Archive for April 14th, 2008

The University of New England is participating in an international, community-based movement that is helping teenagers stay away from antisocial behaviour.

An Armidale tournament of Midnight Basketball will begin at Sport UNE on Saturday 3 May.

Midnight Basketball was established in the United States in 1986 to provide an alternative activity for teenagers at that time of night when they are most likely to be engaged in (or victims of) antisocial behaviour. It now operates in about 100 locations in the United States and the UK and, after coming to Australia in 2006, staged 15 tournaments around the country last year.

The program, held on successive Saturday nights over a nine-week period, combines basketball games with life-skills workshops on topics such as drug and alcohol awareness, sex education, nutrition and health, anger management, and financial literacy. The organisation’s slogan, “No Workshop, No Jump Shot”, emphasises the rule that participation in a workshop on each evening is a prerequisite for playing in that evening’s basketball games.

Participants are boys and girls aged between 12 and 18. They will be picked up by bus at 7 pm and travel to Sport UNE, where dinner will be served at 7.30. The program of workshops and basketball games then continues till midnight, when the teenagers will return home by bus.

Sport UNE’s Angela Collongues, the manager of the Armidale tournament, said that she and her colleagues were in the process of visiting all Armidale high schools to recruit participants. “Registration for the players is free,” she said, “and we’re hoping to involve about 60 teenagers. We’ll also need about 25 volunteers a night to help us run the program: people to travel with the participants on the buses, to help with the catering, and team leaders for the games and workshops. The volunteers can be students, parents, or other members of the community, and it’s vital for the success of the program that we find enough of them. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact the local office of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet on (02) 6771 5781.”

“As the teams will not be divided up by schools, this will be a great opportunity for students from different schools to interact,” Ms Collongues added. “And, as each team will include players of different ages, the older kids will have a chance to act as mentors to the younger ones.”

It was through the Premier’s Department and the local group EACH (Eastern Action Community Health) that an application was made to Midnight Basketball Australia which resulted in the planning of the Armidale tournament, and the appointment of Ms Collongues as its manager. The Commonwealth Bank is a major sponsor of Midnight Basketball Australia.

There will be a second Armidale tournament later in the year.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows, in the foreground, Sport UNE’s Angela Collongues, the manager of the Armidale Midnight Basketball tournament. It expands to include (from left) John Kauter (Marketing and Public Affairs, UNE), Maureen Chapman (NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet), Rob Lasker (Youth and Family Services NSW), and Tracy Wright (Operations Manager, Sport UNE).

An international leader in the oil and gas industry, speaking during a graduation ceremony at the University of New England on Saturday, urged graduands to help Australia realise its potential leading role in the global response to climate change.

John Ellice-Flint said that, by becoming “an international crucible” for the development of renewable energy technologies, Australia could help to “sever the nexus between economic growth and carbon emissions”.

Mr Ellice-Flint, a member of the Council of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, and of the Energy Governors of the World Economic Forum, recently retired after seven years as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SANTOS Limited. He gave the Occasional Address at Saturday’s ceremony for people graduating from UNE in disciplines within the Sciences and Health.

Mr Ellice-Flint holds a Bachelor of Science (Geology) degree with Honours from UNE. In recognition of his outstanding and significant contributions to the oil and gas industry, and his active engagement with the community on many levels – from participating in gruelling fund-raising events to serving as Chairman of the South Australian Museum – he was presented during the ceremony with a UNE Distinguished Alumni Award.

“My time on this campus was the best time of my life,” he said, recalling some of the internationally renowned scientists who were his teachers, and how they fostered an atmosphere of camaraderie with their students that “allowed us to grow”.

Returning to the graduands assembled before him, he said that UNE had equipped them with all the tools necessary for them to help Australia assume a leading role in addressing the global challenge of climate change.

The ceremony was the last of four in UNE’s Autumn Graduation series for 2008. More than 250 graduands were able to attend Saturday’s ceremony to receive their testamurs from the Deputy Chancellor, Dr James Harris. Altogether, more than 2,300 people (including those unable to attend the ceremonies) have graduated from UNE this autumn.

In another highlight of Saturday’s ceremony, Dr Harris presented an honorary degree of Doctor of Science to one of UNE’s most distinguished scientists, Emeritus Professor Stuart Barker. In introducing Professor Barker, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Pettigrew, said he was an “internationally recognised” and “extraordinarily productive” scientist with a career in animal genetics “now spanning more than five decades”.

“Professor Barker has the exceptional record of continuously having held grants from the Australian Research Council and its predecessor (the Australian Research Grants Committee) from the Committee’s inception in 1965 until his retirement in 1998,” Professor Pettigrew said. “He is still very active in his research and collaboration with national and international scientists and still travels extensively to undertake this collaboration.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here is of Rebecca Forbes, who graduated on Saturday as a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours, and was presented with a University Medal. She also gave the Vote of Thanks address at the end of the ceremony. The photograph expands to include John Ellice-Flint, another holder of a BSc (Honours) degree from UNE, who gave the Occasional Address and received a UNE Distinguished Alumni Award.