News on Campus @ Bond University September 2010 Edition

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INSTITUTE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ARCHITECTURE IS ANNOUNCED
When the Faculty of Business, Technology and Sustainable Development was formed and the School of Sustainable Development established it was clearly understood that at some point in the future the Sustainability Programs when they reached an appropriate level of maturity and size would move into a more independent structure on the path to becoming a Faculty of the University.

The recent review of the Faculty has recommended that with the establishment of the Soheil Abedian School of Architecture that the Sustainability Programs be separated from the Faculty with the creation of the Institute of Sustainable Development and Architecture. The University Council has endorsed this recommendation at its August meeting.

The Institute of Sustainable Development and Architecture will comprise the Mirvac School of Sustainable Development and the Soheil Abedian School of Architecture. Professor George Earl will be the inaugural Director of the Institute and he will report to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost. It is anticipated that the Institute will eventually become a fully fledged Faculty and this will be dependent on a number of factors including size and maturity of Programs.

The remaining three schools of the Faculty: School of Business, School of Information Technology and the School of Hotel, Resort and Tourism Management will together form the Faculty of Business reporting to the current Dean, Professor Mark Hirst. These organisational changes are all effective 1 September 2010. Between now and the end of the year the Faculty of Business and the newly formed Institute of Sustainable Development and Architecture will work with the Project Management Office and relevant central administration offices to effect all of the necessary systems and process changes that this organisational change requires to become fully operational.

CENTRE FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER
The Centre for Autism Spectrum Disorder will operate under the guidance of Director, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) Dr Vicki Bitsika (PhD MAPS) and has been developed to meet the widespread need in the Gold Coast community for ASD research and services. The Centre for Autism Spectrum Disorder has a commitment to assisting individuals with an ASD across their lifespan and will be involved in four community-focused activities on a concurrent basis:

Research designed to investigate the issues and areas of concern pertinent to the families and professionals involved in caring for individuals with an ASD. Professional training programmes targeting the particular issues experienced by various professionals (e.g., teachers, clinical psychologists, speech therapists) working with ASD individuals.


Family training programmes designed to assist families to work on the issues which limit the ASD individual’s performance in the home environment. The development of a Certificate in ASD Studies to be made available to those already working in the field. It is envisioned the completion of this certificate may also lead to partial credit for subjects offered in the Postgraduate Diploma of Behaviour Management to encourage professionals (who would otherwise remain untrained) to complete a postgraduate qualification of direct benefit to individuals with ASD and their families.

 

DR. VICKI BITSIKA AWARDED CHURCHILL FELLOWSHIP TO FURTHER ASD STUDIES
Congratulations to Dr. Vicki Bitsika who was recently awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship for her work with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) individuals. The Churchill Fellowship grant will fund Dr Bitsika’s travel abroad to the United Kingdom and the United States to further her research and investigate specialised intervention technologies for individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Dr Bitsika will visit several programmes overseas including the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University in the UK and the M.I.N.D Institute at the University of California – Davis in the United States, in order to disseminate key information and share best practice within an Australian context. Vicki has worked in the areas of diagnosis and intervention for ASD people and developing support for their families for the past 25 years and will present her findings on her return, which will directly influence the work undertaken at the Centre or Autism Spectrum Disorder.

BOND INVESTMENT GROUP - B.I.G.
The Bond Investment Group (BIG*) is a voluntary and wholly student-operated association that provides non-business students with the ability to improve their financial literacy in an informal manner. The BIG team is eager to build upon its past successes and create new opportunities in order to continue to strengthen the relationship between Bond students and industry professionals.

BIG, along with the Bond Business School held the '2010 Titans of Industry Forum' on Tuesday, September 21. An intimate VIP luncheon followed by a complementary panel discussion featuring high profile businessmen to discuss 'The New Normal: Navigating Australia's place in the global economy after the Great Recession'.

Guest speakers of the 2010 Forum included:
· Dr. Trevor C. Rowe AM, Executive Chairman, Rothschild Australia;
· Mr. Graeme Samuel AC, Chairman, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission;
· Dr. Doug McTaggart, Chief Executive, Queensland Investment Corporation;
· Mr. Michael Darling, Chairman, Centre for Independent Studies;
· Mr. Thomas Easton, Asian Business Editor, The Economist; and
· Mr. Tony Robinson, Managing Director, Centrepoint Alliance.

PSYCHOLOGY ACADEMICS RECEIVE VC'S RESEARCH GRANTS
Congratulations to the following members of the Psychology department who have received grants from the Vice Chancellors Research Grant Program.

  • Professor Greg Boyle for Empathy-related responses to individuals of the same and different racial groups.
  • Assistant Professor Rebekah Doley for Arson and serial arson: identifying and characterising key psychological risk factors to understand and improve intervention strategies.
  • Assistant Professor Christina Samios for Couples coping with dementia care giving: An in-depth examination of the interpersonal processes that predict carer wellbeing.

TEACHING AND LEARNING RESEARCH GRANTS
The following Faculty staff have been successful in obtaining grants from the Teaching and Learning Research Grants Panel.

  • Dr Jeff Brand with Dr Shelley Kinash (Office of Quality, Teaching and Learning) for An experiment to document learning through mobile technologies.
  • Chamkaur Gill for Dramaturgical pedagogy: Development and implementation of a drama teaching process in higher education to improve oral communication skills of international students.
  • Dr James Birt and Dr Penny de Byl for Motivating and teaching computer programming to creative game design students through visual tools and gaming context.
  • Dr Penny de Byl and Dr James Birt, with Allan Stirling (HSM) for Teaching anatomy in the 21st Century: Enriched ebooks to facilitate authentic learning of anatomy.

WORLD BANK APPOINTS BOND TO LEAD GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE PORTAL
Bond University has been successful in its bid to lead a global infrastructure portal for the World Bank. In June this year, Bond was shortlisted along with Stanford University in the United States and Queen’s University in Canada to submit tenders for the right to develop and lead the online portal, which will focus heavily on public private partnerships (PPPs).

Head of the Bond University Mirvac School of Sustainable Development, Professor George Earl (pictured) said the fact that the World Bank had chosen Bond as the lead institution for the project confirmed the University’s place as a world leader in infrastructure education.
“The success of similar programs we have run in the past for the Commonwealth Secretariat and Asian Development Bank, together with our high level of engagement with the World Bank over the past couple of years, meant that they understood our strengths and were aware of the quality of work we were doing,” Professor Earl said.

Professor Earl, together with Professor of Infrastructure Michael Regan, will now oversee the development of an online portal of infrastructure management for the World Bank, to be delivered by the end of the year. The portal will be aimed at senior government officials from around the world who have a role in making infrastructure policy decisions and securing money from the World Bank.

Due to the semester break there is no sports report. The National Student games report will be next month

ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOLADES

Associate Professor Amy Kenworthy and Associate Professor Allan Stirling have both been awarded Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Associate Professor Kenworthy received a Citation for translating a command of the field of Business Negotiation into curricula, experiential teaching approaches, resources and services that motivate and inspire students to learn; while Associate Professor Stirling received his Citation for designing learning opportunities that engage and motivate medical students in clinically applied anatomy.

These national awards recognise and reward teaching excellence in the higher education sector. Congratulations to both Associate Professors Kenworthy and Stirling on their wins and for their ongoing commitment to nurturing the student’s experience through student support and teaching and learning excellence.

Well done also to the Bond Law team of Meera Siva-Nathan, Gabrielle Morriss, Iris He and Lucy Hopkinson, on their victory at the Shine Lawyers Torts Moot, held at the Queensland University of Technology earlier this month. The team was coached by previous Shine mooter Rowan Kendall and was supported by academic adviser, Senior Teaching Fellow Joel Butler. A special mention goes to Gabrielle Morriss who was also awarded the prize for best advocate in the final round.

Finally, congratulations also go to our on-campus Police Liaison Officer, Senior Constable Michael Froggatt, on his naming as the inaugural Gold Coast Police Officer of the Year. Senior Constable Froggatt balances his duties as a detective at Coolangatta with his part-time study towards a criminology degree and a role in campus security, where he is the key contact for Bond students seeking crime and public safety advice. He was also integral in setting up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme at nearby Varsity Lakes to crack down on crime. It’s good to know the security of all our students is in such good hands! Thanks Sen-Constable Froggatt.

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VISITORS TO CAMPUS

Catherine Palin-Brinkworth – Professional Speaker, Business Strategist and Educator presented a one day mentoring workshop for academic and general staff interested in becoming a mentor and developing mentoring skills

Dr. Wolfgang Babeck Adjunct Professor and Distinguished Scholar, Faculty of Law, Bond University Co-Convenor, European Focus Group, Law Council of Australia.Presented on “How Do Corporate Governance issues in Germany Puzzle Australian investors?” an event hosted by The Tim Fischer Centre for Global Trade and Finance

Sir James Gobbo was a Queen’s Counsel and a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. He was later the Governor of Victoria; the first of Italian descent. Currently, he is Chair of the National Library of Australia and the Chair of the Order of Australia, he spoke in his capacity as the Chair of the Australian Multicultural Foundation.