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Issue No 81 Gardens Point, Kelvin Grove, Kedron Park, Carseldine Campuses and Sunshine Coast Centre 3 March 1992

Resort dumps fear

Equity in parking is the watchword as Kelvin Grove campus catches up with Gardens Point where for years now parking spaces have been more scarce than square apples.

at work almost at the crack of dawn.

Competition for parking even on the streets around Kelvin Grove has led to many staff members arriving

Credit officer in the Student Administration De­partment Ms Vicki Laird has not yet reached the stage of taking her breakfast to work but thought it might be a good idea to get some practice, just in case.

Computer power needed More computer power is one an­

swer to problems in the QUT sys­tem which last month left some stu­dents without written confirmation of their enrolments.

Student services manager Mr Jon Stubbs said he knew some students still were hurting through their inabil­ity to claim Austudy and concessions without their video-imaged identifica­tion cards.

He acknowledged that the business faculty had been most affected and said

it could be some days yet before all students had their cards.

Mr Stubbs, on 25 February, said the computer problem had many facets to it and the history was a long and com­plex one which stemmed from the amalgamation of QUT and BCAE.

"We have been trying to bring to­gether different ways of operating and yet provide the same level of support without an enormous injection of new resources," he said.

The specific problem was that some

students received several enrolment statements and some received none.

Some students received. multiple enrolment confirmations, none of which were correct, others received multiples all of which were right, he said.

"This was the result of a minor pro­gramming problem but it was the end product of some of the enormous changes we have had to make in QUT

• Continued page 3

QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 864 2999

Expert calls for urgent action

'bY Kathy Lund

Queensland's tourist regions could become garbage heaps serving five­star glamour resorts unless urgent action is taken.

A planning expert has warned a trend already is developing where the resort is the front garden but the neigh­bourhood is used as a back yard.

Senior lecturer in QUT's planning and landscape architecture school Dr Catherin Bull has warned it will spell trouble for the state if glarnourous tour­ist enclaves develop in stark contrast to poorly planned provincial develop­ments existing mainly to service the resorts.

The problem has led to Whitsunday Shire asking Dr Bull and University of Queensland senior lecturer in geo­graphical sciences Mr Michael Fagence to find ways to combat the negative impact of tourism.

The initial study will be carried out by UQ graduates in tourism-related Dr Catherin Bull subjects who will investigate the wider issues of development. They will as­sess and define major problems.

Based on the assessment, two groups of QUT students from masters in urban design and the graduate di­ploma in landscape architecture will work on specific issues such as street­scape, main street improvements, re­organisation of waterfront access and scenic road development.

The project began after the shire asked tourism leader Sir Frank Moore to offer solutions to their growing con­cerns about being relegated to the "back yard". He suggested the com­munity should contribute to a project using the students to generate ideas.

An initial suggestion to donate prize money for a competition was the basis for an amount of $10 000 being raised to cover the students' expenses to carry out studies, write reports and prepare graphic displays for public comment.

"The Whitsundays' story is a clas­sic case of the urban development problems being forced on a basically rural community by rapid tourist de­velopment," said Dr Bull. "The shire is feeling the pinch economically but believes it js not benefiting from tour­ism development and is in danger of losing the beauty of the region ."

Dr Bull said the experience of the Whitsunday Shire pointed to a poten­tial cause of resentment and social problems in the state if it was not ad­dressed.

"We would have a string of abso­lutely spectacular resort enclaves, some foreign owned and occupied, strung along the coast, with everything in between where all the Australians live being second, if not third, rate," she said. "The shire just hasn't been able to cope with all the development impacts."

"I don't think the Queensland Gov­ernment understands this process of

change and what it can mean to com­munities socially and physically."

Resorts already established and un­der construction in the Whitsundays region include Club Med, Hayman Is­land, Hamilton Island and the Aqua Del Ray resort, Laguna Keys. Two or three other resorts are also due to open on the mainland in the near future.

Dr Bull said a number of factors made it an ideal time to carry out the project. A new shire structure was coming into being with the statewide reorganisation of boundaries. Whitsunday Shire, after the Cairns re­gion and the south east corner, now was regarded as the state's third major tourist zone. International flights had just started into the region.

"After we've finished we hope the community will be beqer educated and thus in a much better position to brief consultants and set a program for them­selves," said Dr Bull.

The project was about the most re­cent of a series QUT had done with a community.

Such projects worked well for all parties. The shires received expert ad­vice for minimal cost and students gained valuable "real-life" experience in relevant areas, she said.

Care needed in kids' sport

• page 5

Registered by Australia Post- Publication No. QBF 4778

Vice-chancellor's comment Commitment to quality essential Minister Baldwin is preparing a statement on higher education in March which no

doubt will revisit the issue of quality addressed in his November statement. QUT is in an interesting position. The formation through state legislation of a new

university from an institute of technology and a college of advanced education demonstrates government and community confidence in the institution's staff, re­sources and record of achievement. QUT has demonstrated that it can provide quality services in response to the cultural, social and economic needs of Queensland and Australia.

I believe that the additional capital and recurrent support provided by the Com­monwealth to our new university demonstrates federal government endorsement of the strategic direction and quality of service provided by the new QUT.

However, in this climate of continuing change it is essential that QUT publicly demonstrates its commitment to the enhancement of the quality of its services and the level of its qualifications. Qualit)l enhancement is not a new issue in universities. In fact, under QUT's Act the university has responsibility for the standards of the services it provides. This is an issue that we take very seriously, as did our predeces­sor institutions.

External academics and high level practitioners are important members of advi­sory committees that provide advice on standards to faculty boards. Academic Com­mittee, via its peer review system, maintains an active and effective oversight on

university accreditation. In the staff area we have a comprehensive system of staff development in order to enhance staff per­formance.

There are many other examples such as accreditation of QUT courses by over 60 professional bodies, the use of exter­nal examiners and assessors and the re­view of organisational units.

DELIVERY FROM Q C/f 1 'Lt. BRING THe REs-r

7ios ARvo '

I believe that as a first step in the de­bate on quality in Australian universities, we need to prepare a clear statement of the policies and procedures already in place in this university to ensure and en­hance quality. We have a good tale to tell. Professor Dennis Gibson

• See computer power story - page 1

Productivity slips as staff swelters

The policy of the education depart­ment and QUT in respect to air-condi­tioning offices has changed, as evi­denced by the fully air-conditioned In­formation Technology building.

However, most academic staff at QUT continue to languish in offices which are hot and humid in summer and freezing in winter. It is a fact rec­ognised by business worldwide that productivity dimini~he§_ rapidly as the temperature approaches 30 degrees Celsius and the humidity 80 percent. These conditions pertain in Brisbane between November and February, or for about one third of the year.

Without exception, the Brisbane business world has adopted air-condi-

Pro-vice-chancellor (research and advancement) Professor Millicent Poole has been appointed deputy chair of the Humanities and Social Sciences panel of the Australian Research Council (ARC). A social researcher herself, Professor Poole is also chair of the ARC Social Sci­ences panel. (ARC post for another QUT researcher, story page 4).

0 0 0 The head of the human resource

management and labour relations school Dr Doug Blackmur was elected president of the Association of Indus­trial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand at its convention on the Gold Coast in January.

0 0 0 New staff members still wander­

ing around QUT in a total state of confusion need only to get in touch with the Staff Development Section at Kelvin Grove campus to find en­lightenment.

The department has produced a booklet entitled Welcome To QUT: A Guide For Staff which has been designed to assist employees in be­coming familiar with the universi­ty's facilities, services and programs.

The booklet is available to new staff attending induction interviews during the first two weeks of their appointment. For information on where to obtain a copy, contact Ms Susie Hart in the Staff Development Section (ext 3123).

0 0 0

Letter tioning to achieve full staff capacity -but not QUT. What would it cost? About three percent of QUT staff have paid to air-condition their own offices with window or wall units at about $1000 each. Similar units for every academic office (about 1000 in the new QUT) would cost $1 million.

This one-off expenditure would re­sult in a large increase in academic staff productivity during that time of year critical to teaching development, research, consultancy and other areas

In brief Campus registrar at QUT's Sun­

shine Coast Centre Mr Col Wheeler has designed a 24-hour security sys­tem for the computer-based education facility.

Mr Wheeler has based his system on an encoded key which will be avail­able to students for a small deposit.

The door to the computer room will be left unlocked but outside access doors will be locked after hours. These doors can be opened only by using the encoded key.Mr Wheeler said he had designed the system so that each indi­vidual key could be identified. In the event of any theft or damage to the computer facilities, Mr Wheeler will be able to identify key users within the time cycle of the incident.

0 0 0

relevant to the wider goals of the new QUT.

The returns are quantifiable relative to accumulated business experience with increases in productivity to the order of 20 to 40 percent reported dur­ing summer periods. With the QUT salary bill (academic) of about $30 million per annum an increase in pro­ductivity of just five percent would return QUT $1.5 million per annum. Thus the payback period on the in­vestment is less than a year. This would be very attractive to any business. What about it QUT? Are we in the real world or not?

Ian Edmonds, Physics School.

A former QUT lecturer is success­fully publishing music teaching ma­terial she developed while working at Kelvin Grove.

Ms Sue Thompson was lecturing in the music department at BCAE when she first published Music Games in April 1989.

Since then she has developed fur­ther kits in the series plus a one­hour video showing her working with young student groups.

The series is designed to teach rhythm, pitch, aural training and theory in a fun way. Various home, studio and classroom kits are avail­able.

Readers interested in obtaining Music Games can contact Ms Thompson on (07) 378 2677.

Students and staff were saddened by the death of former QUT social science senior lecturer Mr George Schofield earlier this year.

Mr Schofield, 54, died in January after a long illness . Associate dean of arts, Associate Professor Gary Embelton, said Mr

Schofield had made a tremendous contribution to the academic and social life of the North Brisbane College of Advanced Education, Brisbane Col­lege of Advanced Education and later QUT.

Professor Em belton said hundreds of students had prized Mr Schofield's welfare course for the way it had prepared them for work in the field.

"The course had Mr Schofield's characteristic stamp on it of high aca­demic standards, intellectual demand and curiosity, as well as grassroots application," Professor Embelton said.

"His academic and personal integrity, as well as his delightful sense of humour, made working with him a great privilege."

Page 2 INSIDE OUT, 3 March 1992

'' tudent say - Xi: .~ .. ~

••• This issue of Inside QUT asked students if prostitution should be legal­

ised in Queensland.

SARAH WOODLAND, Bachelor of Arts - Drama:

"It should be legalised because it can be regulated as far as safety pre­cautions go.

"Women working in this area will be treated a lot better.

"If it wasn't a crime there wouldn't be so much undercover and criminal activity associated with prostitution."

ANDREA OFFICER, Bachelor of Arts • Dance:

"If it is legalised, the government can make it safer because prostitutes won't have to go underground.

"There would still be some safety risks but prostitutes will know they can get help without feeling tormented by police or some other authority ."

0 0 0

CONRAD JENSEN, Bachelor of Arts - Justice Studies:

"It should be legal. If it is control­Jed it will free up the police and they will be able to do more important du­ties.

"At the moment it is getting out of control.

"It is like casinos in Queensland -when they were legalised they could be controlled and there has been no problems smce."

BRENDAN GLANVILLE, Bach­elor of Arts - Drama:

"I can see the sense in legalising it due to medical reasons - controlling disease and rape.

"But with economic conditions as they are, if it is accepted as a job, more people may go into it.

"Prostitutes will always be ostra­cised even if it is legal. It will never be a respected occupation in the commu­nity. No one will have a BA in prosti­tution!"

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New papers failing as generations turn to TV

Mr Phil Baker: research grant. (Photo: Suzanne Burow)

A QUT technologist has won a $70 000 research grant from Comalco, the Queensland-based aluminium producer.

Mr Phil Baker, ofthe mechani­cal and manufacturing engineer­ing school, said the grant was to allow him to conduct research aimed at reducing aluminium lost through oxidation during molten metal transfer operations.

Mr Baker has more than 10 years' industrial experience in the alu­minium industry. He has spent much of this time in industrial research and development in Australia and the UK.

After presenting a paper on the topic at a Melbourne industry con­ference last year, Mr Baker negoti­ated the grant.

He also has secured a professional

services contract with the French aluminium company Pechiney for their NSW smelter at Tomago.

Mr Baker said he believed that while getting government research grants was vitally important, it would be QUT's ability to work closely with indus­try that would give it an advan­tage over the established univer­sities. ~~~~~~~~~

Computer power needed • From page 1

for 1992," Mr Stubbs explained. The problem became obvious on the

morning of 19 February and process­ing was immediately suspended. Two nights ' printing of enrolment state­ments was held over.

Student information manager Mr Kerry Kaminski said it was not true that students could not get an identifi­cation card without the written confir­mation of their enrolment.

"Advice was in the orientation guide for commencing students as to what they needed to prove their identity as a student.

"For all continuing students there was a one-page advice with their exam results materials telling them what was

required to collect an ID card," Mr Kaminski said.

"All these things were put in place. It was an enrolment statement , failing that, for a new student an offer letter and for a continuing student it was their re-enrolment or their old ID card."

Mr Stubbs said there were delays in producing some ID cards.

Basic information was needed by the system to provide an ID card. This included mode of study, either exter­nal , full-time or part-time.

"The university had made offers in some courses without specifying the mode of study.

"For the course most affected by delays in "receiving their ID cards, the enrolment was not completed un-

til the end of orientation because offers had not stipulated a mode of study.

Unless the mode of study was stipu­lated, the system could not produce an ID card.

Mr Kaminski said it was a very old system that QUT had been trying to replace since the early 80s.

Since amalgamation all major mile­stones had bee>1 met by the system project team.

"The university in its computing provision is still coming to terms with the multi-campus nature of a very large university.

"The computer networks and the computer power required to do the things that we need are still being put in place," he said .

The business failure of top metropolitan newspapers in both Australia and the United States is the result of generations of social change says Queensland University of Technology Associate Professor of Journalism Len Granato.

Electronic media was a factor but newspapers had worked against them­selves by making "stars" of television · newsreaders.

Professor Granato is associate course coordinator for the media and journalism school. His textbook Re­porting and Writing News recently has been published by Prentice Hall Aus­tralia.

He said he wrote it because the lack of a basic newswriting and reporting textbook had been a continuing major problem for tertiary educators in jour­nalism.

There was a need for a book that presented theory in conjunction with distinctively Australian practice.

In the preface to his book Professor Granato says: "Australian textbooks on newswriting and reporting are highly practical and tend not to pay much attention to theory.

"Textbooks about journalism writ­ten by non-journalistic Australian aca­demics tend to focus on ideology or text analysis and ignore empirically derived behavioural theory that im­pinges on reporting."

He wrote the book to tie together theory and practice in an Australian setting, he said. Reporting and Writ­ing News is available from all QUT book shops.

Another success for Professor Granato was the recent publication of his first volume as editor of the Aus­tralian Journalism Review (AJR).

The AJR is published by the Jour­nalism Education Association. Profes­sor Granato was elected editor in No­vember 1990.

"I want to try to bring out two is­sues a year, one at mid-year and the other at the end of the year," he said.

The closure of some newspapers meant the climate for the employment of journalism graduates was not good, but more than half of last year' s gradu­ating QUT journalism students had jobs.

"Times are going to be tough but I think that people graduating from highly respected programs will not be as affected as others," Professor Granato said.

The business failure of newspapers was due to a wide range of social fac­tors.

"Of course, television has had a tre­mendous impact, especially on after-

i

Professor Len Granato

noon dailies," he said. "Not only are people coming home

and watching television news bulle­tins at 6pm or even 5pm now, but big city traffic makes it hard to move an afternoon daily that has much late news around big cities.

"There is far more competition for leisure time and more people drive to work so they don't buy afternoon pa­pers to read on the train going home."

Television newscasts were essen­tially news encapsulated in an enter­tainment medium. Newspapers were news products with some entertain­ment encapsulated in a news format, he said.

"Perhaps the entertainment factor in newspapers is getting too large and it should be going the other way," Pro­fessor Granato said.

"You can do the measurements and discover that the entire package of a 30-minute television news bulletin will fi t on the front page of a newspaper. But newspapers made the mistake of making celebrities and stars out of tel­evision news performers."

It was the large newspapers that were having business problems. Pro­vincial and suburban newspapers were growing. Technological advances such as desktop publishing probably would see the emergence of neighbourhood newspapers, he said .

Reporting and Writing News is Pro­fessor Granato's second book on jour­nalism.

A year ago, through Deakin Uni­versity, he published Newspaper Fea­ture Writing .

Campus quickies QUT business dean Professor Bernie Wolff spent some time helping

his wife Barbara get the best deal on a new Subaru. The purchase was finally made the day before the PM's economic statement in which vehicle sales tax was reduced from 20 to 15 percent.

0 0 0 Registrar Mr Brian Waters needs no reminding that parking is an issue on

all campuses. He received a ticket for parking in the wrong area at Carseldine campus - visiting staff spots were full. The only person he could appeal to was the registrar so his travel companions offered to put up the $10 fme.

0 0 0 Staff and students are familiar with the term "lecture theatres" but

at Carseldine it takes on a whole new depth of meaning. At Carseldine campus the theatre actually is being used for lectures due to a tempo­rary shortage of teaching space. But this leads to every performance being a new version of musical chairs. For lectures the normal audience seating has to be replaced by chairs with writing tablet arms ••. the good news is the theatre is air-conditioned.

0 0 0 The well-known acronym DEET also stands for the chemical name of a

powerful insect repellent says mosquito-borne virus expert Dr John Aaskov . That is not to say DEET officers on their annual funding visits to universi­ties regard uni planners as blood suckers.

0 0 0 As was expected, the move into the new $24 million InfoTech/Elec­

tronicsEngineering building went fairly smoothly after a problem with the elevators was overcome. It seems that furniture could not be moved in the passenger lifts unless the lift was being driven by a licensed operator. Despite this regulation anyone can use the lifts as passengers, happily driving themselves without breaking the law.

Could it be that according to the people who design red tape, inani­mate objects are worth more than people?

Page 3 INSIDE QUT, 3 March 1992

Ms Marion Bateson and her award-winning poster. (Photo: Suzanne Burow)

Two QUT science faculty PhD students were rewarded with national recognition for their work at a conference in Sydney recently.

the Year award for her paper analysing a fungus which attacks banana crops.

School of Life Science students Ms Susie Sorensen and Ms Marion Bateson received awards at the annual Australian Plant Pathology Society conference late last year.

The award was presented by the Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and was open to any scientist in Australia under the age of 30. Judges from Yates seed company selected a presentation by Ms Bateson for the Best Poster award. Her project depicted a virus which infects cucumbers and melons in Queensland. Ms Sorensen received the coveted Young Scientist of

New computer system simplifies research data

A computer system developed during the past year will simplify the collation of data relating to all QUT research activity.

Located on the university's VAX mainframe, it is called the Research Information System (RIS).

Administrative officer in the Of­fice of Research Ms Nicky Milsom said RIS was a data base originally produced to help with the adminis­tration of research applications and grants within the office.

Once under development it be­came apparent that it was needed for QUT's wider reporting require­ments and management.

"We need it to collect some of the data for the Department of Employ­ment Education and Training (DEET) higher education research and finance statistics," she said.

"It was needed also to collect in­formation about publications and research interests."

The system contained data on sev­eral areas including research appli­cations and grants, publications data, research areas for staff and an area known as "unfunded research" which was a way of collecting some information for DEET statistics.

It also provided an ideal opportu­nity for the collection of informa­tion for QUT management purposes,

such as planning. Ms Milsom said there were two

main areas of data collection. One was within the Office of Research, which handled applications to all external and internal schemes such as QUT research and development. That data was collected and entered by the Office of Research.

"But there is some data we can­not collect without asking the aca­demics and that data is collected within the faculties and schools," she explained.

The system was networked throughout the university and the Office of Research had a direct link into the personneVpayroll system.

Accurate "All the details on academic and

other staff members we get directly from the personnel/payroll system, so they are accurate and up-to-date," Ms Milsom said.

The RIS had been developed by the Office of Research in conjunc­tion with staff from Management Information Systems. There also had been input from the Office of Plan­ning and Statistics.

Office of Research manager Dr Lyn Grigg said the RIS would avoid the huge paper survey that used to be conducted once each year to es­tablish the DEET statistical infor-

Page 4 INSIDE OUT, 3 March 1992

mation relating to research perform­ance.

"The data will automatically be entered as a matter of course throughout the year," she said.

"So by the time it becomes neces­sary to report to DEET all the data will be entered on the system, ex­cept for the unfunded projects, which admin officers and schools will be responsible for entering. Fac­ulties and schools will also be able to use the system's reporting facili­ties throughout the year."

Ms Milsom said several other uni­versities had expressed an interest in making use of the QUT system.

Dr Grigg said that she and Ms Milsom had been asked to present the system to a workshop next month. A number of other universi­ties also would present their data bases.

Based on workshops she already had attended, Ms Milsom said she believed the QUT's RIS was wider­based than the others available.

"Our system covers a wide vari­ety of research activities, not only in relation to the research monies com­ing in but also in relation to research output," she said.

Dr Grigg said RIS provided quick performance indicators on anything to do with research output.

Lecturer wins ARC position

QUT School of Mathematics Associate Professor Dr Helen MacGillivray has been appointed to the institutional grants committee (IGC) of the Australian Research Council.

The 10-member body reviews ap­plications for grants relating to spe­cial research centres, key centres, large equipment grants, and Mechanisms B and C. Mechanism B provides research infrastructure development grants for institutions, and components of insti­tutions, from the former non-univer­sity advanced education system- QUT for example. Mechanism C encour­ages institutions to develop coopera­tive arrangements for relatively large­scale initiatives in research infrastruc-ture. It is available to all universities. Professor Helen MacGillivray

The IGC allocates money to the universities under the small grants scheme of the ARC and to support the learned academies, such as the Acad­emy of Science.

This year it is responsible for more than $80 million in research funds and for considering future funding arrange­ments. Professor MacGillivray is the only Queensland member of the IGC. Fellow members have been selected from other universities, the Common­wealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Higher Edu­cation Council and industry.

Professor MacGillivray said al-

though she was not representing QUT her appointment would provide advan­tages for the university.

"Apart from knowing about the work going on here, having a staff member on the committee helps raise the profile of QUT," she said. "My membership will also contribute to the knowledge base within QUT about research policy and procedures."

Professor MacGillivray says she feels she can offer a perspective from both a newer university that has been involved in the amalgamation proc­ess, and from Queensland.

Girls encoura d

Funding of $11 500 from the Na­tional Agenda for Women Grants program will be used by senior mathematics lecturer Associate Pro­fessor Helen MacGillivray to help girls feel confident about mathemat­ics.

The program is run by the status of women office in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The grant will allow Professor MacGillivray to develop and run en­richment and discussion workshops in mathematics for girls from primary and secondary schools.

"The aim is to encourage girls' ap­preciation of, and confidence with, the role of mathematics in a wide range of disciplines," she said

"We want them to become aware of how the components fit into the overall system and what problem solv­ing using mathematics is all about."

The funding will allow high school mathematics teacher Ms Lori Jardine, of Maroochydore, to be seconded for about eight weeks. She will help de­velop material and conduct the work­shops.

Professor MacGillivray supervised Ms Jardine when she was the Raybould teaching fellow at the University of Queensland mathematics department in 1989.

The fellowship included a project studying the transition problems of moving from school to university.

Professor MacGillivray hopes to run up to I 0 workshops for four age groups over a four-to-five week period. The groups will be divided into grades six and seven, grade eight, grades nine and I 0 and grades I I and 12.

About 30 students will take part in each workshop. They will be chosen partly from schools expressing an in­terest in the project and part! y by the organisers.

"That way we can be sure we a get­ting a reasonable spread," explained Professor MacGillivray.

A number of the workshops would be held at the Gardens Point campus but other campuses such as Carse! dine may be used too. She said she regret­ted it would be possible only to in­volve schools from the state's south­east comer at this stage.

Professor MacGillivray said she felt all students needed to have their math­ematical horizons broadened but the workshops would focus on girls be­cause "it seems to be generally ac­cepted that they particularly need it".

"Certainly in the past there was a traditional idea that girls weren't good at maths," she said.

"But that certainly is changing. This is just part of helping the process."

Based on past experience in coun­selling students part of Professor MacGillivray's approach will be to "demystify" mathematics and put it into perspective. For example, it was not generally accepted that the proc­esses involved in language involve maths, she said. Maths developed as the essence of human logic and prob­lem solving just as language devel­oped for communication .

"There are a wide range of maths abilities," she explained.

"For instance, you have people who are algebraically inclined, rather than geometrically inclined, you have peo­ple who are spatially inclined rather than non-spatial. Because you're not good at one or the other does not mean you're not going to be good at maths.

"It's a matter of identifying your strengths and your abilities. We want students to be aware of their own ca­pabilities.

" But we are hoping that all students will be able to use the material we develop," she added.

Professor MacGillivray said she would like the workshops to result in some follow-up. At this stage how­ever the project was being viewed ba­sically as exploratory in the research context.

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Foundation professor and head of QUT's social science school Professor Gisela Kaplan says she would fight "tooth and nail" any attempts to dismantle Australia's national health system.

She researches the sociology of welfare and minority studies.

One of her most recent research projects was a $250 000 study ex­amining poverty in the Mississippi Delta region of the United States.

The project was carried out dur­ing a visiting professorship at Mem­phis State University. It studied Tunica County, the poorest county in the US, with a high population of black people.

The experience has given her a much clearer view of what welfare provisions and human services Aus­tralia should be working towards.

Professor Kaplan said a very no­ticeable aspect of poverty in gen­eral in the United States was its link to sickness. To become sick in America was a financial death sen­tence.

As the cost of health care en­croached further on the recession-

tto hit middle class it was becoming a major issue in the presidential elec­tion campaign.

Being sick in America actually caused poverty, she said.

"Health insurance is not a national system," she explained. "It depends on your personal ability to pay.

"You have to sell your house and spend all your savings before you can claim any assistance. So you are actu­ally forcing people into poverty be­fore assistance can be paid. Once it has caused poverty it results in a trap of such dimensions that it really takes a miracle to get anyone out of it."

Professor Kaplan says she believes the cost of medical care in the United States actually threatens the total well­being of the country.

"To put it in business terms, it is much better for people to remain ac­tive consumers within an economic system that relies on consumerism. You're much better freeing people to buy products than pills," she said .

"In the United States a lot of people can't even afford the pills."

Professor Kaplan said that Australia had so far got it right by making sure

ve

Professor Gisela Kaplan

that the general living standard was not associated with health standards.

The study also highlighted another key aspect of a social justice system, the living wage.

The American system was in stark contrast to Australia's which was based on a sophisticated formula worked out in the Henderson Report into poverty in 1970.

"In the United States there is no minimum wage calculated that is ac­tually a living wage because the basic minimum income is set in various states at $3.80 an hour," said Profes­sor Kaplan.

"Even if a person on a minimum income works 40 or 50 hours a week and is in full employment he or she is still in complete poverty . The average annual income in Mississippi is $5600."

Professor Kaplan is convinced that in view of other models- and the most vigorous model of the western indus­trialised society is the United States­some aspects of Australian society now under question actually are worth fighting for.

Currently, she is working on an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant application to look at the same issues in Australia. The emphasis will be on rural Australia particularly the effects of the recession.

Professor Kaplan has lectured at Monash University, Melbourne; Aus­tralian National University, Canberra; the University of New South Wales, and the University of New England,

in Armidale. Overseas, in addition to the United States, she has lec­tured in Canada and Germany.

She is a long-time supporter of the Australian Women's Refuge Movement and of migrant women. She is active in the Australian So­ciological Association and the Fed­eration of Australian Social Science Organisations.

A former joint editor of the Aus­tralian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, she has written a sev­eral books, worked as a senior re­search consultant to industry and is a regular speaker on ABC radio shows. Her latest book Contempo­rary Western European Feminism will be in bookshops next month. A formal launching will be held at QUT's Carseldine Campus in April.

Professor Kaplan said she wants QUT social science graduates to have knowledge relevant to the community, be progressive in their thinking and to understand where Australia stands in relation to the world. She plans to build a strong research profile in the school.

Need for cautio • n1n kids' sport

Children's sporting injuries could be significantly reduced if coaches, teachers and parents were more realistic about the physical capabilities of young people.

Senior lecturer in QUT's human movement studies school Dr Andrew Hills says children should not be con­sidered miniature adults in a physical sense.

Adult teachers and coaches should be careful not to adopt a "more is bet­ter" approach to children's sport and physical activity programs.

"It's very common for those inter­ested in a particular type of physical activity or specific sport to get caught on the high of attempting to improve their performance without always hav­ing the knowledge that makes the preparation for that activity safe and meaningful," he said.

"We must not fall into the trap of watering down our adult experiences and applying exactly the same princi­ple to our young charges. Their pro­gram should be one in which there 's a steady improvement within their fit­ness and skill level."

The book is for use by undergradu­ates in huma!l movement studies. It has wider application to health pro­fessionals, teachers and anyone deal­ing with growing children. It has been adopted as a text by the University of Western Australia.

Dr Hills said he wrote the book be­cause there was very little specific in­formation in one source about the physical growth and development of children and adolescents.

Consequently there was a general lack of understanding about a range of factors relating to children's physical characteristics and the results of their involvement in physical activity.

"Some of the problems such as inju­ries that happen through the increased participation of children and adolescents in sport and physical activity could be reduced if supervising adults had better knowledge of physical growth and de­velopment stages," he said.

"They would be in a better position to prescribe exercise appropriate to a child 's age and stage of development, and the needs of an individual child at a particular age."

Dr Andrew Hills: care needed in children's sport. (Photo: Suzanne Burow)

QUT's Office of Commercial Serv­ices has just published a textbook by Dr Hills titled Physical Growth and Development of Children and Adoles­cents which charts in detail the physi­cal growth stages of the young. He also is negotiating with an external pub­lisher.

Dr Hills agreed this lack of under­standing could lead to some ambitious parents having unrealistic expectations of their children's abilities.

Luncheon for Women's Day The Union of Australian College

Academics (UACA) will be hosting a luncheon in recognition of Interna­tional Women's Day at Parliament House on Friday, 6 March.

Guest speakers will include QUT pro-vice-chancellor Professor Millicent Poole and Queensland Education Min­ister Mr Paul Braddy.

Cost will be $20 for UACA mem­bers and $30 for non-members, all in­clusive.

For bookings, telephone Ms Donna Mogg on 397 9677.

Employee relations study The way in which small business handles its employee

relations will be the subject of a research project by QUT business faculty senior lecturer Mr Paul Sutcliffe.

The research will be carried out under a $10 000 Federal Bureau of Industry Economics grant, won with the assistance of Sydney University's Centre for Indus­trial Relations Research and Teaching. Dr Jim Kitay from the centre will work with Mr Sutcliffe on the project.

Mr Sutcliffe said he and Dr Kitay previously had worked together drawing up a questionnaire used for the Federal Government's Australian workplace in· dustrial relations survey into policy for small business. The answers to that questionnaire would provide a ba­sis for the current project, due for completion in April next year.

The project would involve the Key Centre for Strate­gic Management which has a small business unit.

Mr Sutcliffe said there appeared to be two prevailing views - small business exploited its workers, or small business employers were the salt of the earth.

"Our data, as expected, reaffirmed both views," said Mr Sutcliffe.

"We now plan to look at the implications of that information."

The outcome of the research will provide a basis for the formulation of government policy that is relevant to the small business situation so that such policy can be properly administered.

Mr Sutcliffe has also applied for a State Small Busi· ness Development Grant to provide further funding for the project.

There also was a danger of inappro­priate exercise such as the use of weight training at too young an age.

A major benefit of better knowledge would be a more appropriate prescrip­tion of exercise including an under­standing of the benefits of physical ac­tivity.

"An overriding issue is that physi­cal activity is essential for the normal physical growth and development of young people." he said.

"It offers often-forgotten benefits to the skeleton, body composition, that is the balance between fat and muscle, and improvement in cardio-vascular function.

"In addition, improvements to body image lift self-esteem and provide a range of psycho-social benefits."

Page 5 INSIDE OUT, 3 March 1992

........

QUT deputy vice chancellor Pro­fessor Tom Dixon participated in Toowoomba last month in a confer­ence designed to help universities plan quality management strategies.

Held at the University of Southern Queensland, the conference brought · together university administrators from across Australia to discuss how quality management procedures could best be applied to higher education.

The issue of quality management in universities was first brought to na­tional attention by the 1986 Common­wealth Tertiary Education Commis­sion (CTEC) report.

It recommended that higher educa­tion institutions provide regular re­ports to the CTEC on their procedures used to evaluate academic perform­ance, so that the commission could assess each institution in this area.

Last year a report by Federal higher education minister Mr Peter Baldwin called for every university to answer public demand for accountability by creating its own quality management program "appropriate to Australia".

As a result of this report, various organisations have planned confer­ences on quality management in uni­versities, with the Toowoomba semi­nar the first of several scheduled for 1992.

Professor Dixon said the challenge for universities was to apply quality management initiatives to essential university activities based on learn­ing, research and administration.

"Those activities are the heart of a university," Professor Dixon said.

"If the students don't learn, the staff don't undertake research and that re­search doesn't have beneficial out­comes in society, then you don't have much of a university.

"What quality management prac­tices provide is a way of managing those essential activities so that the university functions more efficiently."

Professor Tom Dixon

Professor Dixon said the purpose of quality management was not to monitor the quality of students and staff.

"There will be inbuilt systems of monitoring, but the aim of this moni­toring is to feed back into the process the way we do things, to identify prob­lems and allow people to find solu­tions," he said.

"The monitoring information should go back to work teams of teach­ers and work teams of administrators, to allow those teams to more effec­tively do their jobs.

"It's not monitoring in the sense of finding out what people are doing wrong and then using that as a big stick to beat them with. If we took that approach, it would be the com­plete antithesis of quality manage­ment."

The question for QUT and other Australian universities to answer was whether they should adopt total qual­ity management systems, where the expectations of the universities' "cus­tomers" were always met and failure was not accepted as an inevitable part of the university process.

These customers of universities in­cluded governments, employers, re­search communities and, of course, students, Professor Dixon said.

Funding During the next six months QUT

would be addressing the issue of total quality management and formulating its own program in that area.

The Federal Government planned to make $70 million available each year to be distributed among univer­sities from 1994, depending on the efficacy of the institutions ' quality management programs.

"If QUT received just its average share of funding, we would be look­ing at about $3 million," Professor Dixon said.

"But if we came up with an effec­tive quality management program, we would be looking at something like $4-5 million."

The issue of quality management was not entirely new to universities in general and QUT in particular.

"A lot of the ideas and methods in quality management have been around for a long time," Professor Dixon said.

"But what a total quality manage­ment approach would mean is that we would start using those methods more systematically and more fully.

"By introducing a program of qual­ity management we can further en­hance the reputation of QUT with our customers. They can be assured that when they employ a QUT graduate, they will be getting a top quality prod­uct.

"We just have to ensure we don't lose sight of the essential objectives of the university - learning and re­search."

$4m committed -to teaching program

QUT has committed $4 million over the next five years to a program to improve the quality of its teaching.

The program has been launched with the release of a document called Qual­ity Teaching in Universities which has been produced under the supervision of pro-vice-chancellor (academic) Pro­fessor Janice Reid.

Describing the program as a "teach­ing and learning development strategy" Professor Reid said it had been one of the biggest issues for the academic area of QUT during 1991.

It addressed one of the goals for the university stated by the vice-chancel­lor Professor Dennis Gibson and ap­proved by QUT's Council, that of be­coming the best teaching institution in Australia.

Professor Reid said it also grew out of Department of Employment Educa­tion and Training's (DEET) priorities.

"DEET have flagged learning and teaching quality as a major issue for the 90s," she explained.

"We perceived that it was timely for us to put down on paper what we al­ready were doing and to establish the sort of principles and values that lie behind teaching at QUT and the strate­gies that will enable us to enhance our courses."

QUT was committed to providing $4 million over five years to fund a range of areas including teaching in­frastructure, the programs of the Aca­demic Staff Development Unit (ASDU) and a teaching and learning fund for the use of schools, faculties and sup­port areas wishing to develop teaching programs and self-directed learning, Professor Reid said.

The document was prepared and ap­proved by a working party of the aca­demic committee for circulation and

distribution. Among the major authors were ASDU director Associate Profes­sor Philip Candy and the associate pro­vice-chancellor (academic) Professor Ron Gardiner.

Over the past two or three decades in Australian universities the issue of qual­ity of teaching had been partly eclipsed because of the focus on research.

The movement towards improving the quality of teaching in universities had been a response to the growth and diversity of student intakes, their ex­pectations and the dramatic changes to higher education in Australia.

"It was intentional in QU";l because of the vice-chancellor's stated goals but I think that it's also partly a response to former colleges of advanced education and institutes of technology becoming universities and the realisation that many of the staff of those institutions saw themselves primarily as tertiary teachers," Professor Reid said.

"They had a great deal of expertise in that area that was not being recog­nised nor necessarily built upon."

She said she thought an acceptance had developed that there needed to be a balance between research and teach­ing. Research management strategies had become fairly commonplace by 1991 in universities around Australia.

It was felt that it would be timely to introduce a teaching management strat­egy.

"We believed, however, that were­ally needed a position statement on QUT's values and intentions in the area of teaching and learning prior to devel­oping the teaching management strat­egy which follows from this document," Professor Reid said.

:oJn~s_na.tional steel design award

Through its engineering school, QUT has joined the Australian Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) national steel design award for engineering students.

This prestigious award acknowledges excellence in steel-related subjects of third-year engineering students.

Each of the 23 universities involved Australia-wide awards a $200 prize to its top third-year student in steel-related subjects. These 23 students become eligible in their fourth (and final) year to compete for a graduate award, which otTers an overseas trip for work experience.

The inaugural third-year awards were made at the end of the 1991 aca­demic year. The universities each select their own third-year winner. Fourth­year students will be assessed by the AISC education committee.

AISC chief executive Mr Ian Hooper said the awards extend AISC's already pivotal education role.

"AISC technical staff provide lectures on practical construction issues to engineering. architectural and building students.

"AISC provides its special category of students members with a range of valuable resource material and AISC provides academics with crucial tech­nical teaching resources.

"AISC contributes significantly• to the education of future building and construction professionals and sees the awards as a means of acknowledging the high level of talent among students," Mr Hooper said.

New contact lenses gain in popularity

The use of contact lenses has plateaued in recent years but current optometry research is set to give them a popularity boost predicts the new head of QUT's optometry school Profes­sor Leo Carney.

The last major advance in con­tact lenses was the development of extended-wear type.

"While those lenses work well for some patients they present dif­ficulties for others," Professor Carney said. "A lot of research is addressing that central problem. An important aspect is to ensure that the best possible vision can be achieved."

The significant improvements in current development are the result of emphasis is on the surface de­sign oflenses. This will affect both the optics and increased wearer comfort of lenses.

The physiological response of the eye to contact lens wear was

· the subject of Professor Carney's doctoral thesis. It also has been his primary research interest. More

· recently his research has focused on the eye as an optical system and how that relates to lenses and other forms of correction.

Professor Carney previously was professor and associate dean of optometry at Ohio State Uni­versity in the United States. He

... took up the appointment follow­'i ing eight years with the school of

optometry at Melbourne Univer­sity.

"Research into the eye as an op­tical system is playing a big part in how contact lenses are being fashioned," he said. "There are many instances where contact lenses should be the corrective sys­tem of choice, but in other instances it gets down to personal preference.

: Revolution in education practice Associate Professor Philip Candy

believes significant changes are needed to university teaching prac­tices and he hopes to set the wheels in motion.

Professor Candy, the director of QUT's Academic Staff Development Unit, says the traditional approach to education - based on the idea that pro­fessional practice consists of the appli­cation of established practices to solv­ing predictable problems - has to be readdressed.

"The old approach says that practice in any field is simply a matter of apply­ing rules and doing things in a predict­able, routine sequence," Professor Candy says.

"But that's hardly true in any pro­fession. Most professions are charac-

terised by uncertainty and novelty. "It's been established that the best

way to promote professional practice is to recognise that you don'tjust apply knowledge in a formulistic way. You deal with each situation on its own merit, based on a complex process of professional judgment."

Professor Candy said the process of being a teacher in higher education is also a form of professional practice which is subject to reflection and im­provisation.

"It's not simply a matter of stuffing ideas and skills into people. Profes­sional practice involves a lot more spon­taneous problem solving," Professor Candy said.

The idea of promoting this kind of teaching practice has prompted Profes-

Page 6 INSIDE OUT, 3 March 1992

sor Candy to organise a conference entitled Reflective Practice in Higher Education, for which he sent out letters seeking expressions of interest.

Originally he planned a small gath­ering of people who were also trying to help higher education teachers do a better job.

But Professor Candy has tapped into a vein of interest from the higher edu­cation teachers themselves, with replies from all over Australia and even over­seas.

It seems they have had similar ideas on changing attitudes towards profes­sional education but until now many have lacked the opportunity to express them.

"One of the rewarding things about organising this conference is that we've

discovered a lot of people who were working in isolation in their own insti­tutions, who are elated to find they are not alone," Professor Candy said.

"They have been having some doubts about the traditional approach to edu­cation and may have been doing some­thing about it on an experimental ba­sis.

"Now all of a sudden they discover there are plenty of others in their field and others with similar ideas."

The response has resulted in a larger conference being scheduled for II, 12 and 13 July at Grace College, Univer­sity of Queensland, St Lucia.

Guest speakers will include Profes­sor John Smyth of Deakin University in Geelong, Professor John Bowden (RMIT, Melbourne), Associate Profes-

sor John Jones (University of Auck­land, New Zealand), Dr Graham Webb (University of Otago, New Zealand) and Dr David Kember (Hong Kong Polytechnic).

Professor Candy is concerned about a possible blowout in numbers attend­ing the conference, so he has set a dead­line of late April for acceptances.

The term "reflective practice" was first coined by American education theorist Donald Schon, who wrote two books on the subject called The Reflec­tive Practitioner and Educating the Reflective Practitioner.

Anyone interested in participating in the conference can contact the Aca- · demic Staff Development Unit's ad­ministrative assistant Carolyn Fitzgerald (Tel: 864 2715) .

p

$

Want to study overseas?

QUT has established exchange agreements with universities in Ja­pan, Thailand, Korea and the USA. Interested students must have at least the equivalent of two full-time se­mesters with 5.00 grade point aver­age (GPA).

"I love it here ... " "One semester isn't enough ... " "Life here is like a step into the future ... " This is just some of the feedback from QUT stu­dents who have returned recently from the USA.

The International Relations Unit is currently seeking expressions of interest from students who would like to consider a semester at a US university, or one of the other over­seas universities with which ex­change agreements have been estab­lished.

At present, US agreements are in place with San Jose University, Cali­fornia; New Jersey State College Council for International Education, New Jersey; the University of Ala­bama, Tuscaloosa; and the Univer­sity of Akron, Ohio.

If you would like to become a part of the exchange program con­tact Susan Lockwood-Lee on (07) 864 2200 (Gardens Point campus) who also can provide further details on the USA SEMINAR to be held on Wednesday 11 March. 22

Volunteers step forward

to take part in a study investigat­ing pressure distribution beneath the foot during walking.

What we need: Adults between the ages of 18 & 30, we need your feet for about one hour.

The study will be run on Wednesdays and Thursdays, begin­ning on 4 March and ending on 14 May.

No invasive or uncomfortable procedures are involved in the study. It consists merely of physi­cal measurements of the foot while the subject is sitting and walking.

If you are willing to help in our study please contact Vivienne Hopkins on (07) 864 2609 for an appointment. The study will be held at Podiatry, A Block, Gardens Point campus.

All participants will receive a FREE chocolate bar in apprecia­tion of their help.

Classifieds This a free classified advertis­

ing service to QUT staff, students, and members of the Convocation and Alumni. Advertisements are restricted to a maximum of 20 words.

No more than ONE advertise­ment per person can be accepted for each issue.

Typed advertisements should be sent or faxed to Inside QUT, Pub­lic Affairs, Level Three U Block, Gardens Point campus (Fax 210 0474). Envelopes must be clearly marked CLASSIFIED SECTION. No advertisements will be accepted by telephone.

All advertisements must be ac­companied by the name and con­tact telephone number of the ad­vertiser (not for publication) . Names and contact numbers for publication should be included in the advertisement copy.

The closing date for the next is­sue of Inside QUT is 10 March 1992.

0 0 0 To Let

In Tarragindi- brand new luxury 3 bdrm unfurn villa "Gresham Gardens", cnr Wellers-Marshall Rds. $440 per fortnight or $900 pcm. Contact Mr D. Schmid ext 2473.

Commercial world puts medieval law to the test

The growing complexity of to­day's commercial world places new demands on an area of law dating back to medieval times.

The law of duress had its origin in the centuries-old Common Law of England.

The doctrine enabled contracts en­tered into under duress, such as the threat of physical harm, to be set aside.

QUT's newly-appointed Associate Dean of the law faculty Professor Malcolm Cope says under this com­mon law doctrine courts adopted a very narrow definition of what could con­stitute improper conduct or pressure.

Modem-day commercial practices -such as entrusting the management of affairs and property to specialists, or large corporations forcing less powerful parties to sign standard-form contracts with little opportunity to negotiate- cre­ated a need for wider definitions.

Professor Cope developed a particu­lar interest in the area following his Masters by Research thesis on The Law of Duress and Undue Influence.

"My work on that topic sparked an interest in principles of equity which

Professor Malcolm Cope

subsequently have been developed greatly by the High Court of Australia for setting aside transactions where there is unconscionable conduct," he said.

"My thesis endeavoured to show how the notion of duress was devel­oped by resorting to an analogous con­cept developed by another set of Eng­lish courts, the Court of Chancery.

"The equitable doctrine, or the doc-

Ms Elizabeth Edwards shows off her creation. (Photo: Suzanne Burow)

trine of undue influence, was devel­oped to provide the wider interpreta­tion to take account of much more sub­tle forms of pressure used in the present day."

Professor Cope was previously a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland's law school. He began his academic law career there as a sen­ior tutor in 1975.

He has developed a particular inter­est in the principles and criteria se­lected by courts to provide relief in cases where unconscionable conduct is found.

This has led to a major research project which will culminate this year in a book on constructive trusts, to be published by the Law Book Company of Australia.

It is his second book. His thesis led to a publication called

Duress, Undue Influence and Unconscientious Bargains published by the Law Book Company in 1985.

"What I try to do in my latest book is bring together and analyse the very significant development of principles by the High Court of Australia for the

During February QUT's visual arts staff held an exhibition of their own work at the Palace Gallery, South Brisbane. Among the many impressive works on show was this creation by Academy of Arts lec­turer in fibre Ms Elizabeth Edwards.

Square, it is work which is in part research based on the findings of a 17th century French monk who dealt with the mathematical and scientific aspects of the permutation of the square.

Entitled Avowal/Disavowal: Permutations of the 1Lm'!l1!1fi!111118Winlll~!immlll-ru~~:m-IM!!Ia~~~~~IIIFIIIlll""'" mz::m, mx:=:::;;..l$]::::~m::&'Ww..~

The work was fashioned from polyurethane pig­ment over aluminium.

purpose of enabling relief in circum­stances of unconscionable conduct and also circumstances where someone in a special relationship to another has profited from that position," he ex­plained.

The text book, primarily a reference book for lawyers, tries to extract ex­amples of High Court rulings to show how the principles and criteria apply in specific cases.

The remedy the book highlights is a constructive trust, where a court or­ders one party to give up property to another.

"One of the major problems today is the practice of entrusting the man­agement of other peoples' affairs and property to specialist consultants," said Professor Cope. "This gives rise to situations in which a self-interested individual, if he is so inclined, can profit from that position.

"The best example one could thinks of at the moment would be that of large superannuation funds, such as the situ­ation of the late Robert Maxwell's group in England. Where these positions of trust are abused there have to be ad­equate mechanism whereby one can re­cover the property or profits derived."

Professor Cope's research will be incorporated in a new masters by coursework he will teach. He described it as an appropriate addition to the sub­jects covered by QUT's Centre for Commercial and Property Law.

Professor Cope also will be involved in an update of the law school's cur­riculum.

"There is now a perception that a law degree has to cater not only for those entering the legal profession but those embarking on a career for which law is a useful background," he ex­plained. "We are looking to redesign the curriculum to provide a broader education to reflect this demand."

Name change A leading law firm and long time

supporter of QUT's law faculty has changed its name following mergers with other companies.

Formerly known as Henderson Trout the firm has become Clayton Utz. It has merged with Clayton Utz, of Sydney and Melbourne, and Robinson Cox, of Perth.

The firm endows QUT's law library and sponsors the chair in commercial law occupied by Professor Chris Gil­bert.

Cooperation lands PhD

As a university, QUT has the power to award PhDs. It wasn't always so. Cooperative arrangements were made between the former QIT and estab­lished universities to enable students to undertake doctoral programs based at QIT but under joint supervision, the award coming from a university.

One example of this kind of coop­eration was Dr Greg Cash who was recently awarded his PhD from Griffith for a project on corrosion monitoring in the sugar industry.

QUT chemistry senior lecturer Dr Paul Schweinsberg, principal supervi­sor of Dr Cash's thesis project, claims him as QUT's first chemistry PhD­tongue in cheek of course.

Dr Cash was the recipient of a Sugar Industry Research Institute postgradu­ate scholarship negotiated by Dr Schweinsberg pre-QUT and enrolled in a PhD at Griffith under joint super­vision of Dr Greg Hope from there.

His thesis titled The corrosion re­sistance of steels exposed to cane sugar juice won him the Griffith award for experimental work done at QUT.

Dr Cash is now working at the Queensland Electricity Commission's corrosion laboratory.

Page 7 INSIDE OUT, 3 March 1992

_, -What's on-Colll'l' rts

This year's concert series began at Kelvin Grove Wednesday last 26 Febru­ary with a piano recital by Arthur Do Rozario. Upcoming performances are listed below.

North Indian music with Alan Possell (sitar) and Aneesh Pradham (tabla) -l.IOpm 4 March Kelvin Grove

French Baroque Chamber Music: Magaret Caley (baroque violin), Michael O'Loghlin (viol da gamba), Sue Forster (harpsichord) -l.IOpm II March Kelvin Grove

Jazz: Steve Russell (piano), Peter Walters (bass), Ken Eadie (drums) -l.IOpm 18 March Kelvin Grove, l.lOpm 25 March Carseldine

Contemporary Australian Music: Gilliam Rankins (flute) Betty Vergara­Pink (piano) -l.IOpm 25 March Kelvin Grove

The Lawless Murphys: A light pro­gram of a capella vocal music performed by Danny Murphy, Erin Murphy and Siobhan Lawless- l.IOpm 8 April Kel­vin Grove, l.lOpm 15 April Carseldine.

Seminar All are invited to a seminar featuring

well known American criminologist Pro­fessor AI Reiss, called Causal Chains in the Development of Anti-Social and Criminal Behaviour: a Longitudinal Study, to be held at Carseldine campus next Monday. Professor Reiss is chair of sociology and law at Yale University and president of the International Society of Criminology.

Anyone interested in attending should contact Ms Robyn Lincoln on 864 4613.

Good news for swimmers

There's good news for regular us­ers of the Kedron Park campus swim­ming pool.

It is now heated and available for year-round use.

But the good news is partly tempered by the fact that patrons now must pay to use the pool and it is available only at certain times.

Kedron Park campus registrar Ms Nada Jackson said discussions with the registrar at Kelvin Grove campus Mr David Spann and QUT architect Mr Ron Goward had led to the heating sys­tem from Kelvin Grove pool being transferred to Kedron.

Construction work has forced the closure of Kelvin Grove pool.

Regular users there included human movement studies students. As they now used the Kedron Park pool it would be available for general use only on a restricted basis, she said.

The new public swimming hours will be 7am to 9am Monday through Friday and lpm to 3pm Saturdays and Sun­days. Additional weekday hours are noon to 2pm Monday and Wednesday, 4pm to 6pm Tuesday and Thursday.

Ms Jackson said because of Duty of Care regulations under the Workplace Health and Safety Act it was necessary to have a qualified attendant on duty while the pool was in general use. A charge had to be made to cover the costs of running the pool and employ­ing an attendant.

The charges are $1 for staff and stu­dents, and $1.30 for others. Monthly membership is available for $20. Equip­ment such as goggles and kickboards are available for hire.

Queenslan University of Technolog Newspaper

Ms Elizabeth Ruinard (left) and Ms Vanessa Mate perform Chamois Phantome. (Photo: Suzanne Burow)

Publication details--- Four visual arts program stu­dents represented QUT at the first national graduate show, which was held at Perth Insti­tute of Contemporary Art from 11 January to 16 February.

If you know of a story which should be told in Inside QUT submit it or phone the Public Affairs journalists.

Jim Simmonds 864 2130 Steve Burke 864 2361 Fax 210 0474 Letters to the Editor are also wel­

come (maximum of 250 words). Published by the Public Affairs Of­

fice, QUT (Administration Building), GPO Box 2434 Brisbane 4001.

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Page 8 INSIDE QUT, 3 March 1992

QUT also sent art works and selected student-made videos to be shown in Perth. Pictured, from the left, are Allyson Reynolds, John Coleman, Judith Kentish and Tracy McDowall who made the jour­ney west.

QUT arts academy students and staff were treated to an innovative performance at the Woodward Theatre last month.

Visual arts lecturer Ms Elizabeth Ruinard combined with leading dancer Vanessa Mafe, a former prin­cipal with the Queensland Ballet, to produce a 15-minute performance called Chamois Phantome.

The performance combined po­etry and dance, with Ms Mafe cho­reographing movements to comple­ment a piece written and narrated by Ms Ruinard.

Much of the text was written in French, as both artists felt it was easier to express the emotions of the piece in that language, rather than English.

"I was aware it could be a prob­lem for the audience but I was think­ing of French as having an abstract effect, much like having a musical background, with its rhythm and flow," Ms Ruinard said.

"Because we deal with a lot of theoretical material in basically a practically-based course, I felt it was important for my students to realise I just don't work with concepts, that I want to see those concepts materi­alise."

Ms Mafe now lives in Geneva, Switzerland, where she dances with an experimental group known as Vertical Dance.

She first travelled to Geneva about four years ago to join a contempo­rary company which toured exten­sively throughout Europe and Asia.

Ms Mafe said she found the ex­perience "incredibly rewarding" but the workload took its toll. When Ms Mafe was approached by the small new company, she agreed to join it.

Vertical Dance is a theatre group combining people of different back­grounds. A dancer with classical training was needed and Ms Mafe fulfilled the requirements.

"It's been such an exciting expe­rience being involved in the total production of performances," Ms Mafe said.

"I have an input into everything from costumes to lighting, which I have found has given me a much wider appreciation of the theatre.

"The work we do is based on im­provisation and I'm now develop­ing myself the way I want to, which I think is very important."

Ms Mafe was holidaying in Bris­bane when her brother Daniel, who works at the arts academy, suggested she get together with Ms Ruinard to show students an example of this improvised theatre.

"It was an opportunity to show students you can give a performance without having six weeks to prepare for it," Ms Mafe said.

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