Archive for June, 2008

Principals and/or Career Advisers from 19 secondary schools in northern NSW visited the University of New England yesterday for a half-day meeting with UNE staff members who provide key academic and support services for new students.

Some of the participants in yesterday’s Principals’ and Career Advisers’ Forum travelled to UNE from as far away as Grafton, Toormina, Bellingen, Gunnedah and Moree, while others came from schools in Tamworth and Armidale and throughout the New England region.

The UNE staff members presented information about new courses, pathways to UNE, the residential college system, scholarships, and support services. Ed Campbell, UNE’s Student Experience Liaison Officer, explained his role in helping students have the most rewarding experience possible in their first year at university.

The Principals and Career Advisers heard about UNExtra, a new social networking Web site that allows potential students and Career Advisers to connect with each other and get news from the University. They also heard about UNE courses providing professional development for teachers – including several new postgraduate courses due to begin next year.

In welcoming the visitors, UNE’s Chief Development Officer, Mr Chris Patton, and Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Services), Ms Eve Woodberry, emphasised the University’s commitment to providing support services for its students. Ms Woodberry mentioned in particular the highly successful work of UNE’s Oorala Centre (the venue for yesterday’s Forum) in providing educational resources, advice, and academic support for Aboriginal students.

Rhonda Leece, UNE’s Assistant Director of Student Administration and Services, led an open discussion that focused on – among other things – opportunities for students to gain early entry to UNE through the recommendation of their schools, and support services – particularly for students arriving at UNE from small regional schools. Ms Leece outlined the range of programs available – many of them through UNE’s Student Assist office – for students experiencing difficulties in academic, social, or personal aspects of their lives.

Appreciative comments from the Principals and Career Advisers confirmed that the high quality of students’ overall educational experience at UNE (regularly receiving a “five star” rating in The Good Universities Guide), and the high level of pastoral care provided in the University’s residential colleges, are among the most important factors attracting students to UNE.

John Kocek, a Career Adviser from Bellingen High School, said he had wanted to come to the forum to show his appreciation of the well-established links between his school and UNE. “The early entry scheme – the fact that UNE is flexible enough to admit students on the school’s recommendation rather than a Universities Admission Index score – is really important for our students,” Mr Kocek said.

UNE’s Marketing Manager, Sarah Wilson, who was one of the organisers of the event, said the Forum had been “well attended – and well received – by Principals and Career Advisers from around the region and beyond”.

“It’s vitally important for UNE to engage with its regional stakeholders in maintaining and developing communication and services into the future,” Ms Wilson said.

After lunch at UNE’s Mary White College, the visitors were conducted on a tour of the University’s new School of Rural Medicine.

The New Zealand Army has confirmed the strength of its relationship with the University of New England at a function to celebrate the recent graduation of eight NZ Army officers.

Speaking at the function, held late last month at Trentham Military Barracks, Upper Hutt, NZ, the Chief of the NZ Army, Major General Lou Gardiner, said the partnership with UNE had led to “a strengthening of the NZ Army’s expertise in administration, leadership, and training development at the crucial middle-management level”.

The graduates gained the UNE degrees of Bachelor of Administrative Leadership, Bachelor of Training and Development, or Master of Education (Adult Education).

“During the past decade, education has become a cornerstone of the development of individual capability in the Army,” Major General Gardiner said. “We see education as an ideal means of developing well-informed, confident, self-disciplined, discerning personnel who are able to cope with the challenges and changes they have encountered over time.”

He praised UNE for the integrity of its courses, the understanding of its academic and administrative staff, its flexibility in delivery, and its preparedness to recognise students’ prior military training and experience for accreditation purposes. He said that UNE academic staff – particularly Dr Dan Riley (who attended the function in New Zealand) and Dr Fiona Wood – had engaged closely with the Military Studies Institute during development of the programs.

To the graduates he said: “I look forward to your bringing your newly acquired skills and knowledge into your working environment, and seeing the results. At the same time, I challenge you to continue your quest for learning, whether it be via formal study, wider reading and discussion, or reflective practice.”

The celebration gave the graduates a sense of completion of their study programs, and enabled them to share their achievement with the friends and family members who had supported them. It also enabled their wider Army “family” to celebrate their success, and provided an opportunity to acknowledge the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Taylor who, as Commanding Officer of the Military Studies Institute, has played a pivotal role in the outstanding success of the strategic relationship between the NZ Army and UNE.

The ceremony coincided with identification by the NZ Army of the Bachelor of Training and Development degree program as a priority course for its personnel. “The strategic relationship between the NZ Army and UNE continues to offers opportunities for further development,” said Professor Alison Sheridan, Transitional Head of UNE’s School of Business, Economics and Public Policy.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here, taken at UNE earlier this year, shows Captain Elizabeth Barclay of the NZ Army graduating with a Master of Education (Adult Education) degree. Clicking on this image reveals a photograph of the eight UNE graduates honoured at last month’s Army celebration in New Zealand. Captain Barclay is on the far right, and Major General Gardiner stands next to UNE’s Dr Dan Riley (centre). The photograph was taken in the Officers’ Mess at Trentham Military Barracks.

Year 12 students from 16 secondary schools in northern NSW received expert advice today on tackling this year’s Higher School Certificate examinations in Economics, Business Studies, and Legal Studies.

The 250 students, from schools in Coonabarabran, Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Bellingen, Moree, Gunnedah, Coffs Harbour, Armidale and Tamworth, were attending an “HSC Booster Day” in UNE’s Faculty of The Professions.

Among those offering advice on curriculum content and exam strategies were two visitors to UNE: Mr Tim Riley, author of the economics textbooks Year 11 Economics 2007 and Year 12 Economics 2007, and Mr Mohan Dhall, who has marked HSC Business Studies and Legal Studies papers and worked on the HSC Advice Line.

Mr Riley, the Director of the Economic Literacy Centre, said the day had been a valuable exercise not only in revising and reinforcing the curriculum content and discussing HSC examination skills, but also in strengthening the partnership between UNE and secondary schools.

Mr Dhall, who teaches at the Presbyterian Ladies’ College (PLC) in Sydney, dealt with the topics of financial planning and employment relations, and talked to the students about exam strategies. He said he had found the students “focused” and their teachers “appreciative”.

UNE academics who spoke to the students included Dr Tony Ramsay and Dr Peter McClenaghan from the School of Business, Economics and Public Policy, and Associate Professor Jurgen Brohmer, Associate Professor Russell Hogg, Associate Professor Brian Simpson, and Dr Eric Gosh from the School of Law.

The students themselves found the day useful for its range of fresh perspectives. “It’s good to get the opinions of people other than our teachers,” said Brock Lockwood from McCarthy Catholic College in Tamworth. Jessica Ward from Coffs Harbour Christian Community School said those new perspectives had contributed to “broadening our horizons”.

The organiser of the event – Judy McDonald, Project Manager for the Faculty of The Professions – said feedback about the day from both students and teachers had been “very positive”.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here expands to show (seated, from left) Alana Powell and Jessica Ward from Coffs Harbour Christian Community School and Myles Gunter and Brock Lockwood from McCarthy Catholic College, Tamworth, and (standing, from left) Judy McDonald, Tim Riley, and Mohan Dhall.

By carefully dissecting lambs’ brains, 130 students from rural and regional schools throughout northern NSW have gained some valuable insights into the function and essential maintenance of their own “grey matter”.

In the “Amazing Brain Workshop” at the University of New England on Saturday 21 June the students learnt to locate, identify and describe at least 10 parts of the brain. The workshop was one of a series of “TalentEd Enrichment Days” for gifted and talented students organised by the Learning and Teaching / Gifted and Talented Education team in UNE’s School of Education in collaboration with all school systems in the region.

Presented by the independent educational consultant John Joseph (known as “the brain man”), the full-day workshop engaged students between the ages of 6 and 16 from 31 schools – as well as 50 parents and teachers. Participants came from Scone, Coffs Harbour, Yetman, Inverell, Guyra, Glen Innes, Uralla, Tamworth, Walcha, Grafton, Warnervale, Newcastle, Waratah, and the Hunter Valley.

The organiser of the event, UNE’s Dr Susen Smith, said it had been “wonderful to see the parents being just as excited as the students”. As well as dissecting brains and modelling them from playdough, they discussed the function of the brain in learning, and the care of the brain through healthy patterns of eating, drinking, sleeping, studying, and recreation.

“Kids want to know about themselves – and their brains,” Mr Joseph said. “It’s critical that they know how to look after their brains and how to be efficient learners.”

He said the students’ initial reactions to the lambs’ brains ranged from a “Wow! factor” to a “Yuck! factor”, but that they were all excited by the fact that they could find and name 10 parts of “that piece of thinking, feeling meat”.

Mr Joseph has presented these workshops to more than 100,000 students in 16 countries. His visit to Armidale was made possible by funding for the TalentEd Enrichment Program from the National Centre of Science, ICT and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMMER), based at UNE.

“The ‘Amazing Brain Workshop’ helps students to understand the complex process of learning, and to increase their sense of control over their learning performance,” Dr Smith said.

She said a major benefit of this and other “enrichment days” at UNE was the opportunity for students to spend time with others who have similar interests. “UNE is a leader in the field of gifted and talented education,” she explained. “Our TalentEd Enrichment Program seeks to increase opportunities for gifted students (and their teachers and parents) in the New England, North Coast, Hunter Valley, and North West regions of NSW to access a variety of enrichment activities and/or professional learning in creativity, mathematics, science, and information and communication technology. Such opportunities can be scarce in rural and regional areas.

“Our unique model provides learning opportunities for students, teachers and parents together, and participants are encouraged to return to their own educational context and share their new-found strategies and skills.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here expands to show John Joseph (wearing a “brain cap”) and Dr Susen Smith talking to students about brain function with the help of a playdough model.

The University of New England’s Mary White College has already heard from about 250 of its alumni who are interested in attending the College’s 50^th Anniversary Celebration in October.

They include people from all around Australia – and even overseas.

The College extended its search for ‘lost’ alumni during reunion events in Canberra and Sydney at the end of last month.

“At those functions, we appealed for people to help us find our lost alumni,” said the College Principal, Mrs Barb Shaw. “It’s amazing how many people are starting to contact us as a result. We’ve not only received e-mails about lost alumni, but bookings for the anniversary celebration, and offers of photographs and yearbooks for display over the celebration weekend, 4-6 October.”

About 40 alumni attended the reunion event in Canberra, held at the Australian Institute of Sport, and about 50 attended the Sydney event at Macquarie University’s Dunmore Lang College. “They represented every decade since the College was established,” Mrs Shaw said, “from the ’50s right through to the current decade.”

Each of the events took the form of a cocktail party followed by an illustrated talk on the history of Mary White College comparing photographs from the ’70s and the present day. Jill Spilsbury (who was Principal of Mary White College from 1985 to 1998), accompanied Mrs Shaw on both evenings, along with College staff member Carolyn Coman-Jeffries and UNE’s Alumni Relations Officer, Jennifer Miller. The photograph displayed here, taken at the event in Sydney, shows Jill Spilsbury (right) with Dr Annette Salt (nee McPhillips), who was a resident of Mary White College in 1958.

The program for the 50^th Anniversary Celebration will begin on the evening of Saturday 4 October with a cocktail party at Saumarez Homestead, the birthplace of Frances Mary Fletcher White (Mary White). The White family was instrumental in the establishment of the New England University College (NEUC), the fledgling institution that developed into the University of New England, and Mary White was a member of the NEUC Advisory Council.

On Sunday 5 October there will be tours of Armidale, the University, and Mary White College itself, followed by afternoon tea in the gardens of “Trevenna”, the Vice-Chancellor’s residence, and a formal dinner in the evening.

“Mary White is the first of UNE’s current residential colleges to celebrate the 50-year milestone,” Mrs Shaw said. “Listening to the alumni at the recent events in Canberra and Sydney, it was obvious that they still feel a connection to the College after all those years. They made lifelong friendships here and, as it was the first experience of living away from home for many of them, they speak fondly of the College as the place where they learnt to be independent.

“The 50^th anniversary will be an opportunity to celebrate the many Mary White College traditions that continue today, such as the formal dinners and the Saumarez Gardening Day.”

For more information on the Mary White College 50^th Anniversary Celebration and a list of ‘lost’ alumni go to: http://alumni.une.edu.au/events/event_details.asp?id=9056.

More than 200 Year 12 students got a boost to their Higher School Certificate science studies this week in an encounter with cutting-edge laboratory techniques at the University of New England.

The students, from 16 secondary schools throughout northern NSW, were taking part in a UNE event designed to give HSC science students access to topics and laboratory equipment relevant to the syllabus but difficult to provide in schools. The two-day event this week (Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 June) was UNE’s ninth annual presentation of HSC Science Booster Activities.

The students, who came from schools as far away as Gunnedah, Coonabarabran, Bellingen and Toormina as well as from the New England region, engaged in practical activities in physics, chemistry, agriculture, biology and engineering.

They agreed that their introduction to research topics and equipment used by UNE scientists had been a valuable experience. “They have equipment here that we haven’t got at school,” said Emma Ritchie from O’Connor Catholic High School in Armidale, who is interested in the possibility of a scientific career. Jenn Pateman from the same school agreed, and added that the “different atmosphere” of the UNE laboratories had also stimulated new ideas. The image displayed here expands to include Emma Ritchie (left) and Jenn Pateman.

Associate Professor David Lamb, using equipment specially built at UNE for the purpose, demonstrated some of the more spectacular effects of passing an electric current through a gas, and went on to discuss the implications of such studies in understanding natural phenomena such as lightning. “If you understand the physics of lightning, you can understand the precautions you need to take against it,” he said.

Dr Lamb said the equipment used in the demonstration typified the contribution that UNE could make to students’ HSC studies. “As we’re strong on plasma physics at UNE,” he said, “we can give the students a demonstration – related to topics in the HSC syllabus – with complex apparatus such as this.”

The other activities covered subjects such as the use of spectrometry in chemistry, gas production in the gut of ruminant animals (agriculture), genetics and gene expression (biology), and variations in the velocity of water flowing in a channel over surfaces of varying roughness (engineering).

Associate Professor Robin Jessop – who, with his UNE colleague Daniel Alter, coordinated this year’s event – said the feedback from both students and teachers had been very positive. “The program is an initiative prompted by HSC teachers themselves,” Dr Jessop said, “and is designed to cover areas they find difficult because of lack of sophisticated equipment.”

A lecturer at the University of New England has won an international award for a report on research aimed at helping business people retain their customers after a service failure.

Dr Fredy Valenzuela, from UNE’s School of Business, Economics and Public Policy, focused on the banking industry and, specifically, the role of “barriers” that can prevent customers from switching from one bank to another.

Dr Valenzuela’s research has shown that “switching barriers” imposed by customers themselves (e.g. a feeling of loyalty to a bank that had hitherto served them well) are more beneficial to businesses than “switching barriers” imposed by businesses (e.g. the imposition by a bank of a complex and lengthy exit process). He refers to the former kind of barrier as a “positive barrier”, and the latter as a “negative barrier”.

Dr Valenzuela presented his paper, “The influence of switching barriers on service recovery evaluation in the retail banking industry”, at the 3^rd International Conference on Service Management, which was held last month at Pennsylvania State University in the United States. The paper, which won one of six Best Paper Awards at the conference, was based on research that gained Dr Valenzuela a PhD degree from UNE earlier this year.

In 2005 he won a Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Business and Information held that year in Hong Kong. That paper focused on “service recovery” by banks – i.e., restoring the confidence of customers after a service failure. In the paper he presented last month, he combined the concepts of “service recovery” and “switching barriers” to show that “positive barriers” to switching can improve a bank’s performance in service recovery.

“The best barrier is a positive one,” he said. “Banks can reduce the amount of switching by increasing the level of trust and interpersonal relationship between themselves and their customers. This is more effective than, for example, increasing the level of difficulty for customers to switch banks.”

He said such “trust” and “interpersonal relationship” enabled a bank to communicate more effectively with a customer in demonstrating that it had reversed the negative consequences of a service failure and improved the service. “Customers want to see banks not only reverse their mistakes, but improve their service so that the failure does not happen again,” he explained.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Dr Valenzuela with his Best Paper Award from the 3rd International Conference on Service Management.

Sixteen Japanese students have left Armidale after a five-month educational and cultural experience that is an integral part of their English language studies at Chubu University in Japan.

The students, all in the second year of degree programs with a major English-language component, arrived at the University of New England in February. They left at the end of last week, after completing a semester-long linguistics unit for UNE undergraduates and more than 300 hours of tuition at UNE’s English Language Centre. During their stay they engaged in Armidale family and community life as well as the life of the University.

This was the fourth group from Chubu University to undertake the program, which allows students majoring in English to fulfil their course requirement of spending one semester abroad in an English-speaking environment. The program forms part of a wider relationship between Chubu University and UNE that also includes exchange programs for both students and staff.

Associate Professor Katsuko Matsubara from Chubu University’s Department of English Language and Culture travelled to Armidale to attend a farewell function at UNE last Friday [13 June], escort the students on a four-day tour of Sydney, and then fly back with them to Japan.

Dr Matsubara said that this had been the first time many of the students had been away from their home environment but, although there had been some homesickness at first, they had all enjoyed their experience of UNE and Armidale. By forming strong supportive bonds within their group they had become “quite independent”, she said. “They really liked the environment here, and made an effort to talk to people and improve their English.”

One of the biggest challenges they faced was in joining UNE undergraduates for lectures and discussions in the linguistics unit – “Cross-cultural Communication Study” – taught by Professor Cliff Goddard. “They were very serious about it,” Dr Matsubara said, preparing for each class with the help of a support teacher and thus gaining valuable experience in an English-language academic environment. Chubu University places increasing emphasis on this part of the program, with the marks achieved in the UNE undergraduate unit going towards each student’s Chubu University degree.

The group leader, Asumi Tamashima (pictured here at right), said they had met students from many countries at the English Language Centre, and had made friends in the classroom, in the University’s residential colleges (where they had lived for much of the time), and in the families that had hosted them for three weeks of “homestay” experience. One of the “homestay” hosts, Jenny Murray, commented on the “generosity” and “often impeccable manners” of Japanese students, and their willingness to speak English in the family setting. “They’re quite family-oriented, which is something we can learn from,” Ms Murray said.

Mark Cooper, Deputy Director of Studies at the English Language Centre, said the group had benefited from a large increase in the overall number of students at the Centre this year, allowing them to be distributed across a range of classes that catered more precisely to each individual’s level of English skills.

“The students from Chubu University are very open to the opportunities here,” Mr Cooper said, “and very willing to participate fully in all aspects of their five-month program – including not only their cross-cultural studies and English language classes, but also sport, on- and off-campus social activities, and excursions organised through the Armidale International Association. This year’s group all succeeded in greatly improving their English skills because of their full participation. We look forward to these annual visits continuing far into the future.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Asumi Tamashima (group leader, right) with fellow Chubu University student Akiho Yamaguchi (left) and UNE student David Sim.

More than 90 people attended an inaugural Corporate Cocktail Evening at the University of New England hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.

The Corporate Cocktail Evening, supported and promoted by academics and careers advisers from the University, was designed to introduce students to the Chartered Accountants in their local area and to increase awareness of the Chartered Accountants Program.

Students of first, second, and third-year business/accounting subjects at UNE attended the event last month, along with UNE academics – including the University’s Professor of Accounting, Brian Gibson – and the local Chartered Accountants. Professor Gibson said it had been “a wonderful event” that had “helped to cement the relationship between the University and the accounting profession”.

Lisette Cochineas, NSW General Manager for the Institute, said the evening had been “a resounding success, and an excellent opportunity for students to network with local firms”.

The Institute’s Regional Chair for the North West region, Mark Smith, opened the evening, at which six regional Chartered Accounting firms were represented: Forsyths, Roberts & Morrow, Smith Sharpe & Abbott, Sutherland Reid & Farrar, WHK Camerons, and Boyce Chartered Accountants.

Regina Davidson, a Partner at Smith Sharpe & Abbott and a UNE graduate, spoke to the group about her career since leaving university, and the opportunities that being a Chartered Accountant had provided. The students were also addressed by a panel of young Chartered Accountants. Each panellist discussed the benefits of working for a regional accounting firm.

Members of UNE’s SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team helped with preparations for the event and, during the evening, gave a brief presentation on the role of SIFE (an international student leadership program) in the University.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia will continue to reinforce its commitment to regional members through a series of similar events in regional NSW.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here, taken at the Corporate Cocktail Evening, shows the President of SIFE UNE, Samantha Harris (right), with fellow student Melissa Whitehead. It expands to include another student, Juanita Lucas.

Dr Peter Hemphill, who died in 2006, is continuing to inspire members of the University of New England’s Earle Page College with his love of European culture.

Dr Hemphill, a dedicated scholar and law lecturer at UNE and a much-loved member of Earle Page College’s Senior Common Room for 26 years, left a bequest of nearly $700,000 to the College for the annual provision of travelling scholarships to current or former College members planning to study in Europe.

Applications for the first round of Dr Peter Hemphill Travelling Scholarships close on Tuesday 29 July.

David Ward, Master of Earle Page College, said Dr Hemphill had been “a Renaissance man” who was “a great inspiration to our students”.

“In providing for these scholarships in his will, he wanted to support the academic pursuits of College members beyond the walls of the University,” Mr Ward said. “His generosity will allow the recipients to engage with European cultures through their languages, art and history while pursuing a course of study in any field.”

Several of the scholarships, valued at up to $10,000 each, will be awarded twice a year to people who have applied for a course of study of at least three months’ duration at a university or other approved educational institution in a range of European countries. Those countries include the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Mr Ward said, however, that Dr Hemphill’s love of Italy and Italian culture was such that – all else being equal – preference could be given to applicants intending to study in Italy.

Recalling Dr Hemphill’s enthusiastic enjoyment of life, he added: “While studying in Europe, recipients will be encouraged to have a glass or two of red wine in some old town square – and visit some art galleries – in memory of Peter. He was such a character – and is greatly missed by the College. I still find myself listening for his distinctive laugh emanating from the Dining Hall at lunch times.”

For full details of the Dr Peter Hemphill Travelling Scholarship, and an application form, go to the Earle Page College Web site at: http://www.une.edu.au/campus/earle-page.

For photographs of – and tributes to – Dr Hemphill, go to: http://www.une.edu.au/law/peter_hemphill.html.