The Mortar Board
Alumni E-Newsletter: December 2012

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Social Networking and Alumni Networks
• Alumni News and Activities
• Where Are They Now?
• Benefits
• University News
• Future Events
  

SOCIAL NETWORKING AND ALUMNI NETWORKS

CQUniversity has several social networking mediums for you to connect with us and with each other. Whether your preferred platform is Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, general information and discussion topics are shared regularly.

ALUMNI NEWS AND ACTIVITIES

NEW Annual Alumni Awards

CQUniversity is initiating an annual Alumni Award program, to recognise the outstanding achievements of our alumni. There are three categories of awards: Volunteer Alumni, Young Achiever Alumni (for people up to 35 years of age) and Distinguished Alumni.

Information about the awards, entry guidelines and nomination forms will be available on the alumni website in the coming weeks and the nomination period will close at the end of January.

We look forward to recognising and celebrating the outstanding contributions our alumni make to their chosen field, industry and/or community.

First CQUniversity Alumnus appointed to the bench

Alexander (Sandy) Horneman-Wren will go down in the books as the first CQUniversity graduate to be appointed as a judge.

On November 1, His Honor Judge Alexander (Sandy) Adrian James Horneman-Wren SC was sworn in as a judge of the District Court of Australia. He also holds a commission as Deputy President of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT).

Back in 1988 he graduated from a Bachelor of Business at CQUniversity’s predecessor (Capricorn Institute of Advanced Education) and subsequently completed Law at QUT.

CQUniversity has come a long way since then and now offers a Bachelor of Laws which is available as a stand-alone degree or in combination with the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Accounting.

CQUniversity Conservatorium alumni prepare to ‘pop the cork’ on new show

It’s almost time to pop open the bubbly as CQUniversity Conservatorium graduates prepare to return to Mackay to perform their unique show “Champagne Cabaret”.

Graduates Jordan Edmeades and his wife Jessica (nee Peters) have joined fellow graduates Sarah Regan and Katrina Kirkwood to create what they describe as a new wine tasting cabaret company, OzCabaret, based in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The group will be returning to Mackay in February 2013. They will perform their show at the Mackay Entertainment and Cultural Centre and are in the process of organising a production at the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music at the Mackay Campus as well.

The CQ Conservatorium of Music offers all alumni the special benefit of a concession rate to a variety of concerts, master-classes and exhibitions presented by the School of Creative and Performing Arts. The events calendar can be found at www.musicandtheatre.cqu.edu.au under 'Performances'.

To find out what shows the discounts apply to, and to book tickets, please call 07 4940 7800. You will need to specify that you are an alumnus when requesting the concession rate.

CQUniversity Alumni ‘give back’ and get ‘Mo’-tivated for a cause

CQUniversity alumni have been opening their hearts and giving back to great causes in recent months. While some of their activities have been to gain valuable work experience, others have been more physically challenging...

Nursing graduate Hannah Strawson recently returned home to Brisbane after serving as a volunteer with Mercy Ships in Guinea, West Africa. During her three weeks onboard she worked as a Post Anaesthesia Care nurse and found the experience nothing less than inspiring and a little confronting at times.

“I visited a paediatric hospital in a town and there was a boy about 12 years old. He looked incredibly sick and we found from his doctor he had AIDS. When you see that, it makes everything back home seem less important. I have a good job, great family, good friends, a lovely partner, nice unit, new car and more than enough food. Yet some people in our world have to live like this. I don’t know. It does break your heart.”

Hannah said the experience was sometimes hard, fun, interesting, upsetting, uplifting and challenging and much more. For more information on Mercy Ships, click here.

Another alumnus who isn’t shy of a challenge is Mike Dalton who recently completed the 2012 Simpson Desert Mountain Bike Challenge in outback Australia to raise funds for The Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Mike spent many months training for what is a very challenging event due to the changing desert climatic conditions and managed to finish fourth overall. Mike said he was really pleased and the event marked a significant personal achievement.

“So far all riders and support crews including medical staff have raised about $42,000 for The Royal Flying Doctors.” For more information, click here.

In support of another great cause, a group of CQUniversity alumni and staff have braved the urge to shave for “Movember”. Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on many men’s faces across the globe to raise vital funds and awareness of men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and male mental health.

Congratulations to all the alumni who got on board with the CQUniversity team for Movember: Sean Peckover, Daniel Bartlett, Alastair Dawson, Marc Barnbaum, David Harris, Greg Wilkes, Jacob Lowry, Jason Bailey, Kyle Muldoon and David Binney. Together with others they have raised over $8000 with a goal to raise $10,000. To make a donation to the CQUniversity Movember team, click here.

View carbon tax as a ‘competitive advantage’, says recent graduate

Companies should see the carbon tax as a way to sell their environmental compliance as a competitive advantage, not as an added cost.

That's according to recent CQUniversity Professional Doctorate graduate Dr Ivan Ong, who is based in Singapore and completed his thesis on the competitive advantages that a future low carbon economy can bring to a logistics company in Singapore.

"Although the environmental cost is a burden to any company, the literature suggests that carbon emissions reductions should not be seen as a constraint to a company's operation or a cost factor that inhibits the growth of a company," said Dr Ong. "Instead, by addressing climate change through reducing the carbon used in their business, companies could potentially reap benefits and opportunities and contribute to economic growth."

Through the completion of interviews, online questionnaires and document analysis, Dr Ong's research showed that the real value of implementing carbon emissions reduction is to strengthen the company's competitiveness in a new economy where environmental issues are emerging into the mainstream.

Dr Ong's supervisor, Dr Michael Cowling, agrees with this position and quotes companies such as Apple as good examples of organisations that leverage the new carbon economy for competitive advantage.

"Apple includes environmental statistics as a core part of any new announcement, including the recently announced iPhone 5. While it surely costs Apple more to make these environmental concessions, they are able to use these as a positive promotional item in their presentations, providing a competitive advantage that helps to make them the most valuable company in the world," Dr Cowling says.

Alumni Survey Guides Future Planning

In October we issued our first ever alumni preferences survey. We received a 5% response rate to the survey, which was open for 3 weeks. Thank you very much to everyone who returned their response. I understand that some people attempted the survey and experienced some difficulties, and for that I apologise. You are welcome to contact me with your feedback and suggestions at any time.

The results of this survey are being used to guide the planning of CQUniversity’s Alumni Relations Program. It was interesting to see levels of awareness of various alumni benefits on offer and in particular the lack of awareness of the free postage from the CQU Bookshop, free membership and access to a range of electronic databases from the library, and the discount for alumni returning to study a Graduate Certificate of Management or Graduate Diploma of Management.

A large majority of survey respondents indicated that bi-monthly (6 editions per year) is the preferred frequency for this newsletter, so we will be keeping this as it is. We will ensure that upcoming events and activities information is included as well as a range of news about the University. Your suggestions for the type of content you would like us to cover are very welcome.

Survey respondents indicated that Continuing Education opportunities, including attending or viewing seminars by current faculty or researchers, and undertaking Master classes, would be a popular option for alumni, and networking events are still a preferred activity. It was interesting to see the number of respondents who felt they couldn’t participate in networking events because they do not live in Rockhampton. There are events on every campus of CQUniversity scheduled for 2013, and we also hold international events in a range of locations so update your address details on our database and watch out for an email invitation to an alumni event near you next year. Still on the topic of events, Saturday was the preferred day to attend events, as indicated by the survey respondents. This was an unexpected result but we will be trying the Saturday event concept in 2013 in response to this feedback.

Finally, congratulations to the five winners of the $50 CQUniversity Bookshop Vouchers: Judith Just (Queensland), Boren Chua, Chien-Peng Hsu, Jessica Seeto, and Ashish Vohra.

 ~Anthea Cuddihy (Alumni Relations Manager). Contact Me.

Free access to Science Direct announced for Postdoctoral researchers

Elsevier has announced the Postdoc Free Access Passport. The program, which is open for applications until December 15, provides unlimited access to books and journals on Science Direct for up to six months to young scholars who do not have a research position (and therefore no institutional access to Science Direct). Science Direct provides access to full-text articles published by Elsevier covering Physical Sciences, Psychology, Education, Language and Linguistics, Nursing, Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics, Computing, and Business.

To qualify, candidates must complete a form verifying their credentials by December 15, 2012. Once approved, they will receive a personal code allowing access to Science Direct. Qualifying criteria include:

• Postdoctoral researchers who have received their PhD within in the past 10 years.
• At least one recent postdoc position which was completed in the past three months or that will be completed within three months.
• A letter of recommendation from the postdoc’s supervisor or institution verifying employment.

For more on the program and an application, click here. 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Professor elected to board of management peak body

CQUniversity's Professor Lee Di Milia has been elected as a Queensland representative on the board of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM), the peak management body for education and research.

The latest news comes as Professor Di Milia prepares to present a late-November session at the Australian Health and Medical Research Congress in Adelaide.

This presentation will be based on his recent paper published with CQUniversity's Professor Naomi Rogers and Swedish researcher Torbjorn Akerstedt. This paper explores findings from one of the few studies to examine the effect of working night shift and long-distance commuting.

Sleepiness, Long Distance Commuting and Night Work as Predictors of Driving Performance identifies seven variables as significant predictors of lane crossing, with the strongest being acute sleepiness, followed by driving more than 150km, obtaining less than 10 hours sleep in the previous 48 hours, driving after night shift, being less than 43 years old, and using a mobile phone during the journey.

Alumna’s achievements recognised with prestigious award

Professor Kerry Reid-Searl was recently recognised with a prestigious Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching Award as part of the 2012 Australian Awards for University Teaching.

Kerry was awarded for Teaching Excellence in the area of Biological Science and Health related studies. Not only did Kerry win one of the country’s most prestigious learning and teaching awards, but she also receives $25,000 to reinvest in teaching methods and professional development. This award is also in addition to the AOLT citation for outstanding contributions to student learning Kerry received two months ago.

This award is a crowning achievement for Kerry, in a year that has also seen her promoted to Professor, recognising her unique contribution to education through her Mask-Ed (KRS) innovation and, more recently, Pup-Ed (KRS).

BENEFITS

We are delighted to provide a range of benefits and initiatives for graduates of CQUniversity Australia, to support your career and to recognise your achievements. Please visit our alumni benefits page to view what is available. The benefits are designed for you to use throughout your life. Do you have suggestions for initiatives that would benefit you? If so, contact the Alumni Relations Manager by email alumni-enquiries@cqu.edu.au

CQUniversity has the perfect present for engineering graduates - a paver in the CQUniversity Engineering Alumni Commemorative Walk. Not only is it a permanent reminder time studied in the past but the funds also goes towards ensuring future generations of students continue to have access to the best technical equipment to aid their learning and research activities. For more information, click here.

UNIVERSITY NEWS

What’s Your Journey?

CQUniversity is currently taking its social media presence to a whole new level with the launch of the ‘This is my journey’ video contest.

Future, present and past students are encouraged to create a video, showcasing their journey. The video should demonstrate where they are now and what they want to be.

Videos will be used to inspire potential students and remind everyone that a degree is a journey, not a destination.

Competition entrants also have the chance to win some great prizes including a $1,500 travel voucher. The competition is open to everyone (excluding CQUniversity staff) so enter your journey today!

Click here to find out more.

CQUniversity’s Research Excellence – Competitive Grants Success & VC’s Awards

CQUniversity has successfully secured over $1.3M in nationally competitive grants, thanks to researchers based at its Appleton Institute for Behavourial Science, its Institute for Health and Social Science Research and its Office of Indigenous Engagement.

Dr Kirrilly Thompson will receive $371,622 in Australian Research Council funding to determine the extent to which people's willingness to risk their lives to save animals during natural disasters could be changed into a positive factor by motivating them to be better prepared for natural disaster.

Associate Professor Greg Roach, Dr Xuan Zhou and Professor Drew Dawson have gained Discovery Project funding of $302,000 for their Should we go halves?project exploring the impact of split work-rest schedules on sleep and cognitive performance. They aim to determine whether it is better to have one long sleep or two shorter sleeps each day, in some circumstances.

A team lead by CQUniversity researcher Dr Corneel Vandelanotte gained almost $700,000 to continue a study about the effectiveness of tailored videos in promoting physical activity via the internet through a prestigious grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council. Dr Vandelanotte's research is focused on finding effective and innovative methods to increase physical activity in large numbers of Australians at a low cost.

CQUniversity will also be a co-lead in the Health and Well-being Node of the Australian Research Council's newly-funded Special Research Initiative for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Researchers Network. This new network has been awarded over $3M to help develop much-needed connections between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers across the country - and at all career stages - to build Australia's research capacity, expertise and experience.

In addition to our success in securing research grant funding, the recipients of the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Researchers for 2012 have been announced. Congratulations to alumna Dr Alison Jones, alumnus Dr Surya Bhattarai and Professor Brenda Happell.

These awards recognise outstanding researchers who have made a significant contribution to enhancing and supporting research activities. They reward the achievement of outcomes and recognise the important role research leadership plays in the research culture at CQUniversity.

Details of the recipients and their activities are as follows:

Early Career Researcher Award: Dr Alison Jones
Alison's research contributes to assisting reef management including predictions of reef resilience, identifying the conservation value of reefs and predicting the adaptive capacity of reef building corals. Her research is focused on the southern Great Barrier Reef. 

Mid-Career Researcher Award: Dr Surya Bhattarai
Research and development of irrigated agriculture is becoming more relevant under the scenario of global climate change in Australia and overseas. This highly challenging and rewarding research field is extremely relevant to Australian agriculture in general and Central Queensland agriculture in particular as this region plays a significant role in agricultural production, marketing and generation of employment opportunities.

Excellence in Research Award: Professor Brenda Happell

Brenda has a strong record of accomplishment in research in the area of mental health nursing. Her areas of specific interest include: the physical health of people experiencing mental illness; consumer participation in mental health services; and mental health nursing education.

Industry, government and educators share views on workforce needs

Representatives from the industry, business, government and education sectors shared views on workforce needs this week during the Inaugural CQUniversity Dual Sector Research Symposium and associated workshop, held on Rockhampton Campus.

The event focused on anticipated workforce shortages and key growth areas, and on understanding the role and contribution CQUniversity can make to regional communities as it starts its journey as a 'dual-sector' institution, providing vocational education and training (VET) courses as well as degrees.

Seminar speakers included Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Vocational Education and Training) Nik Babovic, RMIT Principal Policy Adviser Gavin Moodie, UniSA Strategic Research Partnerships Senior Adviser Janet Dibb-Leigh, National Centre for Vocational Education Research's GM Research Sue Fergusson, and Skills Queensland CEO Rod Camm.

Symposium co-organiser Dr Susan Kinnear says participants were keen to understand the skilling and training issues of business and industry "so we can build research projects to address them".

"We also discussed what research might be undertaken to find how to make tertiary education as accessible as possible, how we can measure costs and benefits to small business in training apprentices, the best mentoring in the workforce, and best practice for human resource management.

"We've been scoping research that will help us make the most of our regional workforces, including roles for women, young adults, Indigenous people and skilled migrants.

"And we're looking into reliable ways to assess people's prior learning and to arrange accreditation for on-the-job training done by employers."

CQUniversity is embedding a research agenda right at the start of its journey as a 'dual-sector' institution. The University is hoping for final approval soon on its proposed merger with CQ Institute of TAFE, and it is also progressing its own VET programs as it transitions into a dual-sector institution from 2013.

Over the next three to five years, in alignment with progress as a dual-sector institution, the aims are to develop research informing the development of VET at the national and international levels, to drive and inform the development of CQUniversity as the leading dual-sector institution, and to encourage and celebrate the collaborative CQUni-CQIT response to industry needs.

CQUniversity in Top 10 for influence in regional development 

CQUniversity is one of only three universities listed in a Top 10 of organisations that have been influential in the regional development space.

The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) report ranks CQUniversity, the University of Adelaide and the University of Technology Sydney as the only universities alongside esteemed organisations in the Top 10 including the CSIRO, OECD and Australian Bureau of Statistics.

CQUni professor John Rolfe is listed in a Top 5 of influential authors in this area. To view the RAI report, click here.

CQUniversity is also cited in RAI's 'top-50' stocktake of influential regional research. The RAI arranged the stocktake to provide people involved in regional development with easier access to the latest knowledge.

CQUniversity's paper on Lessons from the social and economic impacts of the mining boom in the Bowen Basin 2004-2006 is now included in this national archive of influential research.

The CQUni paper, produced by Prof. John Rolfe, Bob Miles, Stewart Lockie and Dr Galina Ivanova, is focused on avoiding the impacts of 'Dutch Disease' on other industries and resources, and shortages in housing and infrastructure.

The authors say greater attention needs to be paid to housing supply, labour supply, information flows, project approvals, and the integration and interdependence of planning issues.

RAI says the CQUni paper is often cited by other scholars and "provides both an analysis of the impact of higher growth in the resources sector on the Bowen Basin region and ... strategies to deal with growth pressures".

"The key recommendations are clear, concise and small enough in number for policy makers to digest."

Program Feature - Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching

Looking to change your career to teaching in just one year?

CQUniversity’s  Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching has been designed especially for university graduates with non-education degrees who want to retrain as a primary or secondary school teacher in just one year.

The Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching includes two different specialisations:

• Primary (to teach Years 1 – 7)
• Secondary (to teach Years 8 – 12 in two teaching areas that link to your undergraduate degree)
  

Available by distance education or on-campus at CQUniversity Rockhampton, this program offers extensive in school professional practice in the classroom.

Scholarships may be available through the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE) who offers Step into Teaching Scholarships to support high-achieving science and mathematics graduates who would like to make a difference in the lives of young Queenslanders by becoming a state high school teacher.

If you’d like to find out more, program details including entry requirements, can be found here or call CQUniversity on 13CQUni (132786).

It’s not too late to apply, applications close 31 January 2013 and get closer to the you, you want to be

.

 FUTURE EVENTS

 30 November - CQUniversity Fire and Ice Christmas Ball