUT.
Geneticists engineer banana breakthrough
Professor Dale said that, while the tiny plants were “doing well”, they were extremely vulnerable and had to be constantly protected from contamination from bacteria and fungi tramped in on people’s hands or clothes, the feet of laboratory mites or caused by a badly-timed sneeze.
“The whole issue of genetically engineered bananas is highly competitive. Bananas are the fourth- largest agricultural crop in the world and are of incredible importance internationally,” Professor Dale said.
“Genetic engineering of bananas offers the opportunity to breed new, virus-resistant bananas, as well as entirely new varieties that we just can’t grow at the present time because of disease.”
Professor Dale said Australian consumers need not be alarmed at the prospect of “test tube” bananas.
“Genetically engineered cavendish bananas will look exactly the same and will taste exactly the same by the time they have gone through all of our controlled glasshouse and field trials,”
Professor Dale said.
“It may be only one banana plant out of 200 that we actually genetically engineer will be the one we want.
“We still have a lot of regulatory hurdles to go through and we obviously wish to undertake a lot of discussion with industry before we reach the stage of commercial release.”
QUT’s research has been supported by the Horticultural Researcher and
Development Corporation, and the Queensland Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, which represents banana growers in the State.
Professor Dale said QUT had collaborated with Dr Mike Smith from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, as well as the two other groups which had reported the transformation of banana plants, the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, and the Boyce Thompson Institute at the University of Cornell in the United States.
“The method that Doug (Becker) is using for the bluggoe banana is derived from that used by the Belgian group, but the method he is developing for cavendish bananas is very different to both other groups,” he said.
Main Drive has rich history
Watched by Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson, Senator Warwick Parer opens
the new Main Drive Head of QUT’s School of Life Sciences Professor James Dale (left) inspects Australia’s first genetically
engineered banana plants with plant biotechnology PhD student Doug Becker
An historically significant building on QUT’s Gardens Point campus was damaged by fire on Monday evening, February 24.
Initial assessments suggest the fire in the historic F Block may have been caused by an electrical fault.
Located in the middle of the Parliamentary end of the campus, F Block has been vacant and was in the process of being prepared for restoration when the fire broke out.
QUT’s Deputy Vice- Chancellor Peter Coaldrake said the damage to F Block was contained to one section of the upper floor and surrounding buildings were not damaged in the fire which started around 6.30pm.
Professor Coaldrake confirmed that the damage to the building would not impede the restorations planned for the two- storey, red brick building and had
caused minimal structural damage.
Until recently F Block had been used to house administrative stores as well as training workshops and studios for built environment students.
Professor Coaldrake confirmed that once F Block had been restored, QUT planned to use the building as a teaching facility for its Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering.
— Trina McLellan
Fire damages QUT building
The morning after . . . the roof and upper floor of the red-brick F Block show signs of the fire which is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault in one of the upper rooms
Part-time staff wanting to nominate for a position on the new Professional Association of Part-Time Academics have until 4pm on March 14 to do so.
Interim committee member Marg Lloyd said the official PAPTA committee would be elected at the association’s Annual General Meeting which will be held on March 20 at 7pm in the Gardens Point Library (Room V771).
Nominations — to include name, a seconder’s name, faculty and after-hours contact number — should be directed to Ms Lloyd at the School of Maths, Science and Technology, [email protected] or (07) 3864 5417.
Call for part-timers
by Tony Wilson
QUT’s School of Marketing and International Business is perfectly positioned to become a recognised educational leader in its twin fields, according to the new head of school Professor William Renforth.
“For me, this is a really unique opportunity because it is one of the few academic areas where it is possible to have a good blend of marketing and international business in the same school and in some courses,” Professor Renforth said.
“It is an opportunity for a unique blend because, even if you don’t carry out your marketing activities internationally, your competitors may be international and what you do domestically may be influenced by what happens in other countries.
“I am looking forward to seeing how we can build a program of teaching and research that really integrates those two areas.”
Professor Renforth comes to QUT after several years at Texas A&M International where he specialised in international business.
“I was research director of the Centre for the Study of Western Hemisphere Trade – it was basically a Federally-funded, university- based think tank for analysing issues coming out of the North American Free Trade Agreement,” he said.
“Given the geographic location, we had a significant involvement with
Mexico for a lot of academic and exchange programs.
“For example, we had the only Spanish-language MBA program in the US where we taught all the courses in Spanish.
“I have done most of my research work in international business and international marketing, specifically
export marketing strategies for either small countries or small firms.
“I have also looked at comparative advertising and a fair amount of research on joint ventures and the joint- venture process.”
Professor Renforth stressed the importance of practising what QUT taught in terms of internationalisation.
“Just as firms have to be globalised and internationalised to be successful, so do academics,” he said.
“One of the important things for this school is to take the lead in attempting not only to develop international teaching and course materials, but also faculty staff who are internationalised and who are competent to work in an international environment.
“In our favour, we have one of the few international business curricula worldwide that not only has the formal academic study, but a component for languages and a component for area or geographical studies.
“One of the things we might add to complement that is the opportunity for foreign experience and foreign study.”
Professor Renforth said he had two major goals for the School of Marketing and International Business.
“The first is to become known as a centre for excellent international business and marketing training for students that will provide not only a knowledge of the tools and techniques of international business, but also area awareness and language skills,” he said.
“I am also interested in developing academic staff who are known widely for their ability to research and write about international business and marketing issues.”
by Tony Wilson
QUT’s newly appointed Dean of Built Environment and Engineering Professor Weilin Chang has a burning passion to protect our buildings from the ravages of fire.
“My main area of research these days is developing methods to test residual strength and fire resistance of reinforced concrete after exposure to fire,” Professor Chang said.
“I am also interested in researching fire-safe building design.”
Professor Chang said he believed Australia was a leader in the practical application of fire safety and that universities like QUT were uniquely equipped to support the industry in responding to new codes of practice.
“Beginning on July 1, Australia will have a performance-based fire protection code which will require a great deal more professional knowledge than the current descriptive code,” he said.
“A faculty like ours is in a position to supply that expertise and we are looking at establishing a short professional education course for professionals and regulators.”
Professor Chang said his interest in fire protection had grown out of early research into solid mechanics.
A true internationalist, Professor Chang has lived and worked in six countries.
“Before coming to QUT, I was Professor and Director of the M E Rinker Sr School of Building Construction at the University of Florida for seven years,” he said.
“Before that, I taught at the National Taiwan University and at the King Abdul Aziz University in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, where I also worked as a contractor.
“I received my Bachelor of Science (Civil Engineering) from National Taiwan University and my Master of Science (Civil Engineering) and PhD from State University of New York in Buffalo.”
Professor Chang said his family was attracted to the Australian lifestyle and culture and the country’s proximity to South-East Asia.
“We were concerned about our children’s education because I think the quality of education in America is not very good and there are a lot of social impacts on children which are not very healthy.”
He said he was pleased to discover the level of international activity in the faculty on his arrival.
“This faculty was already very active in international activities.
“I would also like to encourage students and staff from Built Environment to work with American, Asian and European universities so students can study and learn about their design and gain first-hand experience of different built environments.”
Professor Chang said one of his goals was to broaden the context of higher education in the faculty.
“I would like to see that professional tertiary education, which is what we offer, is not just limited to classroom teaching and lab work,” he said.
“We need to provide students with professional development opportunities while they are studying so I am trying to work with professional and industry organisations to provide such experience and challenges to students.
“We have to guarantee that every student who graduates from this faculty has a career-long benefit from their education.”
Professor Chang said he also wanted to encourage cross- disciplinary research within the faculty.
“In this faculty we have two distinct groups and cultures — that is engineers and people with built environment backgrounds — but I would like them to work together more. I would like to see more research results and more new knowledge being generated as a result of research and brought back to the
Dean sparks interest in fire safety in buildings
New Dean of Built Environment and Engineering Professor
Weilin Chang
Renforth keen to pursue an international agenda
New head of QUT’s School of Marketing and International Business Professor William Renforth
Three ethical bombshells — abortion, euthanasia and care of the environment — have been tackled in a challenging new book, Understanding Ethics, by QUT academic Dr Noel Preston.
The School of Humanities senior lecturer in applied ethics said Understanding Ethics was designed to communicate with people who had never formally studied philosophy or ethics.
“Modern life has become an ethical minefield and the maps to guide us through it are confused,” he said.
of ethics, ethical issues and the way ethicists approach them.
“It will be of interest to school teachers, higher education teachers and opinion-makers such as journalists, clergy, politicians and parents, whose work is saturated with ethical implications for our community.”
Dr Preston used case studies to introduce the framework of moral philosophy and to analyse contemporary moral dilemmas concerning telling the truth, sexuality, abortion, euthanasia, the
Hot issues exposed in new book
V i s i t i n g a c a d e m i c D r R i c h a r d Johnson, pictured at right, has u r g e d p a r e n t s , t e a c h e r s a n d academics to fight the “moral panic” seeping into day care centres a n d p r i m a r y s c h o o l s t h a t i s discouraging teachers from hugging and touching their pupils.
Dr Johnson, an adjunct professor at QUT’s School of Early Childhood, said he was surprised that Australian day care centres, kindergartens and schools appeared to be following a pattern of hysteria sweeping America which had seen the introduction of
“no touch” policies in some day care centres.
He delivered the seminar No Touch in Early Childhood Education to academics, students and professionals at QUT’s Centre for Applied Studies in Early Childhood on Friday, February 21.
“Day care centre directors (in America) are worried about their centre’s reputation with (the scope for claims of) child abuse and sexual abuse and want to protect it by instituting policies against picking up or holding children,” Dr Johnson said.
“In some of our American primary schools, teachers are being told that when a child comes up to hug them they should turn their bodies to the side so they can’t be hugged in a frontal way.
‘Moral panic’ prompts touch
aversion among teachers, carers
“In some American pre-schools male teachers are not allowed to change children’s diapers.
“In the centres where people are changing diapers there have to be two people, male or female, in the room at the same time.
“These stories spell paranoia to me.”
Dr Johnson, an Associate Professor at the University of Hawaii in Manoa and former pre-school teacher, said small children were being given the message that it was “not OK” to be affectionate or to touch adults.
He said the issue was one which directly affected male teachers, but indirectly was damaging to small children and the female teachers involved in teaching/caring professions.
“I think one effect of this sort of moral panic is that we are not going to see males teaching young kids anymore,” Dr Johnson said.
“I also think it’s going to damage future generations of kids if adults can’t touch them. Touch is very important:
the benefits of touching and skin-to- skin contact have been well- documented by researchers over the past 40 years.
“Premature infants held by their mothers and fathers and siblings have an increased heartbeat, are better able
to nurse and get out of hospital sooner if they are touched.
“I remember as a pre-school teacher
— not so many years ago — we were expected to rock infants to sleep and rub backs to help soothe children while preparing them for transition into nap time.
“I don’t remember a day of work with infants, toddlers and two year olds when a child and I did not exchange some kind of meaningful touches: pats, tickles, hair tousling or accepting children onto my lap during story time.
I sit in disbelief as I listen and learn about how child-caregiver exchanges of touch are changing.”
Dr Johnson said he was not attempting to ignore the fact that child abuse happened, but said he realised the real danger for small children was in the home, not in school.
“Unfortunately every year there are a few cases of abuse that happen in day care centres, kindergartens or schools, and the media takes hold of those and then paints this picture that, if you or I work in a pre-school, then we must be at risk of doing harm to kids,” he said.
“I have made a mission of trying to contest and interrogate the outbreak of moral panic and ‘no touch’ policies.
“I want to talk more about the issue and get teachers and parents to consider it and think about it and to interrogate the touching policies at their centre.”
by Andrea Hammond by Andrea Hammond
Painstakingly restoring an 80-year-old ballet costume designed by the master of line and form, Pablo Picasso, was just one of the highlights of a recent Churchill Fellowship study tour for QUT lecturer Michael Marendy.
Mr Marendy, who is the co-ordinator of QUT’s Textile Consultancy Service, has just returned from a five-month tour visiting laboratories, museums and costume collections in America, Britain, France and Italy.
He described the tour as “invaluable”
for a greater understanding of the latest textile technology in use overseas and using adhesive techniques to mend fragile and tattered silks.
For Mr Marendy — who is more used to restoring tattered gowns, shoes, flags and wedding veils from Queensland’s colonial past — the tour was also an exciting chance to swap notes with restorers working on mediaeval Vatican tapestries and 16th Century outfits resurrected from the tombs of Italy’s notoriously wealthy Medici family.
But the highlight, he said, was working in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s textile conservation laboratory restoring a section of a Chinese conjuror’s costume, one of many designed by Picasso for Jean Cocteau’s 1917 ballet Parade.
“When I got to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the head of the textile studio said ‘Look, we know you are interested in adhesives (adhering backing fabrics), we know that you are interested in weighted silks and we know that you are interested in theatre costumes, so how would you like to do this?’ and they gave me the Chinese conjurer’s costume – to say I was thrilled to work on it would be the
Restoration sabbatical boosts university’s textile service
understatement of the century,” Mr Marendy said.
“It had undergone an adhesive treatment in the late ’70s but, back then, the technology was pretty minimal and what we decided to do was reverse that process and redo it. It was difficult, but a wonderful experience in dealing with silks and adhesives.”
The costume is a lustrous orange silk top, cut in a triangle shape and appliqued with gold flames.
Designed to be worn over gold and black-striped silk pantaloons with white stockings and flat black shoes, it featured on the ballet’s programs and posters and was worn by one of the leading characters in the one-act piece.
Combining the music hall and circus, the work is regarded by many as a turning point in modern ballet.
During the seven weeks he spent on the project, Mr Marendy matched the original bright orange silk satin, removed old adhered fabric, unpicked seams (with permission and many photographs) and tacked on new fabric and stiffening to have it ready for an exhibition at a Barcelona museum.
He later spent two weeks in Florence at the Palazzo Pitti where museum conservators have completed the restoration of the 16th Century burial garments of Cosimo I, his wife Eleonara di Toledo and their son Don Garzia di Medici.
The 10-year project transformed the brittle, 430-year-old rags into glorious silk velvet pantaloons and resulted in a reconstruction of Eleonara’s dress, on which almost all of the bodice and sumptuous gold embroidery had survived.
“It is probably one of the most wonderful conservation projects that has been carried out in the world – I spent a day there just looking at these clothes that have been transformed from rags, and discussing the whole treatment with the conservators,” Mr Marendy said.
He said the trip, which combined a three-month Churchill Fellowship with professional development program and other leave, had been invaluable for collecting data about new restoration techniques and assessing how QUT’s laboratory rated on world standards.
“Queensland residents and organisations such as the Performing Arts Museum, the Queensland Museum, church and community groups rely on QUT’s Textile Consultancy Service for advice and service of their materials, and I feel that now we are even better equipped to offer them service,” Mr Marendy said.
QUT’s contract to supply graduate management education to the Royal Australian Navy has been a major drawcard for international students, according to the acting head of the Graduate School of Business, Associate Professor Tim Robinson.
The unique partnership gave international students with a limited knowledge of Australian universities an immediate testimonial as to the quality of business education on offer at QUT, Professor Robinson said.
QUT won the tender to provide in- house graduate management instruction to officers studying at the Royal Australian Navy Staff College back in May 1996. The Graduate Certificate in Management now forms part of a staff course for middle-ranking officers from the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force, as well as US, Asian and Pacific defence forces.
This month four QUT academic staff from the Graduate School of Business, the School of Management and the School of Communication will fly to the on-shore base HMAS Penguin to begin teaching 32 men and women in intensive one- and two-day sessions until April.
“QUT is offering its very first graduate management program interstate for a very prestigious client – the Royal Australian Navy,” Professor Robinson said.
“It is a major achievement. QUT staff travel to India marketing our MBA and, of course, students there – who knew nothing about QUT – ask for evidence that QUT is in the ‘right league’.
“When they are told we’ve got a contract to supply graduate management education to the Royal Australian Navy, it’s a language that anybody in any country can understand.”
Navy link impresses
overseas students
Textile expert Michael Marendy with (inset) the Chinese conjuror’s costume designed by Pablo Picasso
Welfare recipients seeking work were experiencing “unacceptable levels” of uncertainty and anxiety as to how their payments would be affected, according to a senior lecturer.
School of Social Science’s Dr John Tomlinson said he believed the introduction of a guaranteed income in Australia would lessen dependency and ensure people had enough to live on with “modest dignity”.
Dr Tomlinson is to be a keynote speaker at a Citizenship, Welfare and Well-Being in the 21st Century conference held by the ‘Beyond Poverty’ Organising Group at Massey University, Auckland, from March 14 to 16.
Men and women on unemployment benefits had to meet certain conditions that were likely to vary, depending on which CES officer they came into contact with, Dr Tomlinson said.
Others, who were on unemployment benefits and had secured a short stint of part-time work, frequently encountered difficulties because of long
THE Federal Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone, has called for universities to unlock the talents of their senior women at the recent launch of the Australian Technology Network Women’s Executive Development Program.
“If universities are to thrive in a new era of unprecedented challenge and change,” Senator Vanstone said, “they must tap the unique resources at their disposal and this means creating an environment that brings the best out of the people on their general and academic staffs, including the women.”
Five universities of technology in five States initiated the executive development program — RMIT in Victoria; the University of Technology, Sydney; Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia; the University of South Australia and the Queensland University of Technology.
Senator Vanstone said it was particularly appropriate that ATN universities developed the program, given their strong links with business and industry, their expertise in technology-related industry and research, and their commitment to the application of knowledge.
The program will see participants undertake intensive placements in major, high-performance corporations in order to hone executive management skills and broaden their understanding of management culture and practices of sectors other than education.
Apart from senior executive placements and internships, the program also provides nine other initiatives, including postgraduate studies, electronic networking between participants and inter-institutional visits.
Details about the program are available at http://www.rmit.edu.au/
departments/hr/atn/atn.html or from the program’s director, Ann Morrow, on (03) 9660 4905.
• • •
AS part of a joint lecture series with the University of Salzburg, Austria, QUT’s Centre for Medical and Health Physics will present a special four-day short course later this month which will intensively examine risk management in environmental studies.
Renowned director of the Austrian university’s Institute of Physics and Biophysics Professor Friedrich Steinhausler will be guest lecturer at the March 17-20 Introduction to Epidemiology in Risk Assessment short course to be run at Q Block on Gardens Point campus.
Course co-ordinator and QUT School of Physical Sciences senior
News in brief
The new-look centre will be officially opened by QUT Chancellor Dr Cherrell Hirst at10am.
Toddler Centre Academic Co- ordinator Debbie Gahan said the new name was in recognition of the support given to the centre by School of Early Childhood Head Professor Gerald Ashby.
“Professor Ashby has been a staunch supporter of the toddler centre and of families and young children in Queensland for more than 20 years,”
Ms Gahan said.
“This centre functions as both a demonstration centre and as a playgroup and provides educational opportunities for both parents and children.
“It provides sessions for more than 120 children and their mums or dads each week, and aims to model and encourage fee-paying parents to participate in their children’s learning and acquire new confidence in child- rearing practices.”
School of Early Childhood staff and students participate in teaching, research and observation projects at the centre, which has been renovated and has a new playground.
• • •
TWO QUT staff have been appointed members of the Queensland Disability Advisory Council by Families, Youth and Community Care Minister Kev Lingard.
School of Social Science senior lecturer in human services Barrie O’Connor and School of Information Systems lecturer Christine Tilley were among nine new appointees to the council which was established in 1993 to advise State and Federal ministers on the needs of people with a disability.
Dr O’Connor, who has undertaken extensive research into the needs of people with disabilities, is a former president of the Higher Education Disability Network (Qld) Inc. and the Tertiary Education Disability Council.
Ms Tilley, who had polio as a child, is chair of Post Polio Support (Queensland).
• • •
RETIRING president of the Institution of Engineers Australia (Queensland Division) Cliff Button was able to congratulate a colleague for receiving the Institute’s prestigious Warren Medal at a function held in mid-February.
Dr Rob Heywood, a fellow QUT civil engineering senior lecturer, received the medal described by Mr Button as Australia’s premier annual prize for an academic paper in civil engineering.
The winning paper was on loads which Australian bridges should be designed to carry.
“Our bridges are getting older and
Welfare criteria ‘too uncertain’
delays before the system had processed their claims.
“These people might have one week where they are working 10 hours — they report their income and they have it taken off their next’s week unemployment payment.
“The next week they may not get any work or income, so they are up and down all the time,” Dr Tomlinson said.
“I believe it’s an intentional factor of this welfare system to keep people uncertain as to what they are entitled to
— if governments constantly harp about dependency then they increase the stigma associated with receipt of income support, they limit outcomes and they reinforce recipients’ need to express gratitude.”
Dr Tomlinson said a guaranteed minimum income of $7,000 paid to every citizen in Australia with well- established cut-off rates (for people doing full-time and part-time work)
would provide a new certainty for all welfare recipients.
“Under a system like this, if you pick up work, you know exactly what your cut-off rates are whereas, at the moment, it depends on individual CES officers and decisions that can change from day to day,” he said.
“This system would also ensure people would only have to meet one set of eligibility criteria rather than the several which are required for the single parents payments, unemployment benefits, sickness benefits, disability pensions which all have different eligibility criteria.”
Dr Tomlinson said he believed that the current system saw people’s day-to- day existence wracked by uncertainty and that some people were reluctant to enter into de facto or house-sharing relationships because they feared it would affect their benefits.
“I’m sure that it’s an obstacle in relationships.
“I’m sure there are people who know the system and who maintain a de facto relationship but who explain to social security that it’s not, while others, in virtually identical circumstances, lose money because of it,” he said.
C u r r e n t l y , i n A u s t r a l i a , Dr Tomlinson said, people deemed to be cohabitating couples were financially penalised by the existing system of income support.
“Other people who are not in de facto relationships lose their benefits because an officer thinks they are. In order to get re-established, they have to set up a new household or evict this other party.
“Compared with the existing income-support system, payment to individuals (under a systems of guaranteed income) would actually provide a financial incentive that would help keep families together in order to share rent and other household costs.”
by Andrea Hammond
Students “lending” their Campus Club membership cards to underage drinkers and others are jeopardising the club’s future, according to its committee.
The Campus Club is run by QUT’s Student Guild and its manager and guild employee Denise Pearce said already the committee had permanently suspended two student members who gave their cards to underage drinkers in the first week of the semester.
“The fines are very stiff and the students involved in this sort of scam
Campus Club expels card swappers
just don’t seem to realise that they face fines of up to $2,500 – that is both of them, the card holder and the underage drinker.
“In addition, as the nominee, I personally would face a $15,000 fine and the Guild, as the licensee could be fined up to $18,000 if the Licensing Branch pays us a visit and finds underaged drinkers,” Ms Pearce said.
“The Club – which exists on money from its members alone – just couldn’t
afford this to happen, so it’s really important these young people understand the consequences of their actions.”
Ms Pearce, who has worked at the Campus Club for 18 years, makes no secret that she is pretty good at spotting underage drinkers.
“They soon get the boot, permanently, and the people who smuggled them in go the same way,”
she said.
— Trina McLellan
Waterfalls in Australia have the
‘Neglected jewels’ could spark tourism boom
Wild rivers are water systems which landscape and waterfalls are now a School of Social Science senior lecturer Dr John Tomlinson . . .
guaranteed income would lessen dependency
S i m p k i n s a t g . s i m p k i n s @ q u t . e d u . a u O R ( 0 7 ) 3 8 6 4 3 1 2 3 .
May 19 S t a r t o f 4 0 - h o u r m o d u l e s f o r Certificate IV in Workplace Management
• Managing effective working relationships • Managing & organising work for goal achievement • Managing group problem-solving & decision-making
• Managing change. Own venue, own pace. $100 per 40-hour module. Gailene Simpkins at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3123.
• International Relations
Mar 7 Exchange student information seminar.
Find out more information about QUT’s Study Overseas Exchange Program. GP/
Kindler Theatre (N Block) 2.00pm.
(Free). Felicity Barry at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 2200.
• Science Faculty Colloqium
Mar 24 Management of the illumination &
thermal environment in buildings with advanced optical devices. Dr Ian Edmonds, School of Physical Sciences.
1pm, Q601, GP (Free). Dr Rodney Wolff at r . w o l f f @ q u t . e d u . a u OR (07) 3864 5 1 9 6 .
• Centre for Media Policy & Practice
Mar 10 Making documentary filme in Australia.
Award-winning Australian film-maker Bob Connelly on funding issues, the 15- month shoot and intricate editing of Rats in the Ranks. QUT Film & TV studios, 62-64 Peel Street, South Brisbane, 12-2pm. (Free) Helen Yeates
at h . y e a t e s @ q u t . e d u . a u OR (07) 3864 1 2 3 1 .
• Continuing Professional Education
Apr 2-5 Children’s Rights: The Next Step. This Asia-Pacific conference seeks to bring together those interested in & working to achieve children’s rights including children & youth themselves
*Registration before Feb 14 $295, after Feb 14 $350, full-time student/unwaged registration $150. KG 9am-5pm daily.
(Apr 2 preparation day). Registration via [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3222.
Enquiries to r . f r e y @ q u t . e d u . a u OR (07) 3864 4612.
FROM THE ACADEMY
Mar 12 Lunchtime concert series. Improvised music, John Rogers (violin), John Dimond (bass) & Ken Edie (drums).
Contemporary, classical & jazz influences together with Indian inspired rhythms in a unique performance style. KG/Music Studio, M Block, 1.05pm-1.45pm. (Free) (07) 3864 3 8 5 8 .
Mar 26 L u n c h t i m e c o n c e r t s e r i e s . German pianist Michael Leuschner. Schubert Sonata in B flat major, op. posth.
D.960. KG/Music Studio, M Block, 1.05pm-1.45pm. (Free) (07) 3864 3858.
Apr 17-26 T h e T h r e e S i s t e r s . A play written by Anton Chekhov, directed by Mark Radvan. * $16 adults, $12 uni students, concession, groups (10+), $8 advance Guild tickets, $8 school groups. KG/
Woodward Theatre, 8.00pm. Dial ‘N’
Charge on (07) 3846 4646.
Apr 23 Lunchtime concert series. Jazz pianist Clare Hansson. Music by Art Tatum, George Shearing, Oscar Peterson & Bill Evans, including the Rodgers & Hart classic ‘Spring is Here’. KG/Music Studio, M Block, 1.05pm-1.45pm. (Free) (07) 3864 3858.
May 7 L u n c h t i m e c o n c e r t s e r i e s . Trio Boulevard - Jenny Myers, Diana Tolmie
& Gabby Jarvis. A modern American work in the jazz idiom by Randy Navarre.
KG/Music Studio, M Block, 1.05pm- 1.45pm. (Free) (07) 3864 3858.
May 21 L u n c h t i m e c o n c e r t s e r i e s . Rodolphe Blois, internationally renowned composer. Program of acousmatic music - an experience in multi-speaker sound projection. KG/Music Studio, M Block, 1.05pm-1.45pm. (Free) (07) 3864 3858.
Sep 2-13Romeo & Juliet/West Side Story (drama, dance & music double bill). Romeo &
Juliet directed by Shakespeare & Co., Boston; West Side Story directed by David Fenton. GP/new theatre. Bookings yet to open.
SPORT & ENTERTAINMENT
Mar 4 Lunchtime Band. KG.
Mar 7 Free Movie Night. GP.
Mar 8 Massage Course. TBA.
Mar 11 ‘VIP’ Course. KG.
Mar 13 Aussie Beer Fest. GP.
Mar 17 S t P a t r i c k ’ s D a y party. GP, Campus C l u b .
Mar 18 S p o r t s F i r s t A i d C o u r s e . KG. Karen Bucholz (07) 3864 3708.
Mar 19 BBQ & Beer. C.
Mar 20 Lunchtime Band. GP.
Mar 21 Q U T S w i m m i n g C a r n i v a l . GP. Karen Bucholz (07) 3864 3708.
Mar 23 B i a t h l o n . GP. Karen Bucholz (07) 3864 3 7 0 8 .
Mar 25 Lunchtime Band. KG.
Mar 29 P a r a c h u t i n g C o u r s e. Gatton. Karen Bucholz (07) 3864 3708.
Mar 29 B u s h w a l k i n g T r i p . TBA. Karen Bucholz (07) 3864 3708.
CONFERENCES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS
• Equity
Mar 7 I n t e r n a t i o n a l W o m e n ’ s D a y 1 9 9 7.
Ceremony at Oodgeroo Unit Courtyard, Level 2, B Block, KG. 2-3.30pm. (Free) Leanne Zimmermann at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3 6 5 3 .
Mar 11 Introduction to Equity at QUT workshop ( 3 h r s ). For staff members wanting to increase their awareness of equity principles, policies & programs, esp.
supervisors, managers & equity committee members. KG/B306 9.00am- 12.00pm. (Free) Leanne Zimmermann at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3 6 5 3 .
Apr 16 Managing diversity at QUT workshop (1 d a y ). Helps supervisors & managers develop skills to manage diversity &
maintain a supportive, inclusive work environment. KG/B306 9.00am-4.00pm.
(Free) Leanne Zimmermann at l.zimmermann@ qut.edu.au OR (07) 3864 3 6 5 3 .
• Staff Development
Apr 21 S t a r t o f 2 0 - h o u r m o d u l e s f o r C e r t i f i c a t e I V i n Jun 16 Workplace Management (start dates for t h r e e t e r m s ) . Aug 25 • Managing operations • Writing workplace documents • P r e s e n t i n g r e p o r t s • C u s t o m e r s e r v i c e • G r i e v a n c e s & d i s p u t e s • M a n a g i n g f i n a n c e • N e g o t i a t i o n s k i l l s . O w n v e n u e , o w n p a c e . $ 5 0 p e r 2 0 - h o u r m o d u l e . G a i l e n e
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.
Building Contractors Project Managers Construction Managers QBSA Lic. No. 47894
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