Archive for April, 2010

A highlight of this year’s New England Wool Expo (7-9 May) will be the Australian launch of the newly-published International Sheep and Wool Handbook, launched internationally at Rambouillet, France, earlier this week.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England, Professor Jim Barber, will launch the Handbook directly after the official opening of Wool Expo 2010 by the Armidale Dumaresq Mayor, Councillor Peter Ducat. The official opening will be in the Expo’s main auditorium at 12 noon on Saturday 8 May.

The internationally definitive Handbook is edited by the Chair of Sheep and Wool Science at UNE, David Cottle, who also edited its predecessor, the Australian Sheep and Wool Handbook, published in 1991.

“Many requests were received over the past 19 years to produce a new edition,” Professor Cottle says in his Preface to the new Handbook. “The book has been made more international than the earlier text,” he explains, referring to the addition of chapters on the sheep and wool industries of New Zealand, South America, South Africa, China and Europe.

The new Handbook, published by Nottingham University Press, expands and updates all the chapters of its predecessor, and adds 11 entirely new chapters – including chapters on meat processing and sustainable production. It discusses future developments, and covers the sheep meat aspects of the industry in greater depth than the earlier edition.

This week’s international launch of the Handbook by the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) was during the World Merino and IWTO Conference at Rambouillet (just outside Paris).

The President of the IWTO, Günther Beier, says in his Foreword to the new book: “It is with great pleasure that the IWTO, the international body representing the interests of the world’s wool-textile trade and industry, salutes David Cottle on this comprehensive coverage and most informative handbook on the sheep and wool industry.”

“This is something that we have not had in the past,” the IWTO President continues, “and we thank him and his colleagues most sincerely for the time and effort they have put into researching and documenting every facet of our industry.”

UNE is the centre for the delivery of teaching – and the conduct of research – on sheep and wool in the Australian university system.

For more information on the International Sheep and Wool Handbook, including an order form, e-mail Professor Cottle: david.cottle@une.edu.au).

THE IMAGE displayed here, taken from the cover of the Handbook, expands to show Professor David Cottle (left) and Professor Jim Barber preparing for the book launch.

Eighty-three-year-old Kathleen Feain, who graduated from the University of New England with a Master of History degree earlier this month, is now studying for her third UNE degree.

Mrs Feain’s graduation was particularly significant for the School of Humanities at UNE, as she is the first person to have been presented with the School’s recently-introduced Master of History degree at a UNE graduation ceremony.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from UNE, Mrs Feain (pictured here) enrolled in a Master of Arts program two years ago, but after discussions with her supervisor, Associate Professor Jennifer Clark, decided to switch to the new Master of History program after its introduction last year. Mrs Feain is now conducting research towards a Master of Arts with Honours degree.

Her special field of interest is American history, and her current research concerns the early history of the South Bay area (now known as Silicon Valley) south-east of San Francisco – going back to the time of the Ohlone Indians.

She will spend the first three weeks of May with her son Peter, who lives with his family at Santa Clara in Silicon Valley – a convenient base for research at Stanford, Santa Clara, and San Jose State Universities, as well as some major public libraries. “They’ve all been very good to me,” said Mrs Feain, who combines family and research interests when she visits California each year.

Mrs Feain lives with her husband Joseph in Pascoe Vale, Victoria. A piano teacher for more than 40 years before retiring two years ago in order to have more time for history, she has a keen interest in music history. “I’ve really never stopped studying,” she said.

She enrolled at UNE because of the availability of degree programs through distance education. “It’s been fascinating,” she said, adding that Dr Clark had been “a wonderful mentor”.

Her husband and one of her six children – Anne – accompanied her to the recent graduation ceremony on the lawns of “Booloominbah”, the magnificent nineteenth-century country residence at the heart of the University. “My family thinks the ceremonies at UNE are marvellous,” she said, “because all of their own graduation ceremonies have been indoors.”

UNE’s new Master of History degree program, which has 79 students currently enrolled, provides an opportunity for graduates to extend their skills in historical research and writing. It gives students the options of studying across a range of themes and periods, or concentrating on specific areas of interest, while developing a strong understanding of professional historical practice.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Kathleen Feain displayed here was taken at her graduation on the 9th of April 2010.

A three-day national conference in Narrabri last week highlighted the unprecedented changes that are facing rural communities in the upper Murray-Darling Basin.

More than 400 delegates from NSW, Queensland and Victoria attended the “Sustaining Rural Communities” conference, which addressed issues relevant to rural communities throughout Australia.

The University of New England’s Professor Paul Martin told the conference that the level of change necessary in the upper Murray-Darling Basin called for a “total community systems” approach to intervention rather than a piecemeal approach.

As an example of such an integrated approach to change, Professor Martin – who is the Director of the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law at UNE – talked about UNE’s Rural Resurgence Initiative. This initiative aims to provide rural communities with better access to information and, through that, to address a range of challenges including healthcare, schooling, and resource management. Emerging from this initiative, Professor Martin said, were new approaches to innovation adoption and the engagement of researchers with the community that had the potential to assist constructive change.

“UNE has research under way in relation to many of the issues involved that could be of real benefit,” he said. “The real challenge is finding effective ways to help communities engage with the University in order to use this knowledge.”

Professor Martin said that the major factors contributing to the necessity for change in the upper Murray-Darling Basin were the impact of the cotton and mining industries on communities, the reduced availability of water, and the loss of many farmers from the region as they reached retirement age.

“The response by delegates at the conference suggested that they were keen to find ways of dealing systematically with a period of change more rapid and far-reaching than anything they had experienced before,” he reported.

The conference was convened and sponsored by the Cotton Catchment Communities Cooperative Research Centre (Cotton CRC) and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, with additional sponsorship from (among others) UNE, AgriFood Skills Australia, and the Namoi Catchment Management Authority.

Speakers included Peter Shergold (Macquarie Group Foundation Professor at the Centre for Social Impact, University of NSW), Dr Linda Botterill (Director of the National Institute for Rural and Regional Australia at the Australian National University), Dr John Buchanan (Director of the Workplace Research Centre, University of Sydney), Joanne Grainger (Chair of Cotton Australia and Vice-President of the Queensland Farmers Federation), Danny Lester (CEO of Aboriginal Employment Strategy), Sylvia Admans (CEO of the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal), and Su McCluskey (CEO of the Council of the Rural Research and Development Corporation).

Kate Schwager, Community Officer for the Cotton CRC, said the “Sustaining Rural Communities” conference had been so successful that another one was planned for next year.

Ms Schwager said that reports (including audio recordings) of the proceedings of the conference were already becoming available on the Cotton CRC Web site: http://www.cottoncrc.org.au. People who would like to be involved in the active “Sustaining Rural Communities Network” that was established at the conference can contact her on (02) 6799 2477.

Clicking on the cotton-industry image displayed here reveals a photograph of Professor Paul Martin.

The University of New England has recognised and encouraged the remarkable gifts of two of its youngest students: Adam Walsh, aged 12, from Tara in southern Queensland, and Matthew Frazier, aged 16, from Uralla in northern NSW.

The University has presented the two boys, who both entered Bachelor of Science degree programs at UNE last year, with scholarships for 2010 worth $2,500 each.

“I seem to have been doing maths all my life,” said Adam Walsh after the presentation ceremony at UNE this week. “I just love it.” Adam’s father, Steve Walsh, confirmed that Adam’s mathematical journey had begun as a toddler, when he found a school arithmetic book in a box of junk bought at a fete and worked his way through it.

“When he had exhausted that book,” Mr Walsh said, “he would beg every morning to be taught something new. For five minutes after breakfast and before work, I would give him a new concept and some problems on his chalkboard. When I came in for lunch, he would proudly show me his answers and new problems he had made up for himself. One day I suddenly realised that, during the previous two months of five minutes’ light-hearted tuition a day, he had mastered fractions, decimals, percentages, and short division.”

By the time he was ready to start school at the age of six, Adam had taken his mastery of mathematics to university entrance level. “Adam used to do tap-dancing with a local group,” Mr Walsh said. “On picking him up from a rehearsal one day, I was met by the sight of Adam standing on a crate in front of a whiteboard, teaching about ten high-school girls how to solve simultaneous equations.”

Adam began mathematics studies at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) at the age of nine, and completed more than half of a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) degree course before program cuts at USQ resulted in his enrolling at UNE. “In the search for another university offering real mathematics by distance education, Adam found UNE,” Mr Walsh said.

Over the past few years, too, Adam has been attending his local State high school, where he took Year 11/12 English, History and Biology last term. He plays the piano and trumpet, swims, and does competitive pistol-shooting. His hobbies include astronomy and amateur radio. But among all his activities, Adam said, “maths is the prime interest”.

When asked about the future of his mathematical journey, he said: “I just want to keep building.”

Matthew Frazier was identified as gifted well before he started school. Now in Year 11, he has chosen subject acceleration rather than grade acceleration throughout his schooling at Uralla Central School. He completed his Higher School Certificate mathematics studies in Year 9, and at that time enrolled in a Bachelor of Science degree program at UNE majoring in mathematics and applied physics. He has achieved High Distinctions in all three of the units he has completed so far. He is studying Year 12 Physics at school this year, and is talented in his other school subjects. He is also an avid and successful sportsman.

“Matthew is self-driven,” said his father, Wayne Frazier. “We don’t have to tell him to do his assignments,” added his mother, Pam Hunter, “although it could be midnight when he does them. He fits it all around his sports.”

At the moment, Matthew (like Adam) is doing his university studies by distance education, working at home and in his many free periods at school. He’s hoping that, after he completes HSC Physics this year, he’ll be able to spend some of his free school time getting face-to-face tuition on the UNE campus.

“We’ve been fortunate in his school,” Matthew’s mother said. “They’ve kept him engaged, and have given him a lot of help through timetabling.” Matthew’s mentor from Uralla Central School, Glenn Pardy, accompanied him and his parents to the presentation ceremony.

In presenting the boys with their awards the Head of UNE’s School of Science and Technology, Professor Graham Leedham, said the scholarships recognised their “special gifts and extraordinary achievements at such a young age”. “The University congratulates you on your success and encourages you to continue,” he told the boys.

Mrs Norma Abey, UNE’s Relationship Manager, said that donors of scholarship funds to the University were always delighted to hear about the students benefiting from their generosity, and that these awards to such exceptional young scholars were a particular cause for celebration. Benefactors who would like to provide ongoing scholarship support for these and future gifted young students at UNE should contact Mrs Abey at norma.abey@une.edu.au.

The University of New England is encouraging students to use public transport by sponsoring a two-month trial of subsidised bus fares between the colleges and the academic campus.

Subsidised fares will apply to all 481, 482 and 485 buses in service between the colleges and the Academic Campus. From Tuesday, April 27 until Wednesday, June 30, a one-way trip between these locations will be free.

Additionally, a shuttle bus service will be implemented during this period to better accommodate student travel needs during peak demand periods.

Should the free service prove popular, the university will consider providing the subsidies year-round.

By encouraging more students to use public transport, the university hopes to help cut greenhouse emissions and ease the strain of parking on campus.

“I would strongly encourage all students making this trip to take advantage of the subsidised fares,” said Chris Patton, the university’s chief development officer.

“By leaving their car at their college, they can help contribute to a cleaner, greener campus and avoid the hassle of finding a parking spot at the same time as everyone else.”

Four first-year students at the University of New England are among the eight recipients of scholarships under the new national Investing in Youth Undergraduate Studentship Program.

The joint government/industry program provides financial and mentoring support to Australian students who are committed to contributing to Australia’s rural industries.

“UNE has a long tradition of educating rural-industry leaders,” said the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jim Barber. “The fact that four of the eight scholarship recipients from around the nation are studying at UNE testifies to the quality of students who continue to enrol in our rural science and agriculture programs.”

Professor Barber congratulated the four UNE recipients: Elizabeth Crerar from Pearcedale in Victoria (who is in the first year of UNE’s Bachelor of Livestock Science degree program), Tiffany Hunt from Coolatai, NSW (Bachelor of Rural Science), Sean Dickson from Langwarrin, Victoria (Bachelor of Rural Science), and Naomi Marks from Dorrigo, NSW (Bachelor of Agribusiness).

Investing in Youth is a collaborative program involving eight Research and Development Corporations. Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd is sponsoring Elizabeth Crerar, the Grains Research and Development Corporation is sponsoring Tiffany Hunt, the Australian Pork Corporation Ltd is sponsoring Sean Dickson, and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation is sponsoring Naomi Marks. The sponsors of the four other studentship recipients are the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), the Australian Egg Corporation Ltd, the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, and Horticulture Australia Ltd. RIRDC announced the names of the studentship recipients earlier this month.

Each recipient of a studentship receives financial support of $5,000 a year from their sponsoring organisation for the duration of their degree program. The sponsoring organisations also provide mentoring support for their students.

The primary interests of the four UNE students range from animal nutrition, breeding, genetics and diseases (Elizabeth Crerar) to integrated cropping and pasture systems (Tiffany Hunt), animal husbandry (Sean Dickson) and agricultural finance and marketing (Naomi Marks).

“I feel very fortunate to be a recipient of the studentship,” said Elizabeth Crerar. “It’s exciting to be involved in a program that aims to assist young people, like myself, to achieve their goal of pursuing a career in the primary industries. I think the Investing in Youth program is particularly appealing because it offers more than just financial support.”

“I look forward to working with my mentor and becoming more involved in the industry,” said Tiffany Hunt, who comes from a beef and cropping property. “I hope that my work placement gives me access to people and experiences within the industry that will supplement my studies at the University.”

Three women have been appointed to top executive positions at the University of New England.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jim Barber, has welcomed the appointments saying the three women had been recruited from a strong field of candidates and would make an outstanding contribution to the University’s Executive.

The appointments are:

• Professor Annabelle Duncan as UNE’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research.
• Ms Kim Cull as the University’s Chief Governance and Planning Officer.
• Professor Jennie Shaw as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Duncan (pictured above) comes to UNE from Melbourne, where she was Executive Director of the  Science Collaboration and Transition Centre of Agricultural Bioscience at La Trobe University. Professor Duncan was previously Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of  the Bio 21 Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Institute at the University of Melbourne.

“Professor Duncan’s research and industry experience will greatly assist UNE as we build on our research strengths into the future,” Professor Barber said.

Ms Cull joins UNE’s senior management with executive experience in public policy and the machinery of government, including senior executive positions in the Premier’s Department and more recently the Department of Planning.  Ms Cull is also a past president of the Law Society of NSW.

“Ms Cull brings considerable experience in law, government, public affairs and policy, and management to what will be a critical position for the University in the new Commonwealth Government policy environment,” Professor Barber said.

Professor Shaw, formerly Associate Dean and Head of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, is currently Head of UNE’s School of Arts. She is the founding Director of the “Arts New England” Centre for Research and Innovation in the Arts.

“Her record of achievement and her enthusiasm will be well known to the UNE community,” Professor Barber said. “I welcome her to the role and applaud her achievements while Head of the School of Arts.”

“These three appointments reflect a good balance of talent recruited from within and outside the University,” he said. “We are delighted they have joined the team, and their high calibre will add greatly to our executive strength.”

A public lecture at the University of New England next week will include a fresh examination of the story of the Trojan War based on the latest archaeological discoveries.

UNE’s Maurice Kelly Annual Lecture for 2010, titled “A tale of two cities: Troy and the Hittite capital Hattusa”, will be presented on Wednesday 28 April by one of the world’s most eminent authorities on the civilisations of the ancient Near East, Professor Trevor Bryce.

Trevor Bryce, who was Professor of Classics and Ancient History at UNE from 1984 to 1993, has published 12 books and about 100 book chapters and scholarly articles – primarily on the history and civilisations of the ancient Near East. These include The Kingdom of the Hittites (Oxford, 1998, 2005), Life and Society in the Hittite World (Oxford, 2002), The Trojans and their Neighbours (Routledge, 2005), and The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia (2009). The 944-page Handbook contains about 1,500 entries on the kingdoms, countries, cities and population groups of Anatolia, Cyprus, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, Iran and parts of central Asia – from the early Bronze Age to the end of the Persian Empire.

Trevor Bryce is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and an Emeritus Professor at UNE. He is currently an Honorary Research Consultant in the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland. He has been a consultant for – and has appeared in – a number of television documentaries on Troy and the Hittites.

His lecture on Wednesday 28 April, in Room 111 of UNE’s Education Building, will be at 5.30 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 5 pm). “In the lecture I’ll be looking at the development of Troy and the Hittite capital Hattusa, and the picture we can build up of their history and society through both archaeology and written sources,” he said. “I’ll be discussing the most recent excavations of the sites and the conclusions that we can draw from them. This will involve a new examination of the story of the Trojan War, and the ways in which tablets found in Hattusa’s archives have contributed to the debate about whether such a war took place.”

This year’s Maurice Kelly Lecture will be the 14^th in the annual series. The lecture, named in honour of Dr Maurice Kelly, is presented each year by the committee of UNE’s Museum of Antiquities. Dr Kelly, who has lived in Armidale since 1954, established the Museum – which houses a collection of national significance – in 1959.

The Anglican Bishop of Armidale, the Rt Rev. Dr Peter Brain, spoke to newly-qualified teachers during a University of New England graduation ceremony today, telling them that they were “embarking on a great and difficult task”.

Bishop Brain (pictured here) spoke of teaching as a “calling” – “a wonderful means of serving others and making a difference” – and of learning as “a God-given privilege”. “Good teachers are life-long learners,” he added.

He pointed out, however, that the teacher’s role was becoming an increasingly difficult one. Teachers were increasingly burdened by having to deal with family and community problems, he said. They faced “a systematic devaluation of the teacher’s role” in society, and they were under increasing pressure to motivate students whose sense of enjoyment in the simple things of life had been blunted by overexposure to stimulation such as that available through new communication media.

Another problem for teachers, he said, was the “deification” of children by “parents who can never let their children learn through failure”. “We’re becoming ‘childolaters’,” he said.

Bishop Brain was the Occasional Address speaker at today’s ceremony – the third of UNE’s four Autumn Graduation ceremonies for 2010 – for people graduating from award programs within the University’s School of Education.

He reminded the 267 graduands able to attend the ceremony that they would be role models for their students, and concluded: “I wish you well as you seek to serve the young people who will be entrusted to your care.” In all, more than 600 people are graduating from UNE’s School of Education this Autumn.

At tomorrow’s ceremony, for the School of Environmental and Rural Science, the School of Science and Technology, and the School of Health, the guest speaker will be Professor Wayne Hindmarsh, Dean Emeritus of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto in Canada.

By the end of tomorrow’s ceremony, more than 2,200 people will have graduated from UNE over the four days of Autumn Graduation, with almost 1,000 of those having been able to attend the ceremonies and receive their awards in person from the Chancellor, Dr Richard Torbay.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Bishop Peter Brain displayed here expands to include Professor Victor Minichiello, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of UNE’s Faculty of The Professions (left), and the Chancellor of UNE, Dr Richard Torbay.

Professor R.L. (Dick) Stanton AO FAA, who was Professor of Geology at the University of New England from 1975 to 1986, has been honoured by selection as an Inaugural Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Professor Stanton (pictured here) and six other distinguished scientists received this honour during a reception by the Governor-General, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, at Admiralty house, Sydney, on the 29^th of March. Ms Bryce, who is a Patron of the Society, told the Inaugural Fellows that their award was “due recognition” of their “extraordinary contribution to matters that are at the centre of our existence and wellbeing”.

The Royal Society of New South Wales has initiated this award to recognise the very highest level of scientific or technological achievement.

Ms Bryce outlined Professor Stanton’s major discoveries about the formation and structure of metallic ore deposits. “He recognised the role of volcanism and sedimentation in the formation of new ore deposits, and the physics and chemistry involved in the concentration of copper, zinc and lead in volcanic lavas,” she said. She added that this work was “documented in his numerous publications and books”, which include Ore Petrology (1972) and The Precursor Principle (1989). His book Ore Elements in Arc Lavas, published in 1994, represents the culmination of 40 years of research on the ore deposits resulting from volcanic activity along island arcs such as the Indonesian archipelago.

Professor Stanton recalls his student days at Sydney University’s New England University College in Armidale in the 1940s as “a wonderful experience”. After work as an exploration geologist for Broken Hill South, a Lecturer in Geology at the University of Sydney, and a postdoctorate fellow at Queen’s University in Canada, he returned to Armidale in 1959 after being invited to take up a position as Senior Lecturer in Economic Geology at the University – by then the autonomous University of New England.

“The 1960s and early 1970s was a great period in the history of UNE,” said Professor Stanton, remembering some of the outstanding scholars and scientists of the day – including Robin Stokes (chemistry), Neville Fletcher (physics), Gordon McClymont (rural science), John Dillon (agricultural economics) and John Bishop (Classics and ancient history). “I count myself fortunate to have been there then.” After retiring from his personal chair at UNE in 1986 he has maintained his connection with the University as Emeritus Professor. “I’m still very attached to the place,” he said.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Jim Barber, said the University was honoured by its association with Professor Stanton, and congratulated him on this most recent award. “Professor Stanton’s career exemplifies all that is best in the University’s legacy from the past and its aspirations for the future,” Professor Barber said.

Professor Stanton was a Royal Society Bursar at Imperial College London and the University of Durham in 1964, Hoffman Research Fellow at Harvard in 1966-67, and British Council Visitor in the Department of Geology, Oxford, in 1978-80.

He was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 1975, and was Vice-President of the Academy from 1989 to 1990. In 1996 he was honoured for his achievements by being named an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Professor Stanton’s many awards include a Fulbright Award (1966), the Olle Prize of the Royal Society of New South Wales (1956) and the Society’s Medal (1973), the Inaugural President’s Award of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (1974), the Goldfields Gold Medal of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, London (1976), the William Smith Medal of the Geological Society, London (1987), the Browne Medal of the Geological Society of Australia (1990), the Penrose Medal of the Society of Economic Geologists (1993), the Haddon Forrester King Medal of the Australian Academy of Sciences (1998), and the Clarke Medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales (1998).

He became an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (London) in 1984, and was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1991. In 1993 he was one of UNE’s Inaugural Distinguished Alumni.

At 84 years of age Professor Stanton is still as active as ever in research. “In fact, I’m now involved in the most complex piece of work I’ve ever undertaken,” he said. His current projects include collaborative work with one of his former UNE research students – Ross Large, now a Professor of Geology at the University of Tasmania – and with Professor Hugh O’Neill at the Australian National University’s Research School of Earth Sciences.

Still an active Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, “I certainly haven’t retired,” he said.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Professor Richard Stanton displayed here was taken during the reception at Admiralty House.