Archive for November, 2009

A program of collaboration between the University of New England (UNE) and Harbin Engineering University (HEU) in China that has brought more than 100 students from Harbin to UNE since 2004 is to be expanded.

The Acting Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Graham Webb, who is in Harbin this week for discussions with the President of HEU, Professor Liu Zhigang, said the two universities would sign a new agreement to expand the level of collaboration and engagement over a wider range of projects.

Also involved in the discussions were the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of UNE’s Faculty of The Professions, Professor Victor Minichiello, and members of the senior executive staff of HEU including Vice President Professor Yu Yao and Professor Liu Ping, Dean of HEU’s College of International Cooperative Education.

“UNE has had a very productive relationship with HEU,” Professor Webb said. “Students complete a 2+2 program that involves two years of study in both Harbin and Armidale. Nearly 60 students from Harbin have graduated with either a Bachelor of Computer Science or a Bachelor of Financial Administration degree from UNE, and a small number of them have decided to continue their studies with UNE by completing a Master’s degree. There are 58 HEU students enrolled at UNE this year.”

Professor Webb said that this week’s discussions had explored how UNE students could spend time studying in Harbin. “We are looking at innovative ways to enrich the UNE learning experience and for our students to engage globally,” he said. “The discussions we have had in Harbin have identified a number of possible models through which we can achieve this important objective.

“Given the role China is playing in the world economy and its influence in world affairs, providing opportunities for our UNE students to come to HEU to study Chinese culture and learn a new language is an exciting possibility.”

Professor Liu Zhigang said that Harbin Engineering University (pictured here) held a unique position in China, with a strong commitment to the advancement of learning through higher education and research. The University has passed its half-century mark, and there are now more than 23,000 students studying at HEU, including more than 1,000 PhD candidates.

UNE’s 2009 Lucy Mentoring Program concluded last month with a celebratory event in the Chancellery at Booloominbah.  This  ceremony for the Lucy “class of 2009″ highlighted a diverse range of opportunities presented by this year’s mentors.

The “Lucy” program started in 2006 as an innovative mentoring program to inspire, motivate and educate women about the opportunities available for employment and leadership in major corporations and the public sector. Since it began,  more than 350 students have graduated from the program.

“Lucy” is a partnership between the NSW Office for Women, Women Chiefs of Enterprises International and the University of Sydney, Western Sydney, New South Wales, Newcastle, Wollongong and the University of New England.

At last month’s ceremony, each of the Lucy graduates reflected on their mentoring experiences as part of the Graduation proceedings.

A participant named Lucy, who was mentored through a local Law firm, said the program provided a link between the classroom theory and the reality of the workplace. She described her experience as “like getting a whole firm of mentors”.

Erin, another participant, said her mentor helped her to find direction with her studies and helped her to look past the obvious when seeking solutions.

Hang’s experience was about confidence building on a personal and professional level. Her mentorship in a large accountancy firm helped her make choices about her career path and gave her the confidence to try something new.

Professor Graham Webb, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England, acknowledged the generosity of the mentors, businesses and departments who made the experience such a fruitful one for the participating students.

Guest Speaker Elizabeth Egan encouraged the young women to continue to be open to mentoring opportunities and to seek out the people who inspire them.

No matter the style of mentoring adopted through the Lucy program, whether a weekly coffee meeting or daily participation in the workplace, each participant found the experience rewarding, inspirational and worthwhile.

The Lucy Mentoring Program runs from May to October each year for women students in their final year of their Law, Accounting , Finance, Business or Economics degree.  For further information about the 2010 Lucy Program please contact Airlie Bell or Julia Perryman at Careers Assist (67732897) or Lou Conway in the School of Business, Economics and Public Policy (67733919).

One hundred plant scientists from throughout Australia and abroad will meet at the University of New England at the beginning of December to discuss new botanical discoveries and their significance for human societies.

The 2009 conference of the Australian Systematic Botany Society (ASBS) will be held at UNE from the 1^st to the 3^rd of December. The overseas delegates will travel to Armidale from New Zealand, The Netherlands, the UK, and the United States.

The convener of the conference, UNE’s Associate Professor Jeremy Bruhl, said this year’s theme - “Systematic botany: from science to society” - acknowledged that the discovery and classification of plant species was the vital basis for all new applications of botanical knowledge.

“We’re at a particularly exciting time to be dealing with the fundamental questions ‘What are the species out there?’ and ‘What are their evolutionary relationships?’,” Dr Bruhl said. “There’s a convergence of new technologies for analysing plant samples and data with a greater awareness of how much more we need to know about the biological world in order to address the threats of weeds, habitat clearing, and climate change.”

“According to conservative estimates, 20 per cent of all Australia’s plant species are still unrecorded,” he said, “but that estimate jumps to about 75 per cent when looking at certain groups of plants.”

The conference will include an important workshop titled “National accreditation of providers of biological identification”. “This workshop is very timely,” Dr Bruhl said, “as some States are gearing up for accreditation of people who provide species identification and biological surveys. The workshop will include discussion of the role of vouchers, herbaria, and software and databases for identification and planning, and the need for adequate funding to support these systems.”

The workshop panel will include Dr David Coates (Leader of the Flora Conservation and Herbarium Program, WA Department of Environment and Conservation), Mr Greg Elks (Ecological Consultants’ Association of NSW), Dr Tim Entwisle (Executive Director of the Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney), Dr Klaus Koop (Director, Environment and Conservation Science, and Chief Scientist, Environment Protection Authority, NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water), and Mr Cameron Slayter (Director of the Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts).

Dr Bruhl is the Director of the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium at UNE, and the conference is being hosted by the Herbarium and the Botany discipline within UNE’s School of Environmental and Rural Science.

Dr Bruhl said that 17 universities and 15 herbaria would be represented at the conference, as well as other research institutions and botanical consulting companies. The keynote speaker will be Peter Stevens, Professor of Biology at the University of Missouri in St Louis, USA, and Curator of the Missouri Botanical Garden. “Professor Stevens will bring a clear understanding of what we need to do in matching newly-acquired molecular data on species relationships with morphological data acquired over hundreds of years,” Dr Bruhl said.

For more information on the ASBS 2009 Conference, go to: http://www.une.edu.au/herbarium/asbs/.

A report by researchers from the University of New England and other leading research organisations has revealed that invasive animal pests cost Australia more than $740 million a year.

The report, The economic impacts of vertebrate pests in Australia, provides estimates of the direct economic impact of invasive animals on agriculture in Australia ($620.8 million), and the nationwide expenditure by governments and landholders on pest management, administration and research ($122.7 million).

Associate Professor Jack Sinden, one of the two UNE-based researchers who collaborated on the project, said that the research had involved compiling estimates of the impact of foxes, rabbits, wild dogs and feral pigs on the beef, wool, sheep meat and grains industries. The figures also included estimates of the impact of introduced species of birds on horticulture, and mice on grains, he said.

Dr Sinden is an agricultural economist at UNE who specialises in the application of cost/benefit analyses to environmental issues. He was joined in the research by Dr Wendy Gong (also, at the time of the project, from UNE) and Dr Mike Braysher from the University of Canberra’s Institute for Applied Ecology. Dr Randall Jones from the NSW Department of Primary Industries was the team leader.

The report is published by the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (IA CRC). It was launched earlier this year at Parliament House, Canberra, by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon. Tony Burke MP. The full report, a summary brochure, and answers to frequently asked questions are available at: http://www.feral.org.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.ReferenceDetails&fer_reference_uuid=2D3EED0B-AA5B-102D-EC1C5110BA9F1B2F.

Dr Sinden pointed out that the information in the report could be used to raise general awareness of the problem, draw attention to specific issues, demonstrate the size of the problem, define broad problem areas, and formulate broad policies.

“The report underlines the cost of losses to specific agricultural industries and expenditures on invasive animal control, and provides a vital baseline to illustrate the damage caused by invasive animals,” said Professor Tony Peacock, Chief of the IA CRC. Professor Peacock added that the estimates presented in the report were conservative, as they did not consider the environmental or social costs of invasive animals.

THE IMAGE displayed here, taken from the cover of the report, expands to include (from left) Dr Randall Jones, Dr Wendy Gong, and Associate Professor Jack Sinden.

Dr Jan Holcomb has won a $20,000 award to help her solve an historical puzzle: What prompted people to risk their lives and fortunes in sailing to the small, remote penal settlement of New South Wales to set up businesses in Sydney before 1840?

The Premier of NSW, the Hon. Nathan Rees MP, presented Dr Holcomb with the award - a History Fellowship - during a presentation dinner in Sydney late last month for the winners of this year’s NSW Premier’s History Awards.

Dr Holcomb’s two-year project follows on from the research she did for a PhD degree awarded to her in April this year by the University of New England. Her doctoral thesis, Opportunities and Risks in the Development of the NSW Shipping Industry, 1820-1850, involved research on early Sydney merchants.

“My curiosity was aroused because it appeared that a lot of ship masters changed their focus to become merchants,” she said. “I’ll be addressing a few unanswered questions about why people would come all the way to Australia to set themselves up in what would seem to have been a very uncertain market.”

“They often brought merchandise with them,” she continued, “and this in itself was incredibly risky because there was no real currency here. A lot of businesses failed - some several times - and if you became insolvent or bankrupt you risked gaol and the loss of all your possessions barring the clothes you were wearing.

“I believe that this willingness to take risks is arguably as important a manifestation of the Australian character as is ‘larrikinism’.”

Jan Holcomb graduated from UNE in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts degree (majoring in history), and later in life gained several postgraduate qualifications including, in 1991, a UNE Master of Letters degree with a thesis - under the supervision of the late Professor Sinnappah Arasaratnam - on recent Indonesian military history.

“My interest in Australia’s early maritime and mercantile history began when, on retiring in 2002 after a long career with the NSW Department of Community Services, I began researching my family history,” she said. “Among my early Australian ancestors were several master mariners. A painstaking search through early newspapers and other archival records proved inspirational - raising questions and issues that deserved further exploration.”

And so began the research that resulted in her PhD degree, and now the History Fellowship that will enable her to complete her book Early Merchant Families of Sydney. “The book will relate the stories of the merchant pioneers - examining their motivation, family and business networks, sources of capital, business strategies, and fortunes and failures,” she said. “In forging early links with Asia, the Americas and the Pacific region, they helped shape the pace and direction of British imperial and colonial policies.”

In choosing Dr Holcomb as the recipient of the History Fellowship, the judges said they were impressed with “the ambition and depth of the proposed research, addressing the crucially important development of private economic activity and enterprise in colonial New South Wales” - a subject that was “largely unexamined in recent historical research into the early colonial period”.

Jan Holcomb lives in Manilla with her husband Paul Holcomb, who graduated from UNE last month with a Bachelor of Health, Ageing and Community Services degree.

Clicking on the IMAGE displayed here reveals a photograph of the Premier, Nathan Rees, congratulating Dr Holcomb on winning the 2009 NSW History Fellowship.

A public lecture in Armidale will help parents of young children make guilt-free choices when deciding whether or not to opt for child care.

“It’s not who cares for the child - it’s the quality of care,” said Professor Margaret Sims in summarising her approach to the current intense debate about parental and non-parental care.

“There’s such a focus in our society on parental care - and particularly maternal care - that parents who need to work often feel guilty about using child-care services,” she said. “And the more guilt they feel, the more difficult it is for them to do a good parenting job.

Margaret Sims (pictured here) is Professor of Early Childhood at the University of New England. “There’s a lot of research that is critical of child care,” she said, “and that adds to the guilty feelings of parents who need to work.

“There’s also a lot of research that highlights the benefits of exposing young children to a wide variety of learning experiences. But the choice between parental and non-parental care will not be an equal choice until parents’ feelings of guilt about child care are removed.”

Professor Sims’s lecture, titled “Who should care for our infants and toddlers? An examination of parental and non-parental care”, will be in Armidale Town Hall at 6.30 pm on Wednesday 18 November. This - her Inaugural Professorial Lecture - will be her introduction to the Armidale community as a leading UNE academic. Everyone is welcome to come to the free lecture, which will be followed by supper in the Town Hall foyer.

Professor Sims emphasised that her lecture would not be an “academic talk”, but would be aimed at helping the decision-making of people who have - or plan to have - small children. She said she would address questions such as: “What are the roles of parents and other carers in the lives of very young children in our modern world? Is maternal care the best for babies and toddlers? Are children disadvantaged by attending child care at an early age?”

Among other things, she will review research that helps to identify what very young children need from their parents and carers for healthy brain/behaviour development. Professor Sims is, herself, a leading researcher into the neurobiological effects of stress on young children.

“In a perfect world,” she said, “in which young children had the best possible opportunities for development, there would be adequate support for parents who want to stay at home, and high-quality child care for those who want to go to work.”

Fourteen students from the University of New England are about to embark on an adventure that will see them contributing to the education of children in India while preparing for their own careers as primary school teachers.

On Friday 13 November the students - eleven women and three men - are leaving for Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, where they will undertake a four-week professional experience placement at the Pailan World School before returning to Australia on Wednesday 16 December.

Yvonne Masters, the Director of Professional Experience in UNE’s Faculty of The Professions, said this was the first time that UNE students electing the “International Placement” unit as part of their teaching degree had gone to India. “Three members of the current group have never been out of NSW or on an aeroplane,” Mrs Masters said, “and only one of them has been to Kolkata before. But they’re all looking forward to the experience.”

This will be the first experience of India for Mrs Masters herself. She will accompany the students to the Pailan World School, where she will do some teaching in the junior secondary section of the school while her students teach - in pairs - in the primary section. “They’ll be teaching mainly literacy and numeracy, but also some geography, history and science,” she said, “and have been working in pairs as part of their preparation.”

“While some of the students think they might teach overseas in the future,” Mrs Masters said, “they all believe that this experience will help them in dealing with multiculturalism in the classroom.”

“We’ve been talking about cultural differences,” she added, “and they’re all very much aware of being ambassadors for Australia and UNE.”

As well as the daily teaching, the students and Mrs Masters will conduct a weekly workshop for the school’s teachers. And, on the 12^th of December, they will conduct a workshop for teachers from throughout Kolkata.

Kolkata World School is a residential/day-boarding school for primary and secondary students. The school’s Principal, Mr Ken Jarman, is an Australian, and it was he who invited the UNE students for their professional experience placement. “He’s hoping that they will help to invigorate teaching at the school,” Mrs Masters said.

Clicking on the image displayed here reveals a photograph of Yvonne Masters.

The UNE branch of United Campus Bookshops, in its new location at the centre of the University’s campus, aims to be the kind of shop that attracts and encourages browsers.

The bookshop moved last month from its previous location north of Lazenby Hall to premises that used to be occupied by Services UNE and TUNE! FM, and that open on to the Central Courtyard. Its manager, Mrs Chris Hietbrink, said that it was already attracting people who had never visited the bookshop before.

“It’s a much more visible space,” Mrs Hietbrink said. And it’s also a much bigger space, allowing room for a range of general (i.e., non-prescribed-text) books. These will include fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books.

“We’ve already had people coming in to buy Christmas presents,” Mrs Hietbrink said. “And we’ll soon have chairs for people to sit and ‘hide away’ while they browse.”

She emphasised that it was a bookshop for the whole community, that all UNE staff members were eligible for a 15 per cent discount, and that any book could be ordered.

“The increased area and more efficient design allow for greater flexibility and provide a more relaxed work environment,” Mrs Hietbrink said.

The Sales Director of United Campus Bookshops, Ms Jill Romuld, visited UNE at the end of October for a celebration of the UNE bookshop’s opening in its new location. “We’re delighted with the new, central location,” Ms Romuld said. “We’ve noticed an increase in the number of visitors to the shop already.”

“We’re expanding our range of discretionary titles,” she added, “and we’re keen for people to give us ideas by letting us know what they’d like - gardening books, for example. We didn’t have room for this at the previous location, but we do now.”

THE IMAGE displayed here expands to show Mrs Hietbrink with fourth-year Urban and Regional Planning student (and UCB bookshop employee) Rohan Johnston at the opening celebration.

The distinguished Armidale educator Dianne Roberts OAM will give this year’s Frank Archibald Memorial Lecture at the University of New England on Thursday 12 November.

Mrs Roberts (pictured here), who devoted almost 40 years of her life to the education of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children at Armidale’s Minimbah school, retired recently as Director of Minimbah Pre-School.

Mrs Roberts began her association with Minimbah as a volunteer mother in 1970, and served as cleaner, bus driver, education assistant and teacher, becoming Director of Minimbah Pre-School in 1987 and Principal of the Primary School in 1997. She holds a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from UNE.

Under her leadership Minimbah, which is known to mean “place of learning”, has truly lived up to its name. Minimbah offers a culturally supportive learning environment for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students, with a strong focus on Aboriginal culture.

In her lecture, titled “The challenge for educational research: educating for creativity and difference”, she will draw on the experience of Minimbah School in encouraging the richness of cultural diversity within the first years of early education. The free lecture this Thursday will be in the Oorala Aboriginal Centre, UNE, at 7.30 pm. Everyone is welcome.

Mrs Roberts was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in recognition of her dedication to Aboriginal children’s education. She has also received the NAIDOC Award for Education Initiatives, the NSW Children’s Services Award, and the Government of NSW Citizens Award. She has served on committees associated with the Department of Community Services, the State Education Policy Committee, and the State Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Early Childhood Advisory Group.

UNE established the Frank Archibald Memorial Lecture series to honour Frank Archibald, a revered member of the Armidale community, who died in 1975. He was renowned for his knowledge of - and interest in - all Aboriginal issues, particularly the education of his people. A descendant of the Archibald family, Mr Cyril Davis, will deliver the Welcome to Country and acknowledge other members of the Archibald family before Mrs Roberts’s lecture.

The University of New England launched a brand refresh today as it prepares to leverage its history and roots toward a stronger, more widely-known national brand.

The UNE brand, represented by a newly-designed logo and related facets of the University’s updated visual identity, expresses the unique place of UNE, its long-established reputation for excellence in teaching and research, and its students’ consistently high rates of satisfaction.

“Higher education is a competitive marketplace,” said UNE’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Webb, “and it is critical that we present our University - its strengths, ambitions, and unique style - to that marketplace in a contemporary and compelling manner.”

A two-year process of research and consultation culminated in today’s launch during a function at UNE’s “Booloominbah”. The research process had included consultation with hundreds of UNE stakeholders including UNE graduates, staff, students, and the wider community. The successful tender for the new brand design came from the specialist branding, design and advertising company Martins Integrated following this research and analysis.

The Chancellor of UNE, Richard Torbay, said that, strategically-speaking, the University needed to be on the front foot when positioning itself in the marketplace. He said the brand refresh was central to that strategy.

“The UNE brand is powerful, and represents more than 50 years of higher education,” he said, adding, “this brand refresh will ensure UNE continues to be powerful in the competitive market place.”

Today’s event, which saw out the old logo and saw in the new in dramatic fashion, reinforced the impact of the new, contemporary design. The Deputy Chancellor of UNE, Mr Scott Williams, speaking at the event, said that the refreshed branding would help UNE pursue its strategic vision of extending access to higher education, and that it was an expression of UNE’s unique identity.

UNE’s Chief Development Officer, Mr Chris Patton (pictured here), who managed the research, consultation and development processes, said:  “UNE has a very successful and proud history, and it’s time to refocus this historical success for a new period of serious growth and success.  From our inspired community base, we aim to be a true national brand. We’re also backing up this articulation of our brand ‘refresh’ with a major marketing and communications exercise starting this month to better project UNE into new markets in order to achieve significant growth.”