Archive for February, 2010

The University of New England and Penn State University (PSU) in the United States have announced an agreement to pursue joint research projects and research funding, and to explore the potential for shared courses and exchanges of staff and students.

PSU (pictured here) is one of the leading universities in the United States, and shares many research and teaching interests with UNE. In part, this is because of a shared history of working closely with rural communities.

The collaborative relationship, which has been developing for several years, entered a new phase this month with the visit to UNE of Ted Alter, Professor of Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics in PSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Professor Alter worked with teams across the University and around the Northern Tablelands to develop a detailed plan for realising the aspirations in a “letter of intent” that has been signed by both institutions.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Jim Barber, said that the University was committed to fostering its relationship with PSU – a relationship that enhanced UNE’s portfolio of national and international collaboration on issues of regional development, agricultural innovation, and environmental conservation.

Professor Alter spent three weeks at UNE, where he was based in the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law as a guest of the Centre’s Director, Professor Paul Martin, and his colleagues. He not only had detailed discussions with researchers and administrators throughout the University, but also gained an understanding of the environmental, industrial and social issues affecting New England communities.

During a seminar at UNE on the outcomes of his visit, he said that the similarities and differences between the two universities and their respective communities offered many opportunities for collaboration. “There are many complementarities between our two universities, and some exceptional mutually-beneficial opportunities for collaborative research initiatives on important disciplinary and public issues salient in Australia, the United States, and globally,” Professor Alter said. He went on to identify 10 specific areas in which fruitful collaboration could be possible.

Among several collaborative ventures already under way, he said, were joint involvement in research on international biofuels law and policy, development of new distance education technologies and methods, improved approaches to natural resource management, and improvements to the cost-effectiveness of rural environmental law.

Professor Martin, who has led the development of this relationship on behalf of UNE, said he believed the essence of the relationship was in building close personal links between committed researchers at UNE and PSU. “With Ted’s visit we have cemented a number of relationships that span many areas of interest to both universities,” he said. “We are now developing a plan that will see these converted into excellent scholarship and an even greater impact of the work of UNE in our region – and across Australia.”

“An important area of collaboration that spans the work of both institutions is the growing interest in ‘engaged scholarship’ – an emerging field of research and practice that aims to bring together the community service, research and teaching roles of academics to support the communities in which they work,” Professor Martin said. “Professor Alter suggested that a joint research centre concerned with innovation, adoption and engagement would be one way to give this shared interest a strong focus.”

Professor Martin said he was grateful to Professor Alter and his colleagues in PSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences for their commitment to creating this important relationship.

Clicking on the image displayed here reveals a photograph of Professor Ted Alter (left) and Professor Jim Barber signing the “letter of intent” marking the new phase of the collaborative relationship.

The University of New England’s Bachelor of Engineering Technology degree program, now in its third year, has exceeded even the most optimistic predictions in the number of students it has attracted.

With a current enrolment of 80, the program is already alleviating the shortage of engineers in the northern regions of NSW through the participation of local councils and consultancy firms sponsoring traineeships.

Anthony Rintala is now in the third year of a traineeship with Armidale Dumaresq Council, where he contributes to roadwork carried out by the Council’s Transport Department while studying part-time at UNE with the Council’s support. Anthony, who is the President of the newly-founded UNE Engineering Society, spoke from experience when he said that the UNE campus was “a lot more relaxed and friendly” than its city counterparts in Melbourne (his home town), and that he was glad he had “made the big move” to Armidale.

Sharn Woolnough, from Yamba, is also in the third year of a traineeship with Armidale Dumaresq Council. Sharn, who helps the Council’s Utilities Department with work on water and sewerage pipelines, agreed that the UNE environment was “welcoming” and the course itself first-rate. He said he’d like to remain in the region – working for local government – after graduation.

The Bachelor of Engineering Technology degree program comprises three years of full-time study or its part-time equivalent. “It’s geared towards engineering practice in regional Australia,” said Rex Glencross-Grant, one of the program’s conveners. “Our students range in age from school-leavers to people in their 50s. We’re appealing to people out there in the industry who want to upgrade their qualifications.”

Mr Glencross-Grant explained that the UNE course was conducted in partnership with the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), and allowed for articulation into the final year of USQ’s four-year professional engineering degree program. He added that he and his colleagues were planning to provide another option for Bachelor of Engineering Technology graduates – articulation into a UNE Master’s degree program.

UNE – in collaboration with the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), the Women in Engineering group within Engineers Australia, and local professional organisations and employers – is working to attract more women students into engineering. “We currently have six women enrolled in the degree program,” Mr Glencross-Grant said. “This is about 8 per cent of the total cohort, which is close to the national average for engineering. But we’re planning on boosting our female proportion to 20-25 per cent by 2012, with the aim of having the highest proportion of women in Australian engineering schools. Engineering is an excellent career choice for women.”

Ann Pitkeathly, RTA’s Principal Adviser on Workplace Diversity and Equity, visited the University last week to discuss strategies to attract senior high-school girls to the UNE program. “We want to make a joint approach to schools that raises the profile of engineering for students, parents, and careers advisers,” Ms Pitkeathly said.

She said that the RTA, which sponsors engineering scholarships at six NSW universities – including two at UNE this year – aimed to eventually award 30 per cent of its scholarships to women students.

Enya Clarke from Glen Innes, a first-year full-time student in the UNE program, said she had always been interested in engineering as a career, and urged women with an interest in engineering to “just go for it”. Clicking on the image displayed here reveals a photograph of Enya Clarke (right) with Dr Janelle Wilkes, a UNE lecturer in Environmental Engineering.

The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia and a renowned international lawyer, will speak at three public events when he visits Armidale on Thursday 18 March.

Justice Kirby (pictured here) is well known for his interest in human rights and international law, and in his Armidale talks – in town and at the University of New England – he will address human rights issues from Australasian and South-East Asian perspectives.

His talk at Armidale Bowling Club at 2.30 pm titled “Human rights in Australia. Lessons from Asia?” will focus on moves within ASEAN to establish human rights for the region that would leave Australia further behind in the express recognition of the human rights of its people. Entry to this talk – part of the Armidale Sanctuary Humanitarian Settlement’s human rights lecture series – will be by gold coin donation.

At 4 pm, Justice Kirby will take part in a symposium in UNE’s School of Law titled “Human rights conversations – new trends in human rights protection from a European and Australasian perspective”. He will be joined in the symposium by Professor Jürgen Bröhmer, Head of UNE’s School of Law, and Professor Bee Chen Goh from the Law School at Southern Cross University.

The interactive symposium will begin with presentations focusing on the protection of human rights from an Australasian perspective (Justice Kirby) and a European perspective (Professor Bröhmer), and on new trends in human rights protection (Professor Goh). These presentations will be followed by a discussion that will include the audience.

In the evening, Justice Kirby will be the special guest speaker at the Law Ball hosted by UNE’s Drummond and Smith Law Society. The Law Ball, from 7.15 pm in Armidale’s Ex-Services Memorial Club, will include a three-course meal and entertainment by the popular jazz band “Jazz Pump”. Tickets for this black-tie event are available now from the Ex-Services Club.

Everyone – from the University and from the wider community – is welcome to attend one or all of these events.

For more information, contact Julia Werren in UNE’s School of Law on 6773 2098.

QuickSmart, an intervention program that helps school students improve their basic skills in mathematics, has been named as a “key achievement” in the Prime Minister’s Closing the Gap report.

The report, published this month, includes the QuickSmart program in a list of eight “key achievements” that have contributed to improved levels of literacy and numeracy among Indigenous students. One of the stated national targets in Closing the Gap is to “halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievement for Indigenous children by 2018″.

Developed at the National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR), which is based at the University of New England, the QuickSmart program is currently operating in more than 200 schools around Australia – a number set to double by the end of this year.

“The QuickSmart program provides intensive focused instruction aimed at improving student fluency and facility with basic numeracy facts,” the Prime Minister’s report says. It includes a table listing QuickSmart participants’ improvements in both response time and accuracy when answering questions of basic arithmetic.

Many Indigenous students are among the thousands who have benefited from QuickSmart intervention – supported by funding from Commonwealth and State governments – over the past decade. “The parents of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory report that they’re really keen to go to school on QuickSmart days,” said Professor John Pegg, the Director of SiMERR and co-developer – with Associate Professor Lorraine Graham – of the QuickSmart program. “In one year, the Indigenous students are experiencing up to three or more years’ growth – the same rate of growth as non-Indigenous students.”

“QuickSmart has systematically addressed the learning needs of those middle-school students (aged 10-13) who often find themselves caught up in a cycle of continued failure in numeracy and/or literacy,” Dr Graham said. “It was heartening to see QuickSmart mentioned specifically as a ‘key achievement’ in the Closing the Gap report. We have been working with schools and QuickSmart since 2001.”

“QuickSmart builds the confidence of those students who need the most support,” said Professor Victor Minichiello, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of UNE’s Faculty of The Professions. “A major focus of the Commonwealth Government’s agenda is to increase the education opportunities for all Australians – particularly those who are disadvantaged. It has been particularly impressive to see the data that show students from rural schools and Indigenous students improving as a result of the QuickSmart program.”

The QuickSmart literacy program, which parallels the numeracy program, is in increasing demand from schools that have successfully implemented QuickSmart numeracy. During 2010, schools from Western Sydney, rural Victoria and the New England region will join schools in the Northern Territory already implementing this program.

Helena Pastor is an emerging writer already well on the way to fulfilling her ambition of “making a difference to people’s lives” with her work.

The quality and publishing potential of Helena’s work have so impressed the writing community that she has won, in recent years, several highly-sought-after accolades: an Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Mentorship, and three periods of residence at the Varuna Writers’ House in the Blue Mountains.

Her major project at the moment is a doctoral thesis in Creative Research Practice at the University of New England that includes a book-length piece of “creative non-fiction” writing, as well as a critical analysis (in 25,000-30,000 words) of the creative writing project and issues arising from it. She is in the fourth year of this project, and hopes to complete it by the end of 2010.

The subject of her thesis is a community-based program – Iron Man Welders – that is successfully redirecting the lives of teenage boys in Armidale who, for a variety of reasons, have difficulty staying at school. The project, led by the inspirational community worker Bernie Shakeshaft, provides the boys with an environment (the “shed”) in which they can develop both technical and entrepreneurial skills – and self-esteem – in making and marketing metalwork products.

Helena (pictured here) spent time at the shed every Sunday for more than a year. “I was continually surprised at how accepting they were of me,” she said. “They just carried on as if I wasn’t there.” Maintaining a “background presence”, she was able to observe the boys’ interactions and individual development as well as the progress of the Iron Man program itself. “It opened up a whole new world to me,” she said, “giving me an insider’s view of the lives of 16-20-year-olds.”

Then came the writing. “Developing my notes into a workable structure has been hard,” she said. “How much of myself to include in the narrative is still an issue. Then there are the ethical concerns – making sure the boys are comfortable with what I’m writing. So far they have been.”

A major aim of PhD projects such as Helena’s is publication of the creative writing section of the thesis in book form. Reflecting on her ambition to “make a difference”, she said: “I’d like people to have more understanding of what life is like for those who don’t fit in to the mainstream. I want to celebrate these boys’ successes, and to encourage people in other communities to think about starting similar programs.”

The strength of this project, and the quality of her essays and short stories published in literary magazines including Griffith REVIEW, Island, and Westerly, have enabled Helena to be accepted for three periods of residence at “Varuna” – the “writers’ retreat” in the Blue Mountains – to work on her Iron Man manuscript. (The third of these periods of residence – a “Varuna Publisher Fellowship” – is scheduled for August this year.) She describes the environment at “Varuna” as “heaven”: uninterrupted time to write, and opportunities to talk to other writers. “Peter Bishop, the Director of ‘Varuna’, has been very supportive of my project,” she said.

In May 2009 Helena heard that she had been awarded an ASA Mentorship. These mentorships, 20 of which are awarded each year, enable emerging writers to work with professionals in preparing a manuscript for publication. Helena was pleased to learn that her mentor was to be the leading editor Judith Lukin-Amundsen.

The manuscript they have been working on together is a story – with a theme of women’s choices in relation to childbirth – that Helena wrote for the Master of Philosophy (Creative Writing) degree she was awarded by the University of Queensland in 2006. “It was encouraging to know there were people out there who believed in the potential of my manuscript, and were prepared to offer me such a wonderful opportunity,” she said on hearing of her award.

With the support and advice of her mentor, progress on the manuscript has been good, and she’s hoping that – in the event of its publication – it, too, will “make a difference to people’s lives”.

The first stage in the current $5 million renovation of Mary White College at the University of New England has been completed, with students now occupying the 34 newly refurbished rooms of Block 2.

The improvements to each room include new cupboards, desks, king single beds, ergonomic office chairs and single couches, and pay TV access. All common areas in the block have also been refurbished.

“It’s exciting to see the students’ faces when they first see the refurbished rooms,” said the Director of the UNE Residential System, Barb Shaw. “Some of the students checking into the new rooms have commented that they feel as though they’re in a five-star resort.”

Disabled facilities have been improved, with an upgraded disabled bathroom, an ensuite disabled room, and a ramp leading into the building.

In the interests of energy and water conservation, windows have been double-glazed to maintain a cool temperature during summer and minimise heat loss in cold weather. The lighting comes on only when people are nearby, and all bathrooms contain water-saving shower heads and toilets.

Taking advantage of the latest technology, students are being issued with a single card that will be their student ID, library borrowing card, gate swipe and room key – all in one.

The refurbishment of another two residential blocks at the college, scheduled for completion in March and May this year, will mark the half-way point in the renovation work. At that point, 100 rooms and the common areas associated with them will have been refurbished.

“The works are part of a series of planned upgrades to the University of New England’s residential colleges,” Ms Shaw said. “We’re very happy to have the first round of refurbishments complete, marking the beginning of staged upgrades to other residential colleges.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here expands to show the Head of Mary White College, Dr Jack Hobbs (seated, centre), with students in one of the newly refurbished rooms. The students are (from left) Matt Grills, Adam Ennebt, Saania Dosanjh, Kayt Hogan, Allison Black, and Victoria Hardy.

A distinguished Professor of Ancient History from Germany is to give a public lecture at the University of New England titled “How the Romans recorded, remembered, thought about, and used their past”.

Andreas Mehl has been Professor of Ancient History at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg since 1992. In his lecture – at 5.30 pm on Friday 5 March – he will discuss the various ways in which the Romans kept their past alive.

“Historiography was only one of these,” Professor Mehl says. “It came late to the Romans, under Greek influence; but it became the most important way for the past to be remembered.”

An English edition of Professor Mehl’s book Roman Historiography was published in 2009. He has also published books on the Roman historian Tacitus’ portrayal of the Emperor Claudius, and on the Hellenistic empire of Seleukos Nikator.

His lecture, in the Earle Page College Gallery, will be the first for 2010 in UNE’s “Aspects of Antiquity” lecture series, now in its 17^th year. Everyone is welcome.

Dr Linda Turner is looking forward to her involvement in the expansion of the University of New England’s innovative Bachelor of Social Work degree program, now beginning its second year.

Dr Turner (pictured here), who arrived in Armidale from Canada last month, has joined the staff of UNE’s School of Health as Associate Professor of Social Work.

“I’m very excited about being part of UNE’s Social Work program,” she said, “and working with Dr Myfanwy Maple, its founder and coordinator. I’m looking forward to seeing the program build on its success of 2009 – its inaugural year.”

Dr Turner, who moved to UNE from her position as Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, worked for 20 years as a social work practitioner in Canada – “always,” she said, “in rural contexts”. “I’ll enjoy sharing some of that experience, and learning about some of the unique characteristics of communities in the New England region,” she said.

There are now more than 100 students in the UNE program which, with its unique focus on social work practice in rural and regional communities, is addressing the current shortage of social workers in such communities. “There appears to be growth and passion in the social work profession in general,” Dr Turner said, “and I’m looking forward to seeing students from UNE contributing to that.”

Dr Turner has a strong interest in the historical origins of social work, and intends to do some research on the pioneers of social work in New England. “I’ve just completed a project of this kind in New Brunswick,” she said.

She first visited Armidale last July, when she was a participant in the 2^nd Australasian Narrative Inquiry Conference, held at UNE. That experience, including the connections she made at UNE then, was one of the factors that influenced her decision to move here. Another was the reputation of Australian social work in general. “In Canada, Australian educators and practitioners of social work are highly regarded for innovation and for their commitment to social justice,” Dr Turner said. “That increased my desire to come here.”

UNE has become something of a family affair for her, as her daughter Genevieve, who accompanied her to Armidale, has embarked on a UNE Bachelor of Business degree course.

Despite the current serious decline in the proportion of senior high-school students taking science subjects, there has been no corresponding decline in students’ enjoyment of science, their appreciation of its importance to society, or their interest in science careers.

This is one of the most unexpected findings in a report, published this week, titled Choosing Science: Understanding the declines in senior high school science enrolments. The report is based on a major study, commissioned by the National Centre of Science, ICT and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR) at the University of England, that involved around 590 teachers and 3,800 students throughout the country.

Supported by the Australian Science Teachers Association, the study found that the steady proportional declines in physics, chemistry and biology enrolments over the past two decades were unlikely to be due to declining student interest in science. Rather, it concluded that the declines were part of a wider phenomenon that had seen similar falls in many established subjects – including economics, geography, history, and advanced mathematics. One of the factors most likely to be influencing this trend, the report concludes, is students’ responses to the increasing number of subject options available.

One of the authors of the report, Dr Terry Lyons, Associate Director of SiMERR, said that this increase in subject options had been accompanied by an increase in the availability of tertiary courses leading on from these “newer” school subjects. “Many universities have responded by broadening the scope of their courses,” Dr Lyons said. “At the same time, they have also diluted the strategic value of physics and chemistry as pre-requisites for many courses.”

Dr Lyons and the co-author of the report, Dr Frances Quinn, also found that many students could not picture themselves as scientists, and did not have much idea about the wide range of science careers available – a finding that Dr Lyons said had “all sorts of implications for educators”. In addressing this finding, the report recommends “that Federal, State and Territory education authorities, professional teacher associations and science organisations work together to develop adequately funded, sustainable and coordinated strategies to improve links between school science and scientists in university and industry settings”. “The strategies should have a particular focus on authentic, research-based science experiences both inside and outside the classroom,” it says, “and on creating greater awareness among Year 10 students of the variety and scope of science-related careers.”

Among its other recommendations, the report says that girls should be encouraged “to have greater confidence in their science learning and ability to achieve”, and that “education authorities and other stakeholders should initiate further research to investigate why students in rural schools have less positive attitudes to school science than their city peers”.

With the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) due to release its new draft science curriculum on the 22^nd of February, the study’s confirmation that school science has failed to engage a sufficiently wide range of students is of particular significance. The report recommends that, given the increased competition from other subjects, it is all the more important “that ACARA, Federal, State and Territory education authorities and other relevant stakeholders ensure the new National Science Curriculum reflects teachers’ and students’ recommendations for increasing enrolments by making school science learning experiences more interesting, practical and personally relevant”.

If you are going on a first date this Valentine’s Day, here are some danger signs to watch for, according to psychologists at the University of New England: your date gets cranky with the waiter; disagrees with your choice of wine; turns up late or doesn’t turn up at all.

A meta-analysis of more than a dozen studies involving some 3000 participants has shown that a person is much more likely to be dissatisfied with their relationship when their partner is neurotic, low in conscientiousness or disagreeable.

Neuroticism, defined as the frequent display of negative emotions, is by far the biggest predictor of unhappy relationships, according to Dr John Malouff, associate professor of psychology at the University of New England.

“If your partner frequently shows anger, anxiety or depression, you may not be very happy with them,” Dr Malouff said.

A small but significant correlation was also found between relationship dissatisfaction and partners who were low in conscientiousness and agreeableness.

“A lack of conscientiousness — doing what you’ve said you’ll do or are supposed to do — can lead to the other person in the relationship being unhappy. It’s like when you’ve promised to take out the trash or pick your partner up from work and you don’t do it. Relationships require a certain degree of interdependence. If one partner doesn’t seem to be keeping up their end of the bargain, that can lead to dissatisfaction.”

Malouff and his fellow researchers also found that people were slightly more likely to be happy in their relationship if their partners were extroverted.

“My guess is that extroverted people are simply more fun to be around,” Dr Malouff said.

So what can you do if your partner is an introverted grouch who never helps around the house?

“The best course may be to ask for a specific change in behaviour while for the most part accepting the person as he or she is. People can change their own fundamental personality, but it takes a lot of effort. It’s very difficult to force someone else to change their personality.”

The research has implications for partner selection and helping people to recognise the role negative emotions can play in relationship problems, Dr. Malouff said.

Media contacts: Dr John Malouff on (02) 6773 3776 or Leon Braun (UNE public relations) on 6773 3771.