Dawkins recalls ‘salad’ days
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 160 ■ April 8-21, 1 9 9 7
by Andrea Hammond
A vaccine for Ross River virus developed at QUT may be ready for testing on Queensland patients within two years.
School of Life Science researcher Dr John Aaskov said the world’s first vaccine for the virus – which affects thousands of people each year – could be sold commercially within five years.
An agreement had been signed last month with Austrian manufacturer Immuno AG to develop the vaccine commercially, he said.
Ross River virus vaccine to put the bite on mozzies
Queensland Health has also pledged to provide hospital beds and laboratory testing facilities for initial clinical trials, expected to get underway in late 1998.
“What we’ve got to do is go from making a litre or two of the vaccine in QUT laboratories to making hundreds of litres,” Dr Aaskov said.
“If there are no glitches, it could then be sold in Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia in four to five years.”
Dr Aaskov, a senior lecturer at QUT, is also director of the World Health Organisation’s Queensland Arbovirus
Reference Centre which is a joint QUT/
Queensland Health facility.
Australia had just experienced a
“bumper year” of Ross River virus with more than 7,500 cases – about 2,500 more than usual – diagnosed in 1996, he said.
The disease, frequently called Ross River fever, but more accurately known as Epidemic Polyarthritis, causes fatigue and arthritic-type pain in the joints and commonly lasts 30-40 weeks.
“These people are going to be sick on average for nine months and we have no idea what the social and economic
costs are. It has been estimated that each case costs about $2,500 in medication and lost work productivity,” Dr Aaskov said.
“In addition, we (in Australia) spend about $6 million a year diagnosing Ross River virus infections.
“The current vector control programs (spraying waterways etc) may be controlling the disease, but they patently can’t prevent it. It’s also not good public health to try and treat disease after people get sick.
Continued page 3
Graduates must consider social justice
Page 5
Internet
training facility launched
Page 4
by Andrea Hammond
Former Labor Education Minister John Dawkins recalled the days when his reception at universities was more likely to attract a hail of abuse and rotten vegetables than academic honours, as he accepted an honorary doctorate from QUT last week.
Mr Dawkins told graduating education students he had strong memories of the torrid days of overhauling Australia’s higher education system in the late 1980s, and how the policies were not always greeted with “enormous enthusiasm”
at the time.
“It is not unusual for the sponsor of reform to encounter hostility of the kind I experienced,” Mr Dawkins said.
“What made it worthwhile was that the reforms achieved much of their intended purpose and it’s a wonderful bonus for this achievement to be publicly acknowledged as it is today.
“QUT is perhaps the leading example in Australia of the expansion of and change in the university system.”
Mr Dawkins also told students he believed (Federal Education Minister) Senator Amanda Vanstone’s “bright idea”
of raising the cut-off score for entry into education courses would result not in better teachers, but in fewer enrolments.
He was awarded the doctorate in recognition of distinguished service to the community at the April 2 Education Faculty (in-service and graduate diploma) graduation ceremony.
He joined three other high-profile Australians — Sister Angela Mary Doyle AO, Lois O’Donoghue AM and Ronald Desmond Paul AM — who have also been awarded honourary doctorates in the latest round of QUT graduation ceremonies.
Continued page 2 (left) Former Federal Education Minister and QUT honorary doctorate recipient
John Dawkins
Parole not prison - researcher
Page 3
Page 2 INSIDE QUT April 8-21, 1997
From the Inside… by David Hawke
Advertising senior lecturer Alan Hales resigned from QUT on February 25.
Mr Hales, who had taught advertising full-time in the Faculty of Business since the early 1990s, was unable to substantiate earlier verbal and written claims of qualifications during a recent audit of all academic qualifications.
Mr Hales had claimed to hold a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Sydney. However, that institution had no record of Mr Hales having been awarded any degree.
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibsion said it was regrettable that QUT should lose a teacher with Mr Hales’ industry experience.
“This situation is extremely unfortunate, because Mr Hales is a very experienced advertising executive and is extremely highly regarded by both his students and by the advertising industry in general,” Professor Gibson said.
He said the audit process had required all academics to give written authority for QUT to check their qualifications with awarding institutions, a step introduced for all new staff in the years following Mr Hales’ appointment.
Following Mr Hales’ resignation, QUT was approached by a journalist seeking confirmation of the allegations against Mr Hales which became public in a front-page article in Brisbane’s The Courier-Mail on March 21.
Advertising academic resigns
A text on career development and theory which specifically addresses Australian concerns has been published by two QUT academics.
School of Learning and Development senior lecturer Dr Wendy Patton and associate lecturer Mary McMahon have co-edited Career Development in Practice:
A systems theory perspective.
“For too long, Australian careers practitioners have had to rely on theoretical discussions generated in the United States and Britain — this book will offer an Australian perspective on a range of theoretical and practice considerations,” Dr Patton said.
“The book applies a systems theory framework of career development to the issue of theory and practice integration.
“We have gathered together writers working with clients from diverse backgrounds to illustrate the effectiveness of this framework.”
Launched in Brisbane on April 3, Career Development in Practice: A systems theory perspective, promises to be a valuable resource for people undertaking further education in career theory and practice as well as careers practitioners in schools, tertiary institutions and human resource management.
Text targets career development
Continued from page one
Mr Dawkins’s reforms as Employment, Education and Training Minister in the Hawke Ministry from 1987-91 revolutionised Australia’s higher education sector and ushered in a new era which saw fewer and larger institutions working more efficiently and effectively.
He told graduating students that by the mid-’80s there were too few places available for the qualified students competing for them and that the places that did exist were frequently in the wrong locations.
“On top of that, the divisions between universities and those institutions from the old college sector were becoming increasingly irrational and there were too many separate institutions, some of which were far too small,” Mr Dawkins said.
“All those defects were the result of Commonwealth regulation and differential funding mechanisms which, while appropriate 20 years earlier, were no longer so.
“The important aspect about the reform process of the ’80s was the removal of much of this regulation. With more funds for growth and new methods to distribute the funds, the system rapidly took on a new character.
“For QUT it allowed the broadening of its academic profile partly through amalgamation, the opportunity to develop campuses closer to where the students lived, an ability to extend its research and consultancy base and an opportunity to attract more international students.”
Mr Dawkins warned graduating students to expect a major review of school education at least once a decade and that, at the conclusion of each review, teachers would be expected to do things differently.
“Occasionally we see bright ideas about how we might have better teachers – one such idea came from Senator (Amanda) Vanstone along the lines of raising the cut-off score for entry into education courses,” he said.
“Cut-off scores are a means of rationing demand. They do not affect the quality of those seeking places,” he said.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson said the Dawkins’ reforms saw 85 institutions become 36 through amalgamations which – combined with extra funds – provided many more opportunities for university participation.
“Under the Dawkins’ vision for change, the Queensland University of Technology amalgamated with the Brisbane College of Advanced Education in 1990 to become Australia’s fourth- largest university and a truly multi- disciplinary university.”
■ On April 1 – the day before Mr Dawkins took the stage – the director of Queensland’s Board of Teacher Registration, Dr Marie Jansen, was guest speaker at the Faculty of Education’s (pre-service primary and early childhood) graduation ceremony (see story page 5).
For the third Faculty of Education graduation on April 3 (pre-service secondary plus Bachelor of Education), Queensland Education Minister Mr Bob Quinn, was the official guest speaker.
. . . Dawkins recalls torrid past
When members of the West Committee visited QUT on March 26, one of the questions they asked was what the higher education sector would look like in 20 years time.
The fashionable answer to this question usually involves some variation on a brave new world of high technology and borderless interaction as students sitting in front of computer screens giving access to information and university programs around the world. Perhaps in thinking about the next 20 years, however, we should pay more attention to what happened in the last 20.
Looking back recently at market research since the early 1980s, I was struck by the consistency of the reasons given by students for choosing a particular tertiary institution.
Both QUT and national research shows that the factors influencing choice are availability of a particular course (and its employment outcomes), prestige of the institution as a whole, location of the institution, and facilities available, roughly in that order.
Prestige is an elusive quality which research suggests changes very slowly over time. Newer universities like QUT have an historical handicap, but this will diminish if they can produce outcomes comparable with the older universities.
QUT’s strength, which it inherited from its highly vocational predecessor institutions, is its practical courses.
This has been reflected in excellent graduate employment outcomes.
Our location in the rapidly growing South-East Queensland megalopolis is also a precious advantage.
The challenge for QUT in the next 20 years will be to improve our facilities for teaching, research and recreation to a point where they can challenge those of the historically better funded
“sandstone” universities.
The move to a more market-oriented, consumer-focused higher education system will only increase the importance of these four crucial factors in deciding the success or failure of universities.
Professor Dennis Gibson
The future of universities
QUT staff with family responsibilities can take advantage of a wider variety of leave provisions following the launch of a new maternity and parental leave policy.
Work and family co-ordinator Jane Barker said the new consolidated policy contained a number of entitlements not included in the previous accouchement and parental leave policies.
“There is now a provision for long- term, unpaid parental leave — up to 12 months in a two-year period for both men and women — which didn’t exist before,” Ms Barker said.
“This is for people who become the primary care giver for a new child.”
The change brings QUT into line with Federal legislation.
“The existing entitlement of 12 weeks of paid maternity leave will remain,”
Ms Barker confirmed.
She said the entitlement to five days’
paid leave for new parents had been extended to include people who adopted a child or fostered a child, with a view to a long-term arrangement.
Arrangements are in place to accommodate staff currently on leave.
“All of the new and existing entitlements are available to staff with 12 months of service or pro rata for staff with between nine and 12 months of service,” she said.
A copy of the full maternity and parental leave policy is available on-line at http://www.qut.edu.au/daa/equity/
matpat.html
– by Tony Wilson
Changes made
to family leave
entitlements
A word from the Vice-Chancellor
Continued from page one
“It’s far better to prevent it in the first place. These sorts of rationales all point to developing a vaccine – which we have done.”
The vaccine developed by QUT researchers appeared to be safe, with
laboratory animals developing a good immune response, Dr Aaskov said.
“We began working on a vaccine for the Ross River virus about four years ago,” he said.
“Immuno AG will now prepare large stocks of the vaccine and conduct
toxicology studies. Then we can start planning clinical trials on humans.”
Immuno AG had already successfully produced and marketed a vaccine against Tick-borne Encephalitis virus and had recently built a new vaccine- manufacturing facility outside Vienna, Dr Aaskov said.
. . .vaccine fights airborne ills
Researcher Dr John Aaskov … Ross River vaccine to be commercially available in five years
Queensland can reduce the escalating costs of incarcerating criminals by developing better parole programs, according to a QUT economist.
School of Economics and Finance lecturer Glyn Edwards said the cost of maintaining a prisoner on parole was a fraction of the $100-or-more- per-day spent keeping them in jail.
Mr Edwards has identified a range of indicators for parole success and failure.
“My research looked at data collected by the Queensland Corrective Services Commission on more than 1,400 people released from prison and whether they were readmitted to prison,” he said.
“Readmission of parolees could be for two reasons — 5.7 per cent of parolees are readmitted because they committed a criminal offence and 27 per cent because they breached the conditions of their parole some other way.
“I used statistical data to compare those readmitted to those whose parole was successful and indentified a number of predictors which can be addressed to improve the likelihood of success.”
Mr Edwards said important variables included age, ethnic background, education level on admission to prison, marital status, number of children, employment prior to prison and while in custody, number of prisons where
the sentence was served and the prison from which the prisoner was released.
“Those most likely to be readmitted included younger, unmarried prisoners, Aboriginal people, people released straight from high-security detention and, surprisingly to me, people with greater numbers of children,” Mr Edwards said.
“Other predictors of failure were poor behaviour while in custody — those prisoners in frequent breach of prison rules usually performed badly on parole — and prisoners who were moved frequently while in custody.
“You need to be careful because, there can be a crossover between variables.
“For example, if a prisoner is moved frequently, it might be because there has been a discipline problem which reflects the other variable about conduct while in custody.
“Parole was more likely to be successful for older, married people, people with a good educational background, people released from lower-security custody, people who had jobs when admitted to custody and people serving longer parole periods, who consequently are supervised for a longer period.”
Mr Edwards said he believed the chances of successful parole, and consequently significant cost-savings, could be improved through changes to policy and systems.
“It might be desirable to avoid releasing parolees from high-security prisons and to minimize the number of moves between prisons during custody,” he said.
“Closer supervision would improve the chances for younger inmates who might also benefit from special programs or support, as might Aboriginal parolees and parolees with large families.
“Increasing education and labour- market skills while in custody could improve chances for a job and more parole success,” Mr Edwards said.
Study shows better parole
programs could slash penal costs
by Tony Wilson
Glyn Edwards
Over the past few weeks, QUT’s security slogan — Be aware, take care
— appears to have had a limited impact on some students and staff.
The university’s security manager, Mr Fergus Ross, said a recent spate of minor thefts on campus was evidence that not everyone was heeding the well- publicised advice.
Mr Ross said in most recent cases people had just become careless and provided an opportunity for thieves.
“We have people on campus who prey on other people, but that doesn’t mean we have roving bands of pillaging brigands,” Mr Ross said.
“Most victims are shocked and horrified to discover, to their cost, common criminals would dare invade the cloisters of the university.
“But they do, because the university is very much a part of the broader community in which we live and work.”
Mr Ross said that, while the university had an overall population of more than many country towns, it only had a fraction of the problems a small town would face.
However, he warned that people had to be mindful that while QUT was a safe place to work and study they could not leave their street-wise caution behind them when they came on campus.
– Noel Gentner
Thieves active at QUT - security
by Noel Gentner
After recent price rises of around 30 per cent at the university’s three refectories, the QUT Student Guild plans to do something about food quality and prices.
This year’s guild president, Lance McCallum, said the guild planned to submit a tender for the management contract for QUT’s three refectories later this year.
Mr McCallum said the Student Guild would be able to supply the necessary expertise if successful in the tender.
He said the guild had made approaches to refectory management earlier this year concerning food quality and the prices of some food items following student complaints at the beginning of the semester.
“Our initial response was outrage — and we sent off some letters asking exactly what the situation was in relation to prices being charged — and, to my knowledge, various prices have now been reduced,” Mr McCallum said.
Mr McCallum said the situation could have been different if an effort had been made to explain to students the reasons for the increases .
“There was no effort to tell people why prices went up and there had been significant across-the-board price rises, so people were left wondering,” Mr McCallum said.
QUT’s business services manager Allan Sutton admitted that, initially, refectory food price variations for 1997 “might have appeared excessive in some areas”.
However, he said, prices were reviewed in response to several approaches from staff, students and the guild.
Mr Sutton said QUT was responsible for setting prices and policy as well as outcomes in all three refectories, not the current management contractors, Spotless Services Limited.
He said that, irrespective of price fluctuations and volume of trade, Spotless received a fixed annual fee, with the profits or losses borne by the university.
Thus, he said, refectory prices were set to ensure a “break-even budget”.
“To do this, we have to set prices which cover (the cost of) all of the hours that it is necessary to open to provide a service, despite the fact that those opening hours might operate at a loss,”
he explained.
He said the cost of rent, capital replacements, equipment repairs and replacement, electricity, gas and waste disposal also had to be factored in as overheads for the refectories.
Mr Sutton also said the Carseldine refectory had proven a “considerable strain on resources” in that it operated at a substantial loss.
“This loss must be offset from the operations at Kelvin Grove and Gardens Point,” he said.
He said that, if the refectories only opened from 10am until 2pm each day, prices would be considerably lower.
Mr Sutton explained that QUT had a policy of only instigating one price rise a year for food items which were prepared on site whereas, for items purchased from outside suppliers, the price was varied in accordance with manufacturers’ recommended retail prices.
“To further ensure QUT staff and students are not disadvantaged, visits to other universities in the area are undertaken to ensure that pricing is in line with similar markets,” Mr Sutton said.
He said the loss-making Carseldine refectory was recently refurbished, an exercise funded by adjustments to refectory pricing policy.
Guild president
takes aim at QUT
refectory prices
Page 4 INSIDE QUT April 8-21, 1997
More than 40 medical engineering students at QUT recently spent a morning in wheelchairs getting a feel for equipment they may one day have to design.
Regular lectures were set aside for a wheelchair “obstacle course” which saw the students negotiate ramps and lifts, exits and entrances at the Gardens Point campus.
Biomedical engineering lecturer Dr Tim Barker said the session aimed to by Tony Wilson
A $500,000 Internet training facility has been established at QUT’s Gardens Point campus to educate the Internet engineers of tomorrow.
The Queensland Web Learning Centre will provide up-to-the- minute instruction in core technologies which support multimedia and Internet communication.
The facility is a joint initiative of the Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DSTC), of which QUT is a member, and computer hardware giant Silicon Graphics.
DSTC technology and training services manager Mark Herbert said QUT was chosen as the site for the Web Learning centre for a number of reasons.
“QUT is close to our base of commercial clients and industry participants and has new buildings with suitable technology infrastructure,” Mr Herbert said.
Mr Herbert said the centre’s courses were pitched at the higher end of information technology practitioners.
“It is geared toward Internet training – programming skills, Internet security skills and multimedia applications,” he said.
“What we will be teaching are the technologies and infrastructure that enable people to have interactive applications, rather than how to design snazzy Web pages.
“Many Information Technology professionals are looking to reskill in Web skills and technologies – that is a huge market that is coming
from both government and large organisations as well as small, niche multimedia firms.
“What you will come away with from the Web Learning Centre is a complete set of skills that will allow you to go back to your workplace and deploy web technologies and make intelligent decisions about how to deploy the technology.”
Mr Herbert said the QUT facility had been invited to be a node of a nationwide bandwidth system which would radically increase data capacity.
“We are about to become a node of Telstra’s experimental broadband
Students spend valuable time in the ‘wheel’ world
give first-year students a “real life”
understanding of what it was like to spend time in a wheelchair.
“This will be an opportunity for them to get a very brief perspective on what it’s like to be in a wheelchair, to think about some of the difficulties and the environment (in which they are working or studying) from that perspective,” he said.
Dr Barker said students were set tasks such as making a phone call, borrowing a library book, buying an ice-cream from the refectory and collecting tutorial times off notice boards.
Students doing the first semester subject Engineering in the Medical Environment used manually-operated wheelchairs donated by Morris Surgical Pty Ltd.
– Andrea Hammond Engineering
students get a taste of life in a
wheelchair which should help to prepare
them for possible futures
as medical equipment designers
Internet learning centre has plenty of byte
network, which is the next generation of Internet structure,” he said.
“The scale we are looking at there is that people currently use modems that receive data at 28.8 kilobytes per second while the new system will carry data at about 150 megabytes – so we are talking about very fat pipes.
“That will give people at the Web Learning Centre an idea about the types of applications you can run when you have increased bandwidth.”
The centre was officially opened by State Tourism, Small Business and Industry Minister Bruce Davidson in late February.
Pictured on-screen on one of the Web Learning Centre multimedia terminals are (l-r) Tourism, Small Business and Industry Minister Bruce Davidson, DSTC head David Barbagallo, Silicon Graphics representative David Webster and QUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor Peter Coaldrake
by Noel Gentner
Brisbane’s public and road transport systems compare favourably with many similar cities in the United States according to a visiting American professor.
Assistant director of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), Professor Katherine Turnbull (pictured below), was in Brisbane last month as part of a Memorandum of Agreement with QUT and the Queensland Transport and Main Roads Departments.
The institute is part of Texas A & M University and is the largest university-based transportation research group in the US.
Professor Turnbull said Brisbane’s transport system was very positive and well thought out .
“It is an operational system, on the cutting edge in many respects, with its down-town bus terminal tunnel, rail system and an efficient bus route network, including a number of arterial road priority treatments,” Professor Turnbull said.
She said she was impressed by a visit to Queensland Transport’s operational centre which used cameras to monitor traffic flow.
“This is an area that many cities in the States are moving towards,”
Professor Turnbull said.
“Brisbane is very similar to many cities in Texas, although these cities would probably have a more extensive freeway system because they were developed during the automobile era.”
Professor Turnbull said she had had discussions with Queensland Transport on High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) and bus lanes which were proposals for the South-East freeway along with some arterial street applications.
She said the peak-hour rush was a major problem for most cities, “and there is no single solution out there, you have to look at a whole host of options and issues”.
“We have a lot of van-pools in the US where companies will purchase a van in which eight to 10 people will ride in on a daily basis to work and back. I don’t think you have them here,”
Professor Turnbull said.
“HOV lanes are another facility to move people rather than vehicles, reserving lanes for buses, car pools and encourage people to ride the bus or take the train by providing better facilities.”
Texas transport expert
praises Brisbane buses
by Noel Gentner
As around 800 Faculty of Health students prepare to graduate, guest speakers at their graduation ceremonies are drawing confronting parallels for them to consider.
Both guest speakers are drawing on personal experience to comment on social conditions in Australian health care at the Faculty of Health ceremonies last night (April 7) and tomorrow night (April 9).
One parallel being drawn is between today’s plight of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the early history of Ireland, another links the recent film version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the reality of modern day tragedies of the human condition.
Director of the Mater Hospitals Trust Sister Angela Mary Doyle said that, with her Irish background, she felt a strong affinity with indigenous Australians.
Addressing students at last night’s ceremony, where she was awarded an honorary doctorate, Sr Angela Mary said similarities between the history of Ireland and that of the colonisation of Australia — with its devastating impact on people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds — were both startling and painful.
“For almost 800 years, Ireland was occupied by Britain,” Sr Angela Mary said.
“Lands traditionally owned by the Irish were confiscated, barbaric laws were enforced with diligence and every effort was made to destroy culture, language and the Catholic faith.”
Sr Angela Mary said she recently reflected on the general Aboriginal condition, particularly on the appalling health status of those in remote rural communities.
At tomorrow night’s ceremony, Queensland Health’s manager for the Southern Public Health Unit Network, Dr Don Staines, will tell
students how the knowledge, attitudes and skills they take with them from university will be their tools of trade.
“These tools of trade will be a means of confronting the often terrible images and realities of today’s public health problems,”
Dr Staines said.
Dr Staines referred to the recent film interpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by the Australian director Baz Luhrmann as an intimidating and confronting piece of cinema.
“To many, this interpretation of Shakespeare was anathema, almost a perversion, that it was out of place in the modern world,” Dr Staines said.“Nothing could be further from the truth.
“The themes of gang violence, alienation and youth suicide were, for Shakespeare, the things of tragedy — as they are today.
“The language of Shakespeare links us in dealing with the tragedies of the human condition.
by Tony Wilson
Distinguished Aboriginal activist Lois O’Donoghue believes education can play a vital role in helping young indigenous people pursue their dreams.
Dr O’Donoghue — who will receive an honorary doctorate at this evening’s Faculty of Arts graduation — said many Aboriginal people were driven to pursue an education to counter discrimination.
“Education empowers people to feel good about themselves and to have the necessary qualifications to actually apply for jobs,” Dr O’Donoghue said.
“It gives them (indigenous people) a greater sense of history, but I think they go there as a result of seeing their own parents and families discriminated against because they lacked the necessary qualifications.”
Dr O’Donoghue said her retirement from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) — which she chaired from 1990 until late 1996 — was made easier by the knowledge there was a group of young, educated indigenous Australians ready to take her place.
“I recently attended a graduation ceremony at the University of Adelaide and it was a source of pride for me to see not only urban Aboriginal people graduating, but also students from remote areas, including some of my own people
— the Yankuntjatjara of north-west South Australia,” Dr O’Donoghue said.
She said there were many highlights during her time with ATSIC, both on the national and international stages.
“One of the highlights, of course, was the successful negotiation with the former Labor Federal Government on the 339 recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody,” she recalled.
“Another was successfully getting the United Nations to set aside a year for the world’s indigenous peoples.
“I also had the great honour of addressing the UN General Assembly in New York.
“In addition, for the past seven years, I have led a delegation to Geneva to be involved in drafting the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People.
“It was also a highlight to be a leading member of negotiations with the Government on the Native Title legislation in 1993.”
Dr O’Donoghue said the attitude of the Howard Government to Native Title would be tested by its legislative response to the Wik decision (which found Native Title could co-exist with pastoral leases).
“The other test will be how the Government will treat the report of the Inquiry into the Removal of Children from their Families, more commonly known as the ‘stolen generation’.
“I don’t hold out much hope because, already, the findings have been pre-empted by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Senator (John) Herron and the Prime Minister (Mr Howard) when they said forcibly removing Aboriginal children from their families benefited some children.
“I reacted very angrily to that.”
Dr O’Donoghue is vehement in her criticism of the Federal Coalition Government.
“This Government has set back the process of reconciliation,” she said. “I believe it is a mean-spirited Government.
“At the same time, though, there is a great deal of support in the community at large to find solutions that will right the wrongs of the past.
“That is where the momentum for reconciliation will come from — from the people.”
As well as receiving an honorary doctorate from QUT, Dr O’Donoghue has been recognised by many other institutions and agencies for her role in advancing the cause of indigenous Australians.
She holds honorary degrees from a number of Australian universities, was awarded the Order of Australia in 1977, was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1983 and in 1984 was named Australian of the Year.
“However, there is one great difference between our time and Shakespeare’s time — and that is university training.
“What was once tragedy, in an era of ignorance, has been replaced by a potential to reverse that tide of tragedy through knowledge, attitudes and skills.”
Dr Staines will tell graduating students that the pressures — and some freedoms — of student life will give way to the realities of health care delivery in all its complexities.
“One does not need to go too far across this island continent to experience these challenges in health care,” Dr Staines said.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health — on some indicators of mortality and morbidity —␣ may be up to 10 times that of non-Aboriginal people.
“And, in Australia, we have one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world.”
Health graduates urged to consider social justice
Dean of Health Professor Ken Bowman discusses the social justice issues confronting the health profession with Sister Angela Mary Doyle
O’Donoghue believes people can overcome Coalition’s ‘mean’ spirit
by Andrea Hammond
Laughter was a celebration of life and the key to creative teaching, B o a r d o f T e a c h e r R e g i s t r a t i o n d i r e c t o r D r M a r i e J a n s e n t o l d graduating students on April 1.
Dr Jansen was official guest speaker at the education (Pre-service primary and early childhood) graduation ceremony.
She told graduating students, friends and relatives that laughter was the most important of the six ‘L words’ that could help teachers tackle a changing role in a rapidly changing world.
“Laughter is probably the most human of all our attributes. It is a way to reach out and touch kids - not physically, but with humour,” Dr Jansen said.
“The ability to laugh can help us bounce back when we become overwhelmed. It can provide a safety valve when the pressure gets too high. It can counterbalance the seriousness of the educational process.
“If we could all laugh with others, and laugh at ourselves, we could build a new world. And that’s what teaching is supposed to be all about.”
Dr Jansen, a former early childhood teacher, said looking and listening, learning and leading, loving and laughing were the ingredients that
teachers needed to draw on and model every day of their working lives.
“Look and listen through the eyes and ears of children – they inhabit a different world and sharing it is one of the great joys and privileges of being a teacher.
“Life-long learning is not just a slogan – it must be modelled by a teacher because much of what children learn is caught, not taught,” she said..
“Your excitement about learning is infectious, your love of learning will be emulated if shared.
“Go on with postgraduate work – you may be surprised, as I was, to find that you never really knew the joy of learning until you began asking your own questions and setting out to find the answers through research.
“And as for leading, you are the future of the profession of education, and education is the future of our next generation. I firmly believe that education is the difference between savagery and civilisation.”
Dr Jansen said she believed the vast majority of teachers were called to the work because of their belief in, and commitment to, the next generation.
“Teaching is a vocation – an occupation often chosen not for money but for love – because every day it brings the opportunity to make a difference,” she said.
Love life, love learning
says education speaker
Page 6 INSIDE QUT April 8-21, 1997
News in brief
FOLLOWING successful international tours last year by various Academy of the Arts troupes, QUT will host four groups from Asia and North American over the coming months.
Drama students from the Academy’s partner college La Salle-SIA Singapore will present Singapore Stories at the Woodward Theatre at Kelvin Grove from May 21 to 24.
Postgraduate students from Montclair University, New Jersey, will present their experimental theatre from June 9 to 14, while dancers from the Tsoying Performing Arts School Taiwan will appear in Dance Collections from July 29 to August 2.
Finally, members of Shakespeare & Co, Boston, will work on Westside Story in September.
Further information about the tours or performances can be obtained by calling (07) 3864 5998.
• • •
QUT’s 1995 Annual Report recently won an award of excellence at the Queensland Public Sector Annual Report Awards which are run by the Institute of Internal Auditors
— Australia (Queensland Branch).
The award of excellence is the university’s second after a number of years of participation in the IIAA program.
At this year’s awards, QUT also received a special mention for addressing performance indicators.
• • •
STATE Cabinet recently approved the purchase of QUT’s former Kedron Park campus by the Department of Emergency Services.
Emergency Services Minister Michael Vievers said the department planned to relocate its headquarters as well as several ambulance and fire brigade facilities on the site.
With the sale price for the inner-northern suburbs campus still to be finalised, QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson said proceeds had been ear-marked to go toward the university’s capital program.
• • •
DISTINGUISHED American educator Charles E. Glassick addressed a Senior Management Development Program luncheon on Thursday, March 20.
Professor Glassick, who is interim president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching at Princeton, addressed the topic “Scholarship assessed:
Evaluation of the Professoriate” before sharing lunch with senior managers from QUT.
• • •
TEACHING staff looking to inject something new into their classes have been invited to attend one of this year’s Variety In Teaching and Learning (VITAL) sessions being run by QUT’s Academic Staff Development Unit.
One of ASDU’s Teaching Reflection And Collaboration Network groups, VITAL meetings are to be facilitated by the School of Language and Literacy Education’s Anne Russell.
According to ASDU lecturer Denise Scott, the VITAL group will explore what works in teaching, how students respond, what motivates students and how to make teaching and learning relevant, with participants taking away at least one additional teaching strategy from each meeting.
Ms Scott said that, during 1997, it was intended VITAL examine, among other things: examples of questions which stimulate students to explore assumptions;
student participation in planning, writing and reviewing units; and how to involve students in personal learning during large lectures.
For further details about the VITAL sessions, contact Ms Scott on [email protected] or on (07) 3864 1906.
• • •
THE inaugural annual general meeting of the Professional Association of Part-Time Academics (PAPTA) was held on Thursday, March 20.
Following elections, the new PAPTA committee is to be headed by Lexie Smiles from Built Environment and Engineering, with John Rigby (Science) as deputy and Sue Keays (Arts), Catherine Manathunga (Education), Marion Mitchell (Health), Lawrence di Bartolo and Col Ivey (Law), Fran Finn (Business) and Josie Miller (teaching units) as faculty representatives.
No nominations were received from Information Technology for the committee.
For further information about PAPTA, contact Ms Smiles via [email protected] or your faculty representative.
• • •
THE Academic Staff Development Unit is distributing new Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) and Student Evaluation of Unit (SEU) forms after substantial revisions to both.
Teaching staff are reminded to use the new order form when placing orders and to use the new student response forms instead of the old pink ones.
• • •
THREE QUT students were recently awarded scholarships to continue their studies by leading Queensland chemical company Incitec Ltd.
At a recent presentation ceremony, Wayne Dearness received a postgraduate scholarship in tribology worth $10,000.
Final-year business management student Neil Dwyer received a $5,000 business scholarship, while final-year mechanical engineering student Nathan Pash received a $5,000 engineering scholarship.
• • •
MANAGING diversity at QUT is the focus of a workshop to be held for managers and supervisors later this month.
To be run by the Equity Section of the Division of Academic Affairs, the full-day workshop will be held in the Continuing Professional Education Seminar Room (B306) on Level 3, B Block at Kelvin Grove on Wednesday, April 16, from 9am to 4.30pm.
For details, contact Michelle Taylor via [email protected] or call (07) 3864 2802.
• • •
APPLICATIONS for the organisational section of the National Teaching Development Grants from the Committee for University Teaching and Staff Development (CUTSD) will close on Monday, April 28.
Applicants wishing to rework earlier applications to the Teaching and Learning Development Large Grants Scheme should contact the Academic Staff Development Unit’s Robyn Daniel [email protected] or Dr Jill Borthwick [email protected] QUT, in partnership with Skydome
Industries, has won an award in the hotly contested buildings category of the National Energy Awards.
The award, presented by Federal Resources and Energy Minister Senator Warwick Parer, was for the development of a new style of laser- cut skylight which restricts searing midday sunlight while allowing in maximum morning, afternoon and winter daylight.
QUT School of Physics senior lecturer Ian Edmonds accepted the award on behalf of the partnership.
He said the award-winning
“angular selective skylight” design flowed from an approach to QUT by Queensland’s Department of Mines and Energy for advice on how electrical loads could be reduced in community buildings beyond the State’s electricity grid, so that remote power could be installed more effectively.
QUT’s daylighting research group — which is part of the Centre for Medical and Health Physics — was already developing and applying advanced optical technology for improved natural illumination in buildings.
What eventuated, Dr Edmonds said, was a collaborative project involving Mines and Energy, the Department of Public Works’ Built Environment Research Unit, QUT and Brisbane-based manufacturers Skydome Industries.
“Daylight is a free and visually optimum source of illumination for buildings,” Dr Edmonds said.
“However, bright Australian sunlight means windows often get shaded, typically with eaves, awnings, external louvres or cladding, to reduce overheating in adjacent rooms and eye glare.
“Consequently, and especially on overcast days, interiors can be gloomy and in need of artifical illumination, sometimes all day long, to bring light levels up to acceptable world health standards.
“As every square metre of workspace requires about 10 Watts of electricity for artificial illumination, the potential for energy conservation in displacing electrical lighting with natural light is enormous.”
Dr Edmonds said the award- winning, pyramid-shaped skylight which his team developed had already been installed in several buildings across Australia with great success.
The buildings, he said, were mainly single-storied — schools, supermarkets and office buildings
— but they shared a common feature, severely shaded windows, which made them ideal for bringing natural light in through their roofing.
“Skylights have great advantages in that they are easy to retrofit, illuminate naturally from above, work all day long and are excellent for ventilation.
“In Australia, however, skylights are prone to overheat interior rooms near noon in summer, when the sun is high, whereas in winter, when the
morning sun and afternoon sun are lower, there is poor penetration of natural light downwards.”
Prior to the skylight project, Dr Edmonds had already invented a new type of optical material which proved extremely effective in deflecting light, a material which could be produced as a thin panel in almost any shape by an automatic, laser-cutting machine.
“When we began the project, we set about incorporating four such laser-cut, light-deflecting panels in the form of a pyramid,” Dr Edmonds explained.
“The skylight we developed suits buildings in sub-tropical to tropical climates which suggests a very large potential market exists.”
He said the technology, which has no moving parts, was fully commercialised just a year and a half after its conceptualisation, with two local companies, Skydome Industries and Laws Laser, responsible for manufacturing and marketing the energy-conserving skylight.
“We are seeking patents covering the use of the panel to produce the angular selective skylight. Patents covering the laser-cut light-deflecting material have already been obtained in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand,” Dr Edmonds said.
The award-winning skylight has been selected for trial in the United States by its Department of Energy for use in schools.
“If it’s successful there, then we anticipate this will open up a considerable export market,” he said.
Energy team scores at national awards
A day devoted to the Elimination of Racial Discrimination will become an annual event at QUT after more than 2,500 students and staff donned orange ribbons to support diversity.
The idea was an initiative of QUT’s Cultural Diversity Working Party and organised by the Equity section as part of a nation-wide campaign which nominated March 21 as an international day in support of multicultural Australia.
Wearing an orange ribbon – a colour not aligned with any Auatralian movement – was chosen as a means of expressing support.
QUT’s Cultural Diversity Working Party spokesperson Pat Kelly said she was pleased with the strong response from staff and students and the high demand for ribbons that saw stocks run out before the end of the day.
“Symbols are important,” Ms Kelly said.
“Even though there’s a lot of serious work being done throughout QUT about culturally responsive curriculum, the prevention of social discrimination and so on, the day provided a chance for individuals to show their support for multicultural Australia in a concrete and visible way.”
Anti-racist ribbons a
roaring success
Kids’ book lecture looming
The annual lecture in children’s literature sponsored by QUT’s School of Language and Literacy Education will be delivered on Friday April 18 by James Moloney in room L101, Kelvin Grove starting at 5.30pm. Mr Moloney is a teacher/librarian at Marist Brothers College Ashgrove.
Building Contractors Project Managers Construction Managers QBSA Lic. No. 47894
482 Upper Roma St Brisbane 4000 Ph. 3236 2322 Fax. 3236 2235
Queensland Constructions
“Supporting QUT From the Ground Up!”
Q
Pty Ltd by Noel Gentner
QUT mathematicians, collaborating with Brisbane’s blood bank, have developed the basis for an efficient, Australia-wide distribution system for blood and blood products.
Chief scientist at the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service Dr Robyn Minchinton said the blood bank had been impressed by the pilot program developed by the QUT team.
Back in 1995, QUT’s School of Mathematical Sciences began developing computer-based data models for the efficient collection and distribution of blood supplies across Queensland.
The blood inventory management project is aimed at improving the service to those who need blood by developing techniques to analyse blood demand, storage and usage at hospitals and regional centres.
Project leader Dr Ehran Kozan said the research should lead to lower capital and operating costs through the optimisation of resources, while achieving a desired level of customer service.
He said the project had been supported and funded by three bodies, the Red Cross Transfusion Centre, the pharmaceutical group Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Foundation and an ARC collaborative research grant.
The project’s team consists of Dr Kozan, a lecturer in the School of Mathematical Sciences, the Head of the School, Professor Tony Pettitt, chief scientist at the Red Cross Blood
Transfusion Service Dr Robyn Minchinton and research assistants Ms Maree Wirth and Ms Virginia Nichols.
More than 170,000 blood donations are collected each year in Queensland, with around 450mls collected from each donor.
Dr Kozan said the collection and distribution of blood should be balanced with inventory-management procedures.
“If you keep excess blood supplies in the inventory levels, it will result in outdated units being discarded and, if you keep fewer supplies, it will result in a blood supply shortage,” Dr Kozan said.
“There are also cost factors involved in the oversupply and undersupply of blood.
“The Blood Bank will be able to schedule the intake and distribution of blood with a data program which takes into account the cycles in the use of the certain blood types.”
However, Dr Kozan admitted it was too difficult to solve some distribution schedule problems immediately because of a large data base with 130,000 variables.
Dr Kozan said more work was being done on the project.
At the moment, he said, the pilot program covered only one blood type (O positive) but that, by the end of the year, all types would be in the program.
He said that, at that time, the system would be commercialised and, at the push of a button, information would be available on inventory levels, the timing of blood- donation campaigns and advertisements as well as individual hospital inventory levels.
Dr Kozan said interest in the project had already been shown from similar organisations interstate.
Mathematicians iron out blood supply wrinkles
Pssst . . got any news?
Inside QUT is always on the lookout for interesting stories. If you think you might have a hot tip, email some details to Inside QUT editor Trina McLellan - [email protected] or phone (07) 3864 2361.
May 21 Lunchtime concert series. 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 2-13 Romeo & 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.
STUDENT GUILD
Apr 11 Free Movie Night. GP
Apr 12 Golf Course starts. Ashgrove
Apr 13 Horse Riding Trip. Carbrook
Apr 15 Diversity Week. KG
Apr 16 Diversity Week. C
Apr 17 Diversity Week. GP
Apr 18 QUT Cup, 3 on 3 Basketball. C
Apr 23 Video Night. C
Apr 24 Lunchtime Band. GP
Apr 24 Sport & Fitness Centre Open Day. GP Apr 26 NCUSA Aerobics Championships. Carindale
Apr 26 Parachuting Course. Gatton
Apr 26 Massage Course. TBA
Apr 29 Lunchtime Band. KG
May 2 Free Movie Night. GP
May 3-4 NCUSA Board Riding Championships.Stradbroke Island
May 8 Lunchtime Band. GP
May 10 Golf Course #2 starts. Ashgrove
May 13 Lunchtime Band. KG
May 14 Cocktail Party. C
May 22 Lunchtime Band. GP
May 23 QUT Cup, 5-a-Side Touch. KG
May 24 NCUSA Weight Lifting Championships.QUT
May 24 Parachuting Course. Gatton
May 27 Lunchtime Band. KG
May 29 End of Semester Bash. Port Office
University of Queensland. KG/B302 1-2pm (Free) Margaret Kays (07) 3864 3660.
• Centre for Policy & Leadership Studies in Education
Nov 29 Pedagogy & the body conference (1-day). Conference will address complex & changing interrelationships between pedagogical
& corporeal practices in contemporary cultural & educational settings. Waged participants $95, non-waged $60. KG. Venue TBA.
Anne Wilson at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 5959.
• Computing Services
Apr 17 Data Warehouse seminar on levels of access, types of information available and their uses. KG/BLT201 2-3pm (Free) Ross Hall at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 4293.
Apr 21&24 Dial-in seminar on connecting to the QUT network and Internet from home, installing and configuring software and making the most of your connection. GP/V771, 2-4pm (April 21) KG/H101, 2-4pm (April 24) (Free) Ross Hall at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 4293.
• Science Faculty Colloquium
Apr 28 Meta-analysis: a Consuming Passions recipe for stew presented by Dr Kerrie Mengersen. GP/Q601, 1pm (Free) Dr Rodney Wolff at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 5196.
FROM THE ACADEMY
Apr 17-26 The Three Sisters. 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 Lunchtime concert series. 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.
CONFERENCES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS
• Equity
Apr 16 Managing diversity at QUT workshop (1 day). 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 3653.
May 15 Resolving discrimination & harassment grievances workshop (3 hours). For staff in supervisory & management positions to focus on roles, responsibilities & strategies for handling complaints of discrimination or harassment. KG/B306. (Free) Leanne Zimmermann at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3653.
• Staff Development
Apr 21 Start of 20-hour modules for Certificate IV in Jun 16 Workplace Management (start dates for three terms).
Aug 25 • Managing operations • Writing workplace documents • Presenting reports • Customer service • Grievances & disputes
• Managing finance • Negotiation skills. Own venue, own pace. $50 per 20-hour module. Gailene Simpkins at [email protected] OR (07) 3864 3123.
May 19 Start of 40-hour modules for 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.
• Centre for Applied Studies in Early Childhood
Apr 11 Classroom discourse: A study of principles & practice presented by Dr Rod Campbell. KG/B302, 1-2pm (Free). Margaret Kays (07) 3864 3660
Apr17 Children’s learning and motivation in and out of school settings presented by Professor Scott Paris, visiting research fellow from the University of Michigan. KG/L101, 6pm (Free) Margaret Kays (07) 3864 3660
Apr 18 Story construction from a picture book: An innovative assessment activity presented by Dr Christa van Kraayenoord,
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.
Page 8 INSIDE QUT April 8-21, 1997
The deadline for next issue of Inside QUT (April 22-May 6) is April 10.
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Media may reproduce stories from Inside QUT. Each story has been checked with the source prior to publication.
This newspaper is published by the Public Affairs Department, QUT (Level 5, M Block, Gardens Point), GPO Box 2434 Brisbane 4001.
Photography: Suzanne Prestwidge
& Sharyn Rosewarne.
Advertising: David Lloyd-Jones 3880 0528.
The opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university.
Inside QUT has a circulation of 15,000 and is delivered to the university’s Gardens Point, Kelvin Grove and Carseldine campuses.
This newspaper is also circulated to business, industry, government and the media.
If you know of a story which should be told in Inside QUT contact one of the journalists in the Public Affairs Department:
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Publication details
by Noel Gentner
Student athletes specialising in water sports have won the majority of the inaugural 1997 QUT Student Guild’s Sport Scholarships.
The sport scholarship program offers financial support for the athletes while they are attending and representing QUT.
Guild Recreation Manager Dr Don Gordon said the first six scholarships — worth a total of $10,000 —␣ had been awarded, including two “full” scholarships each worth $2,500 and four “half”
scholarships of $1,250.
Dr Gordon said competition for the scholarships was strong, attracting 35 of what he termed “high-quality applications”.
He said the six winners had proved it was possible to be an elite athlete as well as a tertiary student.
They represented the best of up and coming athletes who might one day represent Australia in world-class competitions, Dr Gordon said.
The winners of the full scholarships are Gail Miller (waterpolo), a first-year Bachelor of Applied Science in Property Economics student and David Lyons (diving), a third-year Business-Law double degree student.
Dr Gordon said Ms Miller’s sporting achievements included being a member of the State open women’s waterpolo team in 1994, 1995 and 1996, an Australian Institute of Sport Scholarship holder since 1994 and a member of the silver-medal- winning team at the Olympic Year tournament in Holland last year.
Ms Miller listed her future sporting goals as representing Australia in the World Cup in France in June and in the World Swimming Championships in Perth early next year.
Dr Gordon said Mr Lyons’ sporting achievements included being a member of the national open diving team from 1991 to 1997, representing Australia in the World Junior championships in Sweden in 1991, and representing Australia in the World University Games in Japan in 1995.
Mr Lyons said he hoped to represent Australia in the World University Games
in Italy in August and be selected for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
Dr Gordon said the winners of the Guild’s half scholarships were Faculty of Health swimmer Greg Shaw, a butterfly specialist;
Faculty of Education touch footballer Sharyn Williams; and Faculty of Health triathlon specialists Greg Jordan and Leesa White.
Mr Shaw, a third-year health science student, is ranked second in Australia in the 200m butterfly behind Olympic silver medallist Scott Goodman.
Mr Shaw said his future goals were to represent Australia at next year’s Commonwealth Games, in the World Championships in 1999 and in the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Third-year physical education-accounting student Sharyn Williams has been a member of the Australian Open Touch Team since 1995.
Ms Williams was the youngest player in the Australian team when it won the World Cup in 1995.
She said she looked forward to representing Queensland in the State of Origin series at the end of this year and to representing Australia in world-class competitions.
Triathlon specialists Ms White and Mr Jordan are both international competitors.
Ms White’s achievements include representing Australia at the World Triathlon championships in Ohio last year, finishing with the second-fastest Australian time.
A fourth-year human movement studies student, Ms White hopes to represent Australia in the World triathlon championships in Perth this year.
Mr Jordan, a second-year health science (nutrition and diet) student, also wants to win a medal at the Perth championships.
He represented Australia in the World University Triathlon Championships last year and is this year’s Queensland Olympic Triathlon Champion.
Dr Gordon said that, faced with rising university costs, students needed all the help they could get to be able to get on to the playing field and that was why the Guild had instigated the scholarships.
Sport as well as education, he said, should not become only for those who could afford it.
Guild offers athletes a
helping hand
Swim stars sizzle at inter-faculty carnival
Students from QUT’s Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering narrowly outclassed last year’s swim champions from the Faculty of Health in the 1997 Inter-faculty Swimming Carnival held late last month in the short course Gardens Point pool.
Contributing half a dozen record- breaking swims, Pan-Pacific Trials star Nathan Rickard also helped push Built Environment and Engineering to victory in the men’s 4x25m and 4x50m relay events.
Rickard’s record-breaking swims were in the men’s 25m (10.47), 50m (23.12) and 100m (52.50) freestyle, 25m (13.47) and 50m (29.22) backstroke and 25m (11.72) butterfly events.
Built Environment and Engineering amassed 4,070 points in the March 21
indoor carnival, with Health not far behind on 3,840 and Education in third place with 3,160 points.
Records were also broken by the Faculty of Education women’s 4x25m freestyle relay team (56.09), Health’s 50m butterfly star Megan Nelson (30.47) and team mate Greg Shaw who set new QUT records in the men’s 200m freestyle (2.01.60), 50m butterfly (25.88) and 100m individual medley (1.01.00) following recent successes at the Pan-Pacs.
Megan Nelson won a total of five events at the afternoon meet, with Education’s Susan Taylor lining up for four first places (in the 200m, 100m and 50m freestyle and 50m breastroke).
Education also took out both women’s relay events with the aid of Jacki Sheehan (who also won the 25m freestyle event) and Jennie Sheehan (who won the 25m breastroke event).
Glenn McMaster from Law shone in the men’s 25m and 50m breastroke events.
And times weren’t the only records broken, with QUT Student Guild Recreation
& Sport officer Karen Bucholz confirming a record 215 entries were received for the 26- event meet, up from just 96 entries last year.
Ms Bucholz said the inter-faculty carnival was the second leg in the ongoing QUT Cup, with overall standings seeing a fairly close tussle between Education (9,640) and Health (9,050), with Built Environment and Engineering trailing in third place on (4,890).
The next leg of the QUT Cup would be a three-on-three basketball event to be held on April 18 from 1pm to 4pm at the Carseldine Campus.
For further information about the event, contact Adam McNiven on (07) 3864 4716.
Karen Bucholz with Education’s Susan Taylor who won the women’s 200m freestyle
