Some Week at JCU

Dear Colleagues,

Today was one for the books.

The Faculty of Arts, Education and Social Sciences hosted FAESS Fest. This morning was a celebration of scholarly teaching at a very well attended seminar at University Hall. And in the afternoon, FAESS Fest moved to the Mabo Library where several books produced by Faculty members were launched. I congratulate the Faculty on this important initiative. As I opened each of these occasions, I was struck by how good it felt to be part of a scholarly community, doing such scholarly things.   

Between these two events, Helen McDonald from the School of Education delivered JCU's Inaugural Last Lecture. It was the beginning of a new tradition at JCU where the Last Lecture of the academic year will be delivered by one of our own on an issue reflecting their own experiences/expertise. Today, Helen spoke personally and powerfully of pedagogy, of indigenous education and the electricity that is possible been teacher, learner and body of knowledge. She spoke of issues of identity, explaining that for many students being a learner at University can be very difficult if that role is not part of their self-identity. Helen spoke with humour and passion. and topped it all off by bringing her colleagues to the front to perform a version of Jimmy Little's "From little things, big things grow." Thanks very much, Helen, for kicking off this event in such a wonderful manner.

Later today we had a visit from the US Consul General, Judith Fergin. We were delighted to have Ms Fergin on campus - among other things she delivered a most interesting address on the Obama Administration's 'take' on foreign policy. As usual, the questions were very interesting too and handled extremely well. The discussion ranged across topics such as Israel and Palestine, Iran, democracy, the UN, climate change, preserving heritage on the Moon and so much more.

Other big news this week at our place was JCU researcher successes in the latest ARC and NHMRC rounds. Our best congratulations goes to all those involved in such success. Our success rate in ARC Discovery was above the national average. Of course, there will be other grant wins where JCU researchers are collaborators on grants led by other institutions - and we'll hear about those in due course too.

Earlier in the week, we opened the Colin and Margaret Roderick Clinical Training Facility. The Roderick Trust has provided around $2 million to fit out the facility with just what students need to hone their clinical skills before they set out to hospitals and clinics. It is a large set of spaces, with great flexibility in their use. A small hiccough when we unveiled the plaque added to the humanity of the day. All fixed very quickly.

That event followed the 43rd annual Colin Roderick Award Dinner where two literary works were chosen as winners this year: Graham Freudenberg's “Churchill and Australia” and James Boyce's “Van Diemen’s Land”. Sadly James Boyce couldn’t be there on the night, but Graham Freudenberg delivered a terrific speech drawing on insights from his book, but adding person reflections on his time with Arthur Caldwell, Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke.

Business Professionals Week was celebrated in Townsville this week too. JCU's School of Business has been actively involved and hosted an event in town last evening, together with Townsville Enterprise, the CPAs and the Institute of Chartered Accountants. It was terrific to see so many people from the broader business community there, as well as JCU staff and students.

On Monday night, the annual C.N. Barton Medal event was held, hosted by the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences. This comprises four of the most outstanding Engineering students, representing their sub-disciplines, presenting their honours project work. The students are scored by an independent panel on both the technical aspects of their work and their presentation. As is always the case, all of the student presentations were excellent and there was a deserving winner whose work on making organic semi-conductors is very impressive.

The week, though, started on Sunday with the second last Science on the Strand, hosted by the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Molecular Sciences. Prof Peter Ridd spoke to the question – is there a crisis in Maths and Science education? Among other things, he spoke of changes in the curriculum over time that, in his view, have not supported the development of maths and physics knowledge in students. His was a controversial presentation that has resulted in a deal of debate. 

Finally, a thought for the broader community in TNQ. The Cairns community have been doing it tough. Last Saturday, community leaders kicked off a major campaign to focus attention on the need for assistance. Unemployment is unacceptably high in the Cairns region and the campaign aims to focus attention on the community's needs, now and into the future. We are right behind the community on this and will do whatever we can to assist.

Cheers,

Sandra

 

Posted at 07:54PM Oct 30, 2009 in General  |