Welcome to New Staff Members in the School of Education

 

Academic Staff

Department of Curriculum

• Senior Lecturer – English, Languages and Literacies: Dr Nathan Lowien (commencing 29 January 2025)

Department of Leadership, Pedagogy, Diversity & Inclusive Education

• Associate Professor – Inclusive Education: Associate Professor Inga Brasche (commencing 10 February 2025)
• Lecturer – Contextual Education: Katy Walsh (commencing 11 February 2025)
• Lecturer – Leadership and Pedagogy: Katie Stanely (commencing 10 March 2025)

Department of Early Childhood Education

• Lecturer – Early Childhood Education: Dr YooMi Byun (commencing 19 February 2025)

 

Professional Staff

• Tara Kitchener: Team Leader, Office for Professional Learning
• Nick Allingham: Placement and Data Management Officer, Office for Professional Learning
• Vanita Boopalan: Placement and Data Management Administrative Assistant, Office for Professional Learning

 

Congratulations to our two new Heads of Department

• Dr Joshua Matthews: Department of Curriculum
• Dr Sally Larsen: Department of Early Childhood Education

 

Congratulations to the following who have taken on leadership roles in the school

• SEC Committee: Chair – Dr Cat Johnston; Deputy Chair – Dr Kristy O’Neill; Course Coordinators – Dr Nadya Rizk, Associate Professor Zuocheng Zhang, Associate Professor Helen Harper, Associate Professor Jo Bird, Dr Alicia Phillips, Dr Marg Rogers, Dr Fran Quinn
• GTP Coordinator: Ms Sarah Oluk
• LANTITE Coordinator: Dr Nathan Lowien
• Academic Integrity Assistants: Associate Professor Leonardo Veliz and Dr Angel Mok

 

Thank you to the following people for their leadership over the past few years

• Heads of Departments: Associate Professor Leonardo Veliz (Curriculum), Associate Professor Donna Hewitt (Early Childhood)
• SEC Committee: Chair – Dr Josh Matthews; Course Coordinators – Dr Casey Mainsbridge, Dr Genevieve Thraves, Dr Theodosia Prodromou, Dr Lynn Everett, Associate Professor Bing Ngu
• GTP Coordinator: Dr Sally Larsen
• LANTITE Coordinator: Mr Andrew Simpson

 

Congratulations to the following people (and their teams) who received Student Commendations for their Unit Coordination in T3 2024

• Ms Seonia Wark: EDME145-0 – Primary Mathematics 1: Numeracy (External)
• Dr Peter Fletcher: EDSE353 – STEM Education in the Middle Years (External)
• Dr Yoo Mi Byun: EDEC308 – Plurilingual Pedagogies and Dialogic Reading (External)
• Dr Lachlan Hart: EDIT426 – Introduction to Learning with Technology (External)
• Ms Jane Boyle: EDLT500 – Planning for Effective Learning (External)

 

Congratulations to the following in recognition of their expertise receiving Awards or on Expert Groups/Projects:

• Professor Caroline Cohrssen: Appointed to ACER Technical Experts Group for the Preschool Outcomes Measure
• Associate Professor Rachael Adlington and Dr Stoo Sepp: NSW Department of Education grant ($426,943) for research on best practices in screen use for education
• Commencing Student Success Program Team: Received an AAUT (Australian Awards for University Teaching) ‘2024 Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning’

 

Out and About in the School of Education

• December 2024 Graduation: Thank you to Associate Professor Anna du Plessis, Dr Sally Larsen, Dr Mutuota Kigotho, Dr Jo Bird, Dr Angel Mok, Associate Professor Mitch Parkes, Dr Gen Noone, and Professor Sue Gregory who attended the ceremony.
• AARE Conference (Macquarie University, December 2024): Attended by Ms Sarah Oluk, Professor Jennifer Charteris, Dr Adele Nye, Dr Sally Larsen, and Dr Casey Mainsbridge
• Skeptics in the Pub: Represented by Dr Sally Larsen and Emeritus Professor Brian Byrne
• International Women’s Day: Represented by Dr Somayeh Ba Akhlagh
• Tribal Warriors Harbour Cruise: Represented by Ms Sarah Oluk
• Agricultural Teachers Conference: Represented by Dr Fran Quinn, Mr Martin Levins, and Dr Barb Bannister (currently seconded to NESA)
• UNE O’Week Representation:
  • Taree O’Week: Associate Professor Adele Nye
  • Armidale O’Week: Dr Kristy O’Neill for engaging with the audience at the Commencement Ceremony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNE Student Teachers Society (UNESTS)

• Watch this space for various events/activities that the School of Education will support and attend (coming soon is a luncheon with our on campus and local area students)

 

School of Education Research Seminar 

• Somayeh Ba Akhlagh, Marianne Knaus, Nouf Mohammed Albadi: The impact of professional development on Early childhood teachers’ perceptions of gender equity in STEM Education: An Australian–Saudi joint initiative
• Brett Milliner: How many words must English learners know to comprehend family-genre film and television?
• Marg Rogers, Haoran Zhen, Einar Thorsteinsson: Creating, building, sustaining and maintaining national and international interdisciplinary research collaborations and partnerships
• Genevieve Thraves: A parent’s journey: One mother’s experience of Australia’s ‘inclusive’ education system

View School of Education Seminar presentations: UNE SoE Research Seminar

 

Other 

• ASCILITE: Free for all university staff. Join a SIG, access social media updates, newsletters, webinars, research schools, mentoring, grants, awards, bursaries, peer-assisted learning, and AJET. Complete this form to register.
  
• PPDR – Please start thinking about your 2025 goals and begin meeting with your Head of Department. Ensure you discuss Teaching, Research and Service/Leadership outlining SMART Goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound).