Issue 8 suMMeR 2008 www.vu.edu.au

VU CONNECTIONS

SOULKENYAN JOURNEY . CAUSE FOR ALARM BEACON FOR GREEN

MAN

alarming vu research shows that house smoke alarms are ineffective in waking children and the elderly. story page 12.

CONTENTS4 VC welComeThe Vice-Chancellor writes about the developments made by the University in 2007.

4 In brIefAn honorary doctorate, an award for teacher of the year, and a three gold-star hairdressing award are just three of this issues in briefs.

8 KenYAn JoUrneYThree paramedic students spent their 2007 mid-year break volunteering as health workers in a small village in western Kenya.

11 SmooTH JUSTICeVUs new Certificate IV in Government (Court) Services prepares students to work as court administrators. The first intake graduated in June.

16 ToPS In SPorTTwo world-class athletes juggle rigorous training schedules between university lectures, assignments and exams.

18 YoUnG AT ArTA new art gallery at Melton Campus offers schoolchildren a unique place to publicly exhibit their talents.

19 born To PerformPerformance is an expression of who you are, says Performance Studies student Michael McManus, who is making his mark in the arts.

20 wInnInG wITH SCIenCeIn modern sport, science is playing an increasing role in the precision that separates winners from losers.

26 CUrbInG An ePIDemICA VU academic is helping to fight diabetes, a pernicious disease that is more prevalent in Melbournes west than almost anywhere else in the country.

28 Green beAConLong before ecology was sexy, VUs Dr Colin Hocking envisioned a meeting place where environmentally concerned people could make a difference.

30 rISe of A SCHool of eDUCATIonAn education lecturer writes of the humble beginnings of teacher education at VU in the mid 1980s to its importance for Melbournes western suburbs today.

32 CrISeS To CroSSroADVU graduate and tsunami survivor, Rahmadhani Sulaiman, believes the Acehian disaster offers an opportunity for Acehs economic independence.

2

aids has left 650,000 children orphaned in Kenya. Three vu students recently volunteered as health workers in west Kenya. story page 8.

12 CAUSe for AlArmNew research shows that smoke alarms can be ineffective in waking people during a house fire.

14 neIGHboUrHooD renewAlA community tool library is helping residents maintain their properties, create neighbourhood pride, and gain skills and qualifications.

15 SoUl mAnVU art teacher Paul Borg, a four-time Doug Moran National Portrait Prize finalist, exhibits his portraiture in the public gallery at City Flinders Campus.

VICTorIA UnIVerSITY ConneCTIonSPUBLISHER Marketing and Communications Dept. Victoria University, Australia PO Box 14428 Melbourne VIC 8001, Australia Victoria University CRICOS Provider No. 00124K CONTACT US Phil Kofoed Managing Editor PHONE: +61 3 9919 4956 EMAIL: publications@vu.edu.au www.vu.edu.au This publication is printed on recycled paper. PHOTOS Sharon Walker Tim Burgess Paul Phillipson Vito Vampatella Yannick Thoraval Phil Kofoed COVER PHOTO Artist and VU lecturer Paul Borg with self portrait.

22 SmArT HoUSeBuilt from the ground up by VU apprentices and their teachers, the high-tech Smart House at Sunshine Campus has environmental brains.

24 TAfe bY DeGreeSThe increasing number of pathways between TAFE and higher education is making it easier for students to design their education.

25 CorPorATe To CArPenTerThirty-six year-old Marcelle Bagu quit her high-powered job as a ministerial adviser to become a carpenter.

34 rADIo orIGInAlTorian Wireless has brought internationally awarded technology to the marketplace, including the worlds first compact, transcontinental internet radio.

35 new booKSFire risk analysis and the fiction of writing students are among the topics of new books by VU authors.

36 VU ArTStudent artwork on display.

3

Right: dr Ray Horsburgh, aM. Left: Professor elizabeth Harman with international tourism expert and vu adjunct professor, Geoffrey Lipman.

VC WelcomeWelcome to the summer 2008 issue of Connections. 2007 was a critical year in the development of Victoria University. We made significant progress in teaching and learning, research and engagement activities. The University continued to extend its influence beyond the borders of its campuses. This was acknowledged by the Business Higher Education Roundtable announcing VU as having the Best Community Engagement Collaboration program, in recognition of the Universitys work in bringing together community and government partners to support newly arrived African refugees to the west of Melbourne. University staff and students, and members of industry and the broader community were consulted on how best to ensure VU graduates continue to be prepared for contemporary global work places. The creation of the vocational education faculties of Workforce Development and Technical and Trade Innovation, and the establishment of VU College to deliver further education, represent innovative approaches to education and training that will meet new labour force needs and skill shortages in industry and the community. Our commitment to meet the needs of the workplace resulted in many awards, including the Hair and Beauty Association of Victoria naming Victoria University Educator of the Year, and seven staff being awarded citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning by the Carrick Institute. As you read through this issue of Connections, you will see that Victoria University staff and students are exemplars of the can-do attitude. You will read about two VU researchers who are finding ways of using science to enhance the performance of todays professional athletes. There are articles on the Universitys commitment to sustainable environmental practices through innovative projects in construction and conservation. And you will read about the experiences of three VU students who spent their mid-year break volunteering as health workers in Kenya. Collectively, these and other stories demonstrate how we are not only an active community within the University but are keen to export our knowledge and expertise locally, nationally and abroad. Professor Elizabeth Harman Vice-Chancellor and President

In Brief

HorSbUrGH HonoUreDRay Horsburgh AM, former CEO of Smorgon Steel, was awarded an Honorary Degree by Victoria University in November. Mr Horsburgh was admitted to the degree of Doctor of the University, honoris causa, in recognition of his exceptional achievements, in particular for supporting Victoria University and the diverse communities of Melbournes west. Now retired, Mr Horsburgh is a member of the Business Council of Australia and chair of various organisations, including the Essendon Football Club and the Freemasons Hospital of Victoria. He is also heavily involved in community charity work. Smorgon Steels engagements with VU include being a venue for work integrated learning. Mr Horsburgh was a student of Footscray Institute of Technology, one of VUs predecessor institutions, and later served as a member of its Board. In 2007 Mr Horsburgh was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the steel industry and to the community through organisations providing developmental and educational assistance for disadvantaged youth.

4

These two prospective students were among the 8000 visitors to vus 2007 Open day in august.

In Brief

beST TeACHerVictoria University teacher graduate Megan Evans has won the Herald Sun Victorian Secondary Teacher of the Year award for 2007. Nine years ago, the Clonard College (Geelong) teacher was one of the first participants in the innovative VU program, Story Writing in Remote Locations, which takes pre-service teachers to remote Northern Territory communities. The month-long program helps local Aboriginal children document their own experiences in booklets, video, animation, artwork and photographs. After graduation, Evans worked in the Northern territory for two and a half years before returning to Victoria with a longing to share Indigenous culture and history with non-Indigenous students. With the local Wathaurong people she helped develop Black Tracks, a Year 10 elective that leads to studying Koori history as a Year 11 VCE subject the only Koori history course taught at VCE level in Victoria. Each year, Clonard College now takes Year 9 girls to Santa Teresa, an Aboriginal community near Alice Springs.

ACCeSS All AreASAccess All Areas is an offer normally made to a privileged few. But 8000 prospective university students, friends, and families were granted this celebrity status for Victoria Universitys Open Day, held Sunday 12 August at Footscray Park Campus. Modelled on a giant music festival, visitors didnt need an excuse to get backstage during the annual recruitment event. Across all areas of the campus, enthusiastic visitors discussed their education and career goals with 400 teachers and more than 200 current students, while enjoying great bands, fun activities and prize competitions. Doors were opened on project-filled classrooms and other facilities, including Footscray Parks first-class sports precinct and swimming pool. Tere Daly, VUs General Manager, Marketing and Recruitment, said the event was an overwhelming success because it challenged the dreary get-what-you-need-and-go tradition of other open days. We created an event that gave access to lecturers, access to course information and access to facilities, covering all areas of the student experience, he said.

IrAQI AIDIn Baghdad in 2004, Ahmed Hassin founded the Iraqi Health and Social Care Organisation, a charity to help the thousands of men, women and children in Iraq who are the innocent victims of the war. Hassin says his organisation grew out of necessity after international aid organisations started leaving Iraq following the bombing of the United Nations office in Baghdad in 2003. Something needed to be done because these were forgotten people, he says. In January 2007, Hassin escaped war-ravaged Iraq with his wife and two children for the safety of Australia. With a staff of 50 Iraqis back home, the 34 year old now heads the group as volunteer CEO from his Melbourne home while completing a Masters of Business Administration degree at Victoria University. He says his MBA has helped him develop ideas to expand the organisations programs and services. The organisation has more than 10,000 names on a victim surveillance database.

5

International tourism expert Geoffrey Lipman talks about the effect of climate change on tourism.

In BriefToUrISm HoT SeATThe Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Geoffrey Lipman, has been named Adjunct Professor of Victoria Universitys Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research. At his inaugural address in Melbourne in October, Lipman focused on the emerging global response to climate change. His address, Tourism and Climate Change: Beyond the Triple Bottom Line, urged action by the entire tourism sector to face climate change as one of the greatest challenges to sustainable development. He argued that the slow pick-up of the green agenda cannot be repeated with climate change. He said if the tourism sector was to grow, it must rapidly respond to the changing climate conditions. He said tourism businesses and destinations would need to change the way they operated. This included reducing their greenhouse emissions, particularly those produced by aviation transport and accommodation facilities. The event was sponsored by VU, the Victoria Tourism Industry Council, and TTF Australia.

VU TeeS offSanctuary Lakes Resort at Point Cook will become a golfing centre of excellence with the signing of an agreement between the Sanctuary Lakes Club and Victorian University. The arrangement recognises the need for specialised and advanced education and training to meet the critical demand for expertise in the golf industry. It will see the Le Brocque Golf Academy at Sanctuary Lakes and VU continuing their five-year training partnership. Courses include the Bachelor of Applied Science in Sport Science (Golf), which develops students as golf coaches and players; a VCE Vocational Education program for students completing Year 11 and 12, a post-Year 12 player development program to assist players to develop their skills while completing university study, and Golf Industry Traineeships to allow trainees to work while completing study. VU is also developing a Diploma of Golf Business to train students to work in the administration of golf clubs and golfing organisations.

VU CHArTS new PATHSVictoria University opened its refurbished library at St Albans Campus in October as part of a University-wide upgrade of its study areas. Now called a learning commons, the St Albans Campus Library is the third to receive a complete transformation to provide a welcoming and informal centre for individual learning, group study, or an on-campus escape. Besides the latest in information technology and new ergonomic furniture, the learning commons provides a one-stop hub for study, career guidance, and academic writing and language support. Peer rovers and IT experts are on hand to offer assistance alongside library staff. Many other universities are refurbishing their libraries and student spaces, but few have gone down the information learning commons path, says VU Chancellor, Justice Frank Vincent. VU has charted new paths in incorporating many services under the same roof. VUs City Flinders and Werribee Campuses have already been upgraded, with student occupancy rates skyrocketing.

6

a new Creative arts course will teach students additional skills in business and communications.

In BriefCArInG for THe AGeDVictoria University students studying the Diploma of Lifestyle and Leisure have completed an extensive report addressing issues facing aged residents being relocated from a rundown, low-cost housing estate in Melbournes northern suburb of Northcote. The four-storey estate, built in 1963, had deteriorated so badly that the elderly residents health and security had become endangered. The 47 apartments are being demolished and rebuilt, with residents returning when the new building is completed in two years. Students surveyed residents to identify the difficulties and impact the relocation is having on them. The reports recommendations have been passed on to the Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG). HAAG provides tenancy, information and support services to older tenants living in Victoria, and is preparing a submission to the State Government for additional support for the residents. The Government was going to knock down the estate and rebuild it for private housing. Following HAAGs lobbying and media publicity, the Government decided to rebuild the apartments.

VU beST HAIr DAYVictoria Universitys hairdressing program is the only one in Australia to be given three gold stars by the Institute for Trade Skills Excellence. This is the highest level of distinction awarded by the institute. This three star rating is national recognition for doing what we do best, and further evidence that we are a premium provider, says Jann Fullerton, head of the School of Personal Services. VU has always been recognised by the industry we have a well established reputation for excellence, award-winning students and innovation in course delivery. VUs hairdressing course has been taught under various names since the mid sixties, and moves with the times. It engages with industry, our teachers are leading professionals, and we deliver the course to students at their own pace, Fullerton says. VU was nominated for the institutes star rating scheme by the Hairdressing and Beauty Industry Association of Victoria, the states peak hairdressing industry body.

ArTISTIC eDGeAnimation and event management may seem an odd mix, but for the first time in Victoria, creative arts students will be taught additional skills in business and communication technologies in a course to be introduced at Victoria University in 2008. Megan Chudleigh, co-ordinator of the Bachelor of Creative Arts Industries course, says the rapidly evolving and diversifying world of the arts requires students to combine imagination with practical skills. The three-year degree will be customised for each students needs, offering the chance to combine core arts studies with a range of other studies, including public relations, professional writing and multimedia. The flexibility offered by the program will prepare students for a diverse range of jobs, such as community arts director, event manager, exhibition curator, arts media officer, online designer and interactive art director. Students will receive significant practical experience and mentorship in the workplace. The new course has already generated interest within the arts industry.

7

Paramedic sciences student Jessie Lyon administers an intramuscular injection to a child with malaria.

Paramedic Studies

KENYAN JOURNEYThe remote Kenyan village of Mutumbu is about 300km north-west of the Kenyan capital of Nairobi and not far from the Ugandan border. It is home to 80 children and adults. As in much of Africa, HIV/AIDS is having a devastating effect on the villagers. More than 10 per cent of the wider Kenyan population carries the virus, including more than 100,000 children 650,000 children are now orphans because of the disease. However, malaria still kills more Kenyans than any other communicable disease. Tuberculosis, diabetes and protein deficiency are rife, and unsafe water, poor sanitation, bilharzia (a blood parasite) and sleeping sickness pose major problems. War-related deaths due to ethnic violence are also common. Medical facilities, particularly in rural areas, are few and far between. Three Victoria University paramedic students spent their 2007 mid-year break volunteering as health workers in Mutumbu. Their tales recount the stark differences between Australian life and that of a region where few of the local people live past 40. But they also tell of strong bonds developed with the villagers and their professional relationships with fellow volunteers. In the beginning, all we could think about was coming home, but once we got into it, we didnt want to, says Rebecca Felsinger who, with fellow third-year Paramedic Sciences students Jessie Lyon and Lucy Claridge, spent two months in the village. During their regular work at the local Rangala Babies Home, the three 20-year-old students nursed tiny babies fed them, changed them, cuddled them and taught some to crawl. There, they also encountered the realities of Kenyan life. Their HIV tests are like our pregnancy tests, says Lucy. Theyve got little kits and you can do it on the spot. When not at Rangala, the young women volunteered at a local medical centre run by nurses, where they developed a basic understanding of luo, the local language. Duties were varied and included dressing a mans arm slashed by a machete. The students also travelled with doctors and nurses to nearby rural communities to assist at wound clinics and medical camps, as well as provide medical supplies. Most of the patients had never seen a doctor in their life, says Rebecca. One man had a wound on his leg that had been there for five years.

8

Paramedic sciences students Lucy Claridge (far left) and Rebecca Felsinger treat patients at a local school.

Paramedic Studies

They walked nearly three kilometres to get to their first medical camp, each carrying two crates of medication. Their small medical team treated around 400 patients, supplying each patient with multiple medications, including paracetamol and anti-malaria tablets. The overall cost was just A$300. Their journey to Mutumbu began in September last year when the students began researching aid organisations. Last February they applied to Adelaide-based World Youth International and were accepted as volunteers. Victoria University donated $1000 to each student, and Rural Ambulance Victoria, the Australian College of Ambulance Professionals, and several pharmaceutical and health manufacturers provided financial and material support. The students raised additional funds to meet the $9000 needed for their two-month trip. Once in Kenya, the trio drew on practical skills garnered from their university studies, including wound care, delivery of intramuscular and IV injections, and strategies for putting patients at ease in the presence of a language barrier.

All three believe their lack of expectations helped to keep them calm in a country where patience is often more a necessity than a virtue. Wed been trained to give injections, but it was different there (in Kenya), Lucy says. The needles were too thick, or the needles were blunt, or the medication wasnt the best quality. There was no running water and, although there was electricity, it wasnt always turned on. The only toilet was a drop toilet. Not only did it include a resident rat, but it was used by the whole village. Other challenges included travelling on treacherous dirt roads that turned into mudslides in the rain. These roads were navigated by mini-vans the only means of public transport often carrying double their 14-person capacity. But these challenges did not detract from the gratitude the students felt for their Kenyan experience. I think Mutumbu will always be in our hearts, Lucy says. The things Ive seen and done, I cant get them out of my head. I think about them all the time.

9

Lucy Claridge (left) and Rebecca Felsinger with newborns at the siaya district Hospital.

Paramedic Studies

They returned home in July to exams, assignments and applications for graduate paramedic positions all of which allowed little time to digest their journey. Sue Eastcott, acting course co-ordinator for Paramedic Sciences, stresses the benefits of volunteering abroad for student development and improvement of employment prospects. Its important to get exposure to people from different groups, different cultural backgrounds, different lifestyles, she says. What the girls did overseas was an incredible opportunity for them, and Id love to see some more of our students go and have a similar experience. Rebecca and Jessie enrolled in the Paramedic Sciences degree through VUs Portfolio Partnerships alternative-entry program. It is open to Year 12 and VETiS (Vocational Education and Training in Schools) students attending participating schools in Melbournes western metropolitan region, and who have a strong vocational commitment and the potential to succeed in a university or TAFE course.

VU is currently training several hundred students in its Paramedic Sciences courses, from certificate to doctoral level, including a conversion degree for health practitioners wishing to upgrade their qualifications. A Graduate Diploma in Emergency Management is also offered. Students from the VU program traditionally get jobs with Melbournes Metropolitan Ambulance Service or Rural Ambulance Victoria. ALEXANDRA ROGINSKI

10

Rowena Hansen at her workplace at the Magistrates Court of victoria.

SMOOTH JUSTICEBehind the gavel-wielding judge and beside the stone-faced lawyers, an army of support staff keeps the Australian justice system running smoothly. These people arent usually the subject of television courtroom dramas they are the court registrars, and Victoria University is helping them develop their credentials. VUs new Certificate IV in Government (Court) Services is a specialist qualification that prepares students to work as court administrators, those responsible for the day-to-day operations of the courts. The two-year part-time program is designed for existing court employees and is the only accredited program of its kind in Australia. Students come from courts and locations across Victoria and New South Wales, including the Attorney Generals Department, Victorian Department of Justice, Supreme Court, County Court, Magistrates Court and Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The program is offered in collaboration between the Faculty of Workforce Development and the Faculty of Business and Law. The first intake of 51 students in 2005 graduated in June this year. Rowena Hansen, a training officer at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, was among the inaugural class. Taking the program opened up a career opportunity for me, Hansen says. It helped me move from the Supreme Court to the Magistrates Court, because the qualification gave me more flexibility in terms of where I was qualified to work. Hansen enrolled in the Certificate IV as part of the supervisors and assessors group, who completed the qualification so they could work with new and future staff doing the program. Students attend classes at VUs Sir Zelman Cowen Centre for Further Legal Studies in Queen Street for 23 days over a two-year period. Sue Marshall, Business Development Manager at the centre, says assessment is largely based on workplace projects. The students undertake a range of problem-solving activities and work in groups to discuss the issues, and then develop and justify solutions. Each case study is debriefed by an appropriate expert from the Court or Department of Justice. Mark McCutchan, Training and Development Manager at the Victorian Magistrates Court, says the interaction between regional and city students has been a factor in increasing the willingness of city students to take up positions in regional courts. VU is aiming to make the qualification a national standard for court administrators. YANNICK THORAVAL

Law

11

CAUSE FOR

ALARMPsychology

New VU research shows that smoke alarms are ineffective in waking a large proportion of Australians. It could change the way people around the world are woken during a house fire.Victoria University research provides the strongest proof yet that the average household smoke alarm should be changed to a more complex sound guaranteed to wake up vulnerable sleepers during a house fire. The research is timely, in light of data from the Australian Productivity Commission that shows there are around 20,000 household fires in Australia each year, resulting in about 100 deaths, and many more injuries. The VU studies, which are the worlds first comprehensive investigation into the waking effectiveness of smoke alarms, are expected to usher in changes to the beeping signals of home smoke alarms around the world. The two-year research by Professor Dorothy Bruck from VUs School of Psychology, and Professor Ian Thomas from VUs Centre for Environmental Safety and Risk Engineering (CESARE), concludes that

the high-pitched 3000-hertz beep emitted by smoke alarms in Australian homes today is disturbingly ineffective in waking older people, children and those who have gone to bed after consuming alcohol. Sleep trials at VUs dedicated sleep laboratory at St Albans Campus showed that only 44 per cent of those with mild to moderate hearing loss awoke with the standard high-frequency alarm next to their pillow. Another trial showed the same alarm could not rouse 40 per cent of young adults who had a 0.5 blood-alcohol reading before sleeping. Further trials demonstrated that a standard smoke alarm failed to wake more than half of children aged six to ten, even when it was placed above their bed, and most elderly people because the ability to hear high frequencies declines with age. We have an aging baby boomer population, and we know the risk of dying in a fire increases with age, Bruck says. Our safety products need to respond to this knowledge. We know that unimpaired adults will usually wake up to the current signal at reasonably low volumes, but an alternative signal is significantly more effective at waking vulnerable people. In the United States, Australia, and many other countries, there are no requirements regarding the pitch of smoke alarms, just volume. In Australia, its set at 75-decibels, roughly the same level as a loud radio. Since 2004, Australian standards require all smoke alarms to produce three beeps at half-second intervals, pause, then produce another three beeps. Manufacturers use the high-pitched frequencies because they are cheap to make. The studies show there is a real need for emergency systems to be redesigned or supplemented as soon as technically possible, Bruck says.

12

Professor dorothy Bruck monitors a sleepers response to different sounds.

Psychology

The trials also tested the effectiveness of strobe lights, voice alarms and bed-shakers for the at-risk groups. So what is an effective sound? The study showed that a 520-hertz square wave with a range of frequencies at the standard volume was the best, waking up 92 per cent of the hearing-impaired and 100 per cent of those who had consumed alcohol. A voice alarm worked best for children, but was not effective with the elderly, or for those whose first language was not English. When we sleep, our brains monitor the environment for a range of sounds close to human pitch, Bruck says. That is why we suspect the squarewave beeping and human voice signals were more successful in our trials. The findings have been presented at several recent overseas conferences, as well as the international conference of the World Federation of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine Societies held earlier this year in Cairns. Certainly, this has caused a lot of discussion internationally and were delighted by the success of the research, Bruck says. The groundbreaking research was commissioned by the U.S. National Fire Protection Research Foundation. Im confident in the very near future, well see changes in the US to sound standards, and Australia will follow soon after that. So far, only one manufacturer, an American company, has made an alarm with the square-wave frequency. Bruck would like more companies to begin feasibility studies to develop and market a new smoke alarm in a cost-effective way. Early research shows battery-powered alarms may not be capable of generating a loud enough sound at a low frequency.

The VU researchers are now carrying out further studies, sponsored by the Australian Research Council and the Australian Building Codes Board. They are testing 16 other types of alarm sounds, including white noise, voices, and other mixed frequencies. They will also test the effectiveness of several signals on people taking sleeping tablets. We want to continue looking into trials of other signals to find the one sound most effective at waking all types of people, even though it looks like we may have come across it early in the research, Bruck says. Naomi Brown, chief executive of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council, the peak body representing the countrys fire and emergency services agencies, said she was aware of the research, and open to any studies that could make advancements on the current alarm. Professor Bruck and Professor Thomas research was based on earlier doctoral research by CESARE project officer Michelle Ball. ANN MARIE ANGEBRANDT

13

NEIGHBOURHOOD RENEWALRetired carpenter Neil Dillon, 67, thought hed never go to university. But thanks to a unique community partnership that includes Victoria University, Neil is one of several local residents to earn credit towards a Certificate in Frontline Management. Neil is president of the Western Region Community Tool Library, a nonprofit tool-hire business he helped establish 14 years ago. The library is helping residents maintain their properties and create a sense of pride in their neighbourhoods of Maidstone and Braybrook, which are among the worst areas for unemployment and disadvantage in Melbourne. In 2004, as part of the State Governments Neighbourhood Renewal program, and under the umbrella of the Braybrook Community Enterprise and Training Shed Partnership, residents, government officials, welfare agencies and VU staff came together to further develop the Tool Library and design, fund and help run other projects in the area. The partnership was acknowledged last August by Peter Bachelor, Minister for the Department of Planning and Community Development, for its outstanding community service and for providing meaningful employment and training to residents. About 300 residents now use the library. The Tool Library was seen as unique when we started it, and its still unique, Neil says. The training he received will go towards further university studies in management. As part of the librarys development, it upgraded its workshop to peak occupational health and safety standards. The workshop can now be hired as a venue for community training. Many of the workers involved in the sheds $35,000 upgrade were longterm unemployed residents. The workshop upgrade provided a practical project on which to apply their VU training. Their training will be credited towards a building and construction certificate. Frances Newell, VUs Employment and Learning Co-ordination Unit manager, says the tool library and workshop is one of several local learning and employment projects in which the University plays a role. Other community enterprises that are helping residents build their skills and gain qualifications include Global Landscapes which, in partnership with the Brotherhood of St Lawrence, provides gardening and landscaping services in the area. Another is the Healthy Canteen Enterprise, where African women, in partnership with the Maribyrnong City Council, prepare canteen and take-home meals for students at Footscray City Primary School. Many of the projects participants received credit from VU toward a certificate in hospitality. Although many of the participants in the projects are long-term unemployed, sole parents, pensioners, ex-offenders, or members of culturally and linguistically distinct communities, a measure of the success of the neighbourhood program is that most have remained employed in their jobs for at least 16 weeks. These projects are expected to become self-sustaining in the future, Newell says. This is a terrific partnership for VU to be involved in because these enterprises are empowering for everyone. ANN MARIE ANGEBRANDT

CommunityMembers of the Maidstone and Braybrook communities accept their award from Minister Peter Bachelor (bottom left).

14

SOUL MANEven Leonardo da Vinci thought painting portraits was difficult. He wrote: A good painter has two main objects to paint, man and the intention of his soul. The former is easy, the latter hard. But artist and Victoria University teacher, Paul Borg, makes the painting of the soul in his portraits look easy. The veteran artist recently opened a retrospective exhibit of his portraiture in the public gallery at City Flinders Campus. The exhibit features about 50 pieces that Borg produced between 1992 and 2007. The collection includes a number of small drawings and self-portraits, which hang beside larger oil paintings depicting members of Borgs family and western Melbourne community leaders, such as Maribyrnong Mayor, Mai Ho. The exhibit also includes a portrait of VUs founding Vice-Chancellor, Jarlath Ronayne, which the University commissioned in 2006. Ronayne was appointed the foundation Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University in 1991, a position he held until October 2003. Borgs portrait of the former VC is typical of the artists style, a raw and self-effacing humanism, which Borg attributes to observation rather than technical know-how. A good portrait is only 20 per cent technical skill, Borg says. I try to get to know the subjects I paint. I dont just talk to them about their jobs, I find out about their lives as people. Jarlath loved the piece. His wife said, Thats him down to a t. Borg, a four-time finalist for the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, is an organic product of VU and Melbournes western suburbs.I grew up in the outer western suburb of St Albans, he says. Becoming an artist was unheard of. Get a job, thats what you did. Despite improbable career prospects, Borg studied art and design at VU in 1981, back when it was called Footscray Institute of Technology (FIT). A friend of mine went to FIT to do architecture and I went with him, Borg remembers. We ended up in the art department by mistake and I signed up right away. Borg has been a fixture at VU ever since. A successful commercial artist, he has also been teaching painting and drawing at the University for 22 years. He says the contact with students helps keep him fresh. Students always test you, he says. They inspire and encourage you to keep a dialogue going, an exploration about art. They ask questions like, What is contemporary art? There is no answer. Find the best way to express what you feel, I tell them. Do what you believe in, dont do what fashion dictates; paint your truth and you cant go wrong. Borgs portrait exhibit has been overwhelmingly successful with several pieces selling on opening night. The public gallery at City Flinders Campus is a flexible teaching and exhibition space, which displays a range of artistic works by VU staff and students. In 2008, the gallery will also present works from the wider artistic community. The gallery is located in the School of Creative Industries, Level 17, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne, and is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm. YANNICK THORAVAL

School of Creative IndustriesPaul Borg with his painting of former vu vice-Chancellor, Professor Jarlath Ronayne.

15

Chad Timmermans prepares for the 2007 winter universiade in Italy.

Sport

TOPS IN SPORTUniversity students who think they are over-worked should try juggling the schedules of Chad Timmermans and Stephanie Ng. Both are postgraduate students at Victoria Universitys Footscray Park Campus. And both are world-class athletes Stephanie in taekwondo and Chad in snowboarding. They respectively competed at the 2007 Summer and Winter Universiades, the biannual equivalent of the Olympic Games for university students. They need to fit rigorous training schedules between lectures, assignments and exams, as well as find money to compete at an elite level, which is not easy. Chad, 28, tried different sports over the years, including competitive swimming and Iron Man races. Even though hed done regular trips to the snow since he was young, he never thought of competing in snow sports until he casually entered nearly every race at the Australian University Ski and Snowboarding Championships in 1999. The Mount Eliza resident surprised even himself by coming fifth overall. I had the persistence and courage to do the lot, and I thought, I might be good at this, Chad says. Today, he has made giant slalom snowboarding his main event, topping the Australian team results at the Winter Universiade held in Italy in January this year. The performance confirmed why he was named VUs Top Male Athlete last year. Even though competitions take him frequently overseas, Chad hopes to complete his Masters of Applied Psychology, with a specialisation in sports psychology, next year. The course really appealed to me because of my sports background, Chad says. I wanted something so that when I went to work, it didnt feel like a job. VU is renowned as having the best program in sports psychology in Australia. Stephanie, who is now studying a Graduate Diploma in Exercise Rehabilitation, with plans for a Masters in 2008, says her motivation comes from achieving increasingly better results. My mum put me into taekwondo when I was little for self-defence, Stephanie says. Later, my coach got me involved in competition, and I just kept winning. The 25-year-old Wheelers Hill resident now has a national ranking of third, and came in the top eight among 25 competitors in her lightweight division at the Summer Universiade in Thailand last August. Her long-term goal is to become an exercise physiologist, treating the overweight, frail, and post-surgery patients through exercise programs. My own interest in being an athlete has made me realise how important exercise is in getting and keeping people healthy.

16

stephanie Ng displays her taekwondo skills.

Sport

Scott Cashmere, VUs sports services co-ordinator, said the serious dedication and ambition Chad and Stephanie show to their studies, sports, and careers characterise that of many elite athletes. People who achieve at the top of their sports are usually driven in other areas of their lives too, Scott says. Sports have always played a big part in campus life, especially at VU, whether or not students reach the same world-class levels of Stephanie and Chad, Scott says. Because of timing, many people reach their physical peak when theyre at university and its not unusual to have very high standards of performance. VU is recognised as an elite-athlete-friendly university, meaning it offers flexible study options and assistance to students who undertake high-level sports while studying. The University holds annual sports awards recognising outstanding performances or service by individuals, teams and clubs. It has also introduced a Sports Hall of Fame. Inductees are all former VU students and include basketballers Andrew Gaze and Larry Sengstock, rower Mike Mckay, yachtsman Campbell Rose and Olympic judo competitor, Rebecca Sullivan.

There are also awards of blues and half-blues (based on an Oxford University system of sports honours) to recognise sporting achievements. Scott says the Universitys current $54 million capital works program at Footscray Park Campus will provide a world-class exercise, science and sport precinct, placing VU at the forefront of sports science. Our operations, including staff numbers, have significantly grown over the years. The opportunities to excel at sport, or just simply to participate in clubs to stay fit are drawcards that attract people to university life. ANN MARIE ANGEBRANDT

17

YOUNG AT ARTYoung artists in Melbournes west now have a unique place to showcase their talents. Earlier this year, the Young@Art Gallery opened at Victoria Universitys Melton Campus, providing a much needed forum to publicly exhibit artworks by the regions imaginative primary and secondary schoolchildren. The gallery may be the first of its type for Australia, if not the world, according to teacher and gallery curator, Megan Evans. Unlike most childrens art galleries, this one does not set a subject or theme for its exhibitors and rely on teacher selections, but operates more as a professional adult gallery where work is sought and judged on its merit by the curator. Evans says the focus of the first exhibition, which ended in July, were works she believed had a unique childlike quality, a young persons view of the world, as opposed to art that imitates an adult view of art. She consulted with a group of primary and secondary schools in the Melton and Keilor Downs areas, seeking work that explored the concept of I am. I met with teachers and asked them to show me the work that their students were doing, Evans says. I was then able to choose work that would suit the exhibition as a whole, look at what would work together rather than as individual pieces. It was not a matter of simply taking work that was recommended by the teacher as good art. A second exhibition by primary students, with the theme, The West is Best, and called, We Are, opened in July and runs until the end of the year. The gallery space includes a workshop and lessons area. When local school groups visit, the gallery can double as a primary classroom where first-year VU education students can hone their skills teaching visual art. In this way, the student teachers increase their learning in the workplace to ensure they graduate job ready. VUs Associate Professor Brenda Cherednichenko, who helped Evans to establish the gallery, says it has been well received by the community. It has generated much interest and discussion from visitors to the Melton Campus and through special gallery tours and art workshops conducted on campus for teachers and students from local schools, she says. BRETT QUINE

Art Educationschoolchildren enjoy the art of their peers.

18

BORN TO PERFORMMichael McManus has sold camping gear and mobile phones, completed a cooking apprenticeship at an Indian restaurant and travelled the world. But it was only when the 24 year old returned from a trip to the Caribbean that he realised his true calling. I connected with the Rasta way of life, which is about free thought and expression, and respecting yourself, Michael says. He then knew that he really wanted to be a performer. On his homecoming, his search for a formal course in performance led him to Victoria University, where he is in his final year of a three-year Bachelor of Arts in Performance Studies at Footscray Park Campus. The course looked fantastic because its not aimed at working by texts, but at informing all aspects of the performance with individual expression, Michael says. Performance encompasses a broad range of creative activities for the St Kilda resident. He was recently chosen from hundreds of aspiring directors to present a 10-minute play at the Victorian Arts Centre, as part of its annual Short and Sweet festival, being held in December. The flagship of the performing arts in Victoria, the Arts Centre is providing Michael with a professional venue and technical support. The opportunity will not be Michaels directorial debut. He previously tasted success as the director of a Beaumaris community theatre company, whose production of Jean-Paul Sartres No Exit won several awards in a recent one-act play festival. Michael is also working on establishing links with the Bob Marley School of Performing Arts in Jamaica, to begin trading creative ideas and events between Australia and the Caribbean. My real love these days is making my own art and getting involved in all aspects of performance making whatever form that takes, Michael says. For one of his final assessments, Michael produced a surreal installation performance, Illuminati, that included cutting up lines of his poetry and rearranging it into new text, in a style reminiscent of beat poets such as William S. Burroughs. It also included Michael reciting poetry and presenting an improvisational performance with the installation as a backdrop. Michael said the support of the Arts, Education and Human Development Faculty and the experience of his teachers have played a big part in his early success. Margaret Trail, course co-ordinator of the Performance Studies program, says the strength of the program is in the diverse creative interests of students and staff. Some of our students have a strong interest in drama and theatre, but many also come from the more creative side of multimedia, Trail says. The course helps them all develop a performance perspective to their creativity. ANN MARIE ANGEBRANDT

Performance StudiesPerformance studies student Michael McManus and part of his surreal installation, Illuminati.

19

Biomechanics lecturer Kevin Ball (far right) analyses western Bulldogs player Jarrod Harbrows kicking style.

Human Movement, Recreation and Performance

WINNING WITH SCIENCEProfessional sport today is a highly organised corporate enterprise where players are assets and victory is often the difference between millimetres and nanoseconds. In this brave new world of sport, science is playing an increasing role in the precision that separates winners from losers. Just ask Kevin Ball, a lecturer and researcher at Victoria Universitys School of Human Movement, Recreation and Performance. Ball is an expert in sports biomechanics, a science that examines human movement to improve an athletes physical performance and prevent injury. Biomechanics is about micro-analysing movement, says Ball. We do video and computer analysis of an athletes movement, then work with players and their coaches, and do drills and strength training to compensate for physical weaknesses, and to increase flexibility and improve technique. He says it is essential for professional athletes to have good technique to hold up under the extremes of fatigue and pressure. VUs biomechanics lab looks like the set of science fiction movie, with 3D movement equipment that is similar to what Hollywood effects studios use to produce animation. The 3D software helps us see which muscles tire, identify imbalance and adjust movement to an individuals physical characteristics and style of play, says Ball. VU places its biomechanics students with the AFLs Western Bulldogs and rugbys grand final-winning Melbourne Storm. Theres no better opportunity for students and researchers than working with professional athletes, says Ball. Students can learn theory, then work with pro athletes to apply their skills. No other uni offers a similar opportunity. Western Bulldogs midfielder, Jarrod Harbrow, says hes grateful for what he has learned from VUs relationship with the AFL club. You learn that the games not just about kicking a football, says Harbrow. You might think you have a good kick, but when you look at yourself in 3D, you see how many areas you need to improve on. I had to work on my balance and strength in the hip region. Now its always in the back of my mind that I have to correct myself. Harbrow says his kicking technique and accuracy are improving. Theres a lot of science in sport these days and I think it brings sport to a higher level. Coaches in team sports have traditionally focused on strategy over technique, but professional sporting organisations have a growing interest in the science of biomechanics. The Fremantle AFL club gave Ball $15,000 to assist them in their 2007 season, and Ball recently secured a $28,000 development grant towards research in kicking techniques for set-shot shooting in the AFL.

20

exercise Physiologist simon sostarich (right) administers Bodyflow treatment to student Brad Gatt.

Human Movement, Recreation and Performance

But success on the field also has a lot to do with what you do off the turf. Recovery is crucial to good athletic performance. Simon Sostaric, exercise physiologist at VUs Exercise and Sports Performance Unit, has recently completed research investigating the effects of low frequency electrical stimulation (Bodyflow treatment) immediately after exercise on the recovery of damaged muscles. A mild, low-frequency electrical current stimulates lymphatic flow, clearing toxins from the muscle tissue, helping to accelerate recovery, says Sostaric. During treatment, participants only feel a slight tingling sensation. Sostarics research required sixteen volunteers to undertake physical exercise to induce muscle damage. Their muscles were then electrically stimulated, blood samples analysed for toxins and exercise tests monitored for changes in power and strength. Results support the notion that athletes benefit from integrating Bodyflow treatment with other evidence-based methods to accelerate recovery following strenuous physical activity, says Sostaric. This research also highlights that little is known about the role of the lymphatic system in human performance, warranting further mechanistic and applied research projects in this field.

Bodyflow treatment has already been used with success by professional athletes including AFL players, and cycling and running professionals. Its clear that success in professional sport is not just about having a go and hoping for a positive outcome. Precision of technique and science-based recovery is proving to be an advantage for todays professional athletes. YANNICK THORAVAL

21

SMART HOUSEWith electronic touch screens, automated doors and a home entertainment system that would make Steven Spielberg jealous, the sophisticated gadgetry in Victoria Universitys Smart House at Sunshine Campus is more than just techno-smart. Built from the ground up by VU students and their teachers from the School of Engineering, Construction and Industrial Skills, the house is also intelligent from an environmental perspective. Victorias Resicode legislation requires all new homes to have a five-star energy rating. But with its double glazed windows, solar heating, green plumbing and use of recycled water, the Smart House achieves an 11-star rating. Stan Borysiewicz, program manager of electrotechnology at VUs Faculty of Technical and Trade Innovation says he enjoys taking visitors through the house, built adjacent to the campus R C Fordham Building where building trade apprentices learn their hands-on skills. Usually when people hear a house is built by students, their expectations are pretty low, he says. Then they walk through these doors. With everything that opens and shuts automatically, the house is proof a building can be environmentally savvy and aesthetically chic. Its not just about being able to turn on the lights from your mobile phone, have keyless entrance doors and 360 degree video surveillance. Even the garden plants are water efficient, thanks to VUs Indigenous Services who advised on the homes range of native plants. The Smart House was built using the latest construction methods and materials so that VU trade students can learn the best trade practices currently available in the building industry. Peter Averill, senior program manager IT and Electrotechnology at Sunshine Campus says, There are energy efficient homes that cost $2 million, but the Smart House costs what a normal house costs; you can walk into any building supply outlet tomorrow and build that house with existing technology. The project was funded through the Victorian Governments Office of Training and Tertiary Education, with matching funding from sponsors that exceeded $150,000.

School of Construction Industries

The environmentally advaned technology of vus smart House has earned it an 11- star energy rating.

22

One sponsor, electrical accessories company, Clipsal, uses the Smart House as a working model to show customers its high-tech gadgets in action. Our clients go through the house and they absolutely love it, says Anthony Prendergast, technical representative for Clipsal. The Smart House is a fantastic project, not just for VU, but for the west of Melbourne, in terms of what can be achieved in environmental technologies. I think were all going to be living in a house like this in the near future. The Smart House is used to teach school students the importance of sustainable house and garden design and ways to preserve the environment. YANNICK THORAVAL

School of Construction Industries

The smart House boasts a lavish, high-tech home theatre.

23

vus pathways offfered Liberal arts student anita Georgiades a second chance at higher education.

DEGREES

TAFE BY

Photo courtesy Fairfax Newspapers

Pathways

Many Victoria University students find it more practical to enrol in a vocational (TAFE) course instead of going straight into studying for a degree. Then, if they wish to further their studies, they can use their TAFE study as a pathway into a higher education degree. The flexibility of VUs vocational education programs was serendipitous for Lisa Pekez, who was studying to become an architect when illness forced her to discontinue her studies and spend two years in and out of hospital. Frustrated at not being able to study, Pekez searched for a TAFE course she could do by correspondence and settled on an IT course at VU, figuring that IT skills would be useful in any workplace. The program was a good fit; Pekez won a student-of-the-year award before using her TAFE experience to transfer directly into a bachelor degree in information systems. I felt better prepared for uni by having done the TAFE program, Pekez says. You get thrown into the deep end at uni and TAFE gave me more guidance and more hands-on experience than students who went to uni straight from high school. So it made the transition to uni easier. I dont think I would have finished my university degree without having done TAFE. Pekez now works at VU as an IT support officer. Ian Roberts, co-ordinator of learning pathways and qualification linkages at VU, says the University is increasing the number of pathways to higher education from TAFE.

Were keen to offer students clear pathways to higher education through TAFE so they can achieve what they want, even if they dont have the initial scores to get into certain programs, Roberts says. Students are happy when they discover that the TAFE alternatives are usually cheaper too. Students with an inconsistent educational background are also discovering TAFE programs as an option for re-entry into student life. Liberal arts student, Anita Georgiades, is one of many mature-age students at VU for whom TAFE pathways offer a second chance at higher education. I thought that return to study would improve my resume, says Georgiades. My long-term unemployed status narrowed down my job prospects. I wanted to gain more knowledge, acquire skills and get out of the vicious cycle of looking for work. Georgiades, who recently won VUs Outstanding Student in the Adult Community and Further Education Awards, says returning to study has been interesting and rewarding. YANNICK THORAVAL

24

Ministerial adviser-turnedcarpenter Marcelle Bagu at a Melbourne construction site. vu Chancellor The Hon. Justice Frank vincent aO QC.

Career Change

CORPORATE TO CARPENTERMarcelle Bagu used to gaze out the windows of her high-rise office, where she worked as a ministerial adviser with the Victorian State Government. She wasnt devising ways to continue her climb up the political ladder Marcelle was looking at the cranes and construction below her, and dreaming of climbing real ladders. I had become disenchanted with the political system and realised you could work away for years, and never really accomplish what you want, Marcelle says. I wanted to leave landmark achievements and see the impact of my life each day. The 36-year-old decided to quit her high-powered job, throw in her university degrees in politics, industrial relations and journalism, and become a carpenter. As the youngest of three sisters, and with no family connections to any trade, Marcelles plans astonished her parents, colleagues and friends. My mum was in tears when I first told her because she thought it was no job for a woman, but my dad was excited because he finally had a daughter he could talk about tools with. Marcelle enrolled as a pre-apprentice carpenter at Box Hill Institute of TAFE in 2004, and then moved to Victoria Universitys Newport Campus to complete a four-year apprenticeship now in its final year. She is also studying part time after a hard day at work for her Diploma in Building and Construction at VU. Her apprenticeship has taken her to jobs on city buildings with big-name developer, Multiplex Construction, as well as to smaller operators in house construction. She now works with the Schiavello Group, which has included building and refurbishing gaming and hotel areas of the Crown Casino. It feels great to be building the office towers rather than working inside them, she says. Kathy Andison, VUs Senior Careers Educator, says Marcelles dramatic career change was rare. But when someone feels unsuited to their job or education, she advises them to take advantage of careers counselling. We focus on their skills, values and interests to find whats important to them, Andison says. Marcelle says her choice to follow her heart was risky, but right. Earlier this year, the National Association of Women in Construction recognised her as an outstanding apprentice for her dedication and achievements. With women only making up about 13 per cent of all construction industry employees in Australia, Marcelle says she is a rare, but welcome colleague on male-dominated worksites. ANN MARIE ANGEBRANDT

25

Right: diabetes researcher and educator dr daniel Chew with a patient. Opposite page: dr Chew takes a blood test.

Community

CURBING AN EPIDEMICDiabetes is a pernicious and often silent disease. It can cause blindness, kidney failure, amputation and death. Talk to a health professional on the local diabetes front line, and theyll tell you that the disease has spiralled to epidemic proportions. Moreover, it is more prevalent in Melbournes west than almost anywhere else in the country. It is 16 per cent higher in Melbournes western suburbs than the rest of Melbourne. The numbers of diabetic patients are increasing rapidly in line with obesity and the aging population. What we are facing with diabetes is an epidemic, and particularly in this part of Melbourne, says Dr Daniel Chew, a diabetes expert, researcher and educator at Victoria Universitys St Albans Campus. Just the other day I visited a doctor who had a 32-year-old patient with type 2 diabetes. Five years ago that was virtually unheard of. Dr Chew is the principal researcher behind a three-year program, known to many of its participants simply as Project Diabetes, but more properly titled the Implementation of Chronic Disease Management (CDM) Systems for Diabetes in Primary Care. The project covers the Westgate Division of General Practice, representing 170 doctors at 41 private practices across Melbournes western municipalities of Hobsons Bay and Wyndham. CDM Systems was established in 2001 by Australias National Health Priority Action Council. It provides a government endorsed management structure to target preventable diseases such as diabetes through patient registers, regular reviews, early screening and healthy lifestyle education. This focus on preventative care aids in preventing the onset of complications, reduces the rate of hospital admissions, and therefore results in a reduction of cost and morbidity. Preventative care for type 2 diabetes includes such things as medication, monitoring blood sugar, controlled diet, maintaining a healthy weight, regular exercise, low alcohol consumption and non smoking. With the support of the Westgate Division of General Practice, Dr Chew started Project Diabetes in October 2005, conducting a needs analysis survey across the division, which was completed late last year. He found there was only a 38 per cent uptake of diabetes CDM at health clinics across the division a percentage only half that of the rest of Melbourne. Another key finding was that less than a quarter of the clinics in the study (which had a 46 per cent response rate) had used diabetes assessment or care plans, again showing a standard of care far below the Melbourne average. While Dr Chews research revealed a dearth of diabetes management resources, it also provided the impetus and intellectual infrastructure to start several programs that significantly improved treatment services.

26

Community

What we learned is how to assess the needs of the clinics and provide the support and systems of management they need to better treat diabetes, Dr Chew says. He identified eight priority clinics that required immediate help to set up management systems for diabetes. He personally visited the clinics and urged them to adopt CDM, which for some smaller practices with few staff was a daunting prospect. These clinics had no diabetes registers or recall systems, Dr Chew says. The first thing was to let them know what a CDM system was, then look at their workforce situation and resources, and then come up with education programs to put it all in place. Five of the clinics subsequently adopted the CDM system of care for diabetes. Dr Chew then set up programs to educate general practitioners, community groups and Indigenous and migrant health care professionals, using hands-on tuition to spread his knowledge at several practices. In June this year at the half-way point of the project a second CDM needs analysis survey revealed hard evidence of its success: a 33 per cent increase in the use of diabetes educators a 29 per cent increase in the use of diabetes health assessments a 33 per cent increase in the use of diabetes care plans

a 14 per cent increase in the use of diabetes recall systems 43 per cent of clinics surveyed now have the CDM system in place 29 per cent more clinics are familiar with CDM.

Dr Rafael Milone, general practitioner representative on the Westgate Diabetes Advisory Committee set up to oversee the project says the impact of the diabetes management program has been considerable. Not the least because of Dr Chews input. Daniel is very committed to his work and it comes through, Dr Milone says. Hes got that bubbly type of personality which has seen him develop quite a following among the patients. The next step in Project Diabetes, which ends in October 2008, is to measure the health outcomes of those improved services. BRETT QUINE

27

GREENBEACONIt wasnt so long ago that environmentalists were generally considered a special interest group voicing concerns from the political fringe. In serious political circles, the environmental lobby was typically portrayed as a quasi-anarchist faction that, peculiarly, valued whales and trees above economic growth. Today, environmental conservation is a mainstream movement; going green is a viable economic strategy; sustainability is an election platform from every point on the political spectrum; and environmental awareness is a cultural phenomenon spurred to action by high-profile advocates such as former US Vice-President Al Gore. With Hollywood starlets now commuting to red carpet galas in environmentally friendly hybrid cars, environmentalism has become the epicentre of cool. But, in 1991, long before ecology was sexy, VU senior research fellow Dr Colin Hocking envisioned a meeting place where like-minded people interested in the environment could come together to make a difference. Hockings vision found expression in the Iramoo Sustainable Community Centre, an environmental conservation and education facility at Victoria Universitys St Albans Campus on Melbournes outer western fringe. The basic inspiration for Iramoo came from concerns about the changes we were making to our environment, says Hocking. The mission of Iramoo is to act as a beacon and resource for sustainable living in the west of Melbourne, and to foster the connections between Victoria University, the community and our global partners. What started 15 years ago as two portables in a gravel car park is now a flourishing environmental facility. Iramoo, the Woiwurung name for the grassy wildflower plains that once ringed Melbourne, is a community centre that manages 43 hectares of native grassland adjacent to the campus. Victoria once had approximately 23,000 square km of native grassland, covering 10 per cent of the states southwest. Today, less than 3000 hectares or about 0.01 per cent of this uniquely Victorian ecosystem remains. Among the many fauna native to the grassland is the endangered Striped Legless Lizard, which once thrived across Victoria but whose population has been decimated by intensive agricultural and suburban development. The largest population of this small lizard, believed to be about 2000, now resides on a defined wildlife reserve a few kilometres from St Albans Campus. There are also spotted grass frogs, common froglets and pooblebonks, along with grass skinks, marbled geckoes, blue-tongue lizards, little whip snakes and the odd tiger and brown snake. More than 40 species of bird live on the Iramoo grasslands and wetlands, including the black-shouldered kite, nankeen kestrel and brown falcon. Iramoo has a strong biodiversity stream running through its education programs, which raise awareness of environmental issues in schoolchildren and the community. The environmental risks we now face are major and increasingly urgent, says Hocking. Climate change predictions are becoming more specific and more severe. They predict major increases in the

Sustainability

vus Iramoo sustainable Community Centre manges 43 hectres of native grassland adjacent to st albans Campus.

number of days over 40 degrees in summer, major increases in bushfire risk, major water shortages in dry years, and increased flooding and sea surge damage in suburbs close to the sea. He says that as insurance premiums go up because of increases in the number and extent of climate-caused catastrophes, and petrol and electricity increase in price as restrictions are put on their use, it will be the less well-off people who will suffer most, and many live in the western suburbs. It is up to us all to become informed and take responsible action to reverse these changes and plan the ways we will adapt to them. The changes we face are large and daunting, and people need places to come together to support one another through these changes, to maintain our resolve, and to work out practically how to do it. This is what Iramoo is all about. For Mel Doherty, a ranger and education officer at Iramoo, the facility offers people a source of empowerment in the fight against climate change. We all get bombarded with too many negative messages about environmental problems, Doherty says. The focus needs to be on positive, motivating messages that there are things we can all do to help the environment, and that every little bit helps. Students from local schools and members from the community recently assisted Iramoo staff in planting endangered native grasses on the Iramoo site. The centre runs a native nursery and seed bank, which produces over 15,000 plants per year, all of local indigenous stock.

It was fabulous, Doherty says. We had a great turnout with people of all ages. The majority had not visited Iramoo before, so we made sure they left with a much better understanding of how critically endangered Victorias native grasslands are. The idea is that people get connected back to our natural environment on an emotional level. We will not help fix environmental problems unless we can first come to care for the environment. On the day, we planted about 750 seedlings, with regular volunteers planting another 750 the following week. Year 9 students from St Albans Secondary College helped plant another 500 seedlings that week, as part of their advanced science partnership with Iramoo. A total of 2000 seedlings were planted 1500 of these were the critically endangered Button Wrinklewort (Rutidosis leptorrynchoides). This species of flora is now found only at a handful of sites, and are believed to only number between 4000 to 12,000 plants. I think these plantings at Iramoo are a huge positive step in helping to save this species from extinction, Doherty says. Iramoo played host to some 700 visitors last year. The centre has requested $300,000 in State Government funding towards a total project cost of $800,000 for the construction of an eco centre to be added to the existing site. The eco centre will enhance Iramoos ability to foster community involvement and understanding about ecology and sustainable living practices. YANNICK THORAVAL

Sustainability

Community volunteers help plant endangered native grasses on grasslands at Iramoo.

29

school of education lecturer Lawry Mahon.

RISE OF AOpinion

SCHOOL OF EDUCATIONLawry Mahon, a lecturer in the School of Education, takes a trip down memory lane from the humble beginnings of teacher education at Victoria University in the mid 1980s to its importance for Melbournes western suburbs today.A small classroom in the old Beanland Building at Footscray Nicholson Campus. That is where teacher education started at Victoria Universitys predecessor, Footscray Institute of Technology, back in 1985, the year before I commenced my teaching here. Twenty-two years on, there have been quite a few changes, including the birth of a university and privatisation and outsourcing, which have changed the way we do the business of education both internally and externally. But the fundamental change to me, however, is every time I visit a school in Melbournes western region I encounter a wonderfully changed vibe that didnt exist in the 70s at the start of my teaching career. Many of my peers in those early days were caring and evangelical souls, wandering across the so-called deprived western suburbs to save the poor socioeconomically disadvantaged children of the west. The uptake of tertiary education by western suburbs residents in those times was something like four per cent, and many of the first teaching students that flocked to FIT were the first members of their family trees to study at university. They were action research in the power of nurture over nature, and they made work a place of great joy. Now, more than two decades after the Beanland education team opened the way, around 3000 graduates with teaching degrees have excelled as teachers in western suburb schools and the vast majority of these teachers grew up in the western suburbs. Not only were they deemed very unlikely to succeed before Beanland introduced an education degree to the western suburbs, but in those early days students didnt even need a Year 12 education to enrol. But they did have to survive an interview with a panel of local teachers and FIT academics; have a school counselor who believed in them; a knowledgeable referee who believed they would be great teachers; and have done volunteer work in a primary school just to get into the course. Then they had to be prepared to sit their lectures in a tiny cricket pavilion disguised as a classroom. And those first few cohorts were made up of close to 90 per cent female students in an institution that was 90 per cent male. The culture shock was a two-way street a blokey institution confronted with forceful and challenging women students (and staff). Beanland was merely the beginning. Education soon outgrew the pavilion, and some lectures were held in a youth centre, just up the hill from Beanland. And it has never stopped growing. It has grown on average by approximately 70 students per year, and may hit 2000 this decade, or soon after.

30

The Beanland Building at vus Footscray Nicholson Campus dates back to 1915. vu Chancellor The Hon. Justice Frank vincent aO QC.

Opinion

Although the selection processes have become mainstream, the focus is still strongly on the western region. Most of VUs partnership schools are in the west, and most of our graduates head back to western region schools to teach, even though their qualifications can take them anywhere on Earth and some literally do go to far flung places on the planet. Approximately 50 School of Education graduates have headed to remote Aboriginal community schools in the Northern Territory. Most stay two years or more, when recruits from other universities, who may not have the same preparation, last on average seven months or less. With the Universitys focus on Indigenous issues, and with the leadership and advice from our very own Indigenous academic unit, Moondani Balluk, the School of Educations engagement with Australian Indigenous cultures is off and running. It is not difficult to imagine young Aboriginal people sitting under trees along the edge of the Maribyrnong River learning the ways of their elders. Education has been a part of the region for 50 millennia and it is not about to stop. With many thousands of VU graduates returning to their own environment to teach the children of their peers, teacher education at VU has shown that real change can occur, and you dont have to wait a hundred years. Real estate prices in the region have doubled in two years, and the participation rate at universities has more than doubled since the inauguration of VU. There can be no doubting the role of VU in such a magnificent outcome. It seems especially important to me that people who live different lives to those on the other side of the Yarra are given the same opportunities for advancement as their eastern suburb cousins. You dont have to be white, Anglo and male to be a great teacher. My first year at FIT saw Maltese, Italian, Greek, Turkish and Vietnamese people represented in the student body, along with the usual English, Irish and Scottish.

To be greeted in the schools we visit by teachers who have studied with us in their student days, and who now hold positions of responsibility, is profoundly rewarding. They have managed to take an opportunity and run with it all the way to the top of their profession. Former students have described the experience in those early Beanland days as mind-blowing. They were given an opportunity of a lifetime to choose study over work, to be treated with respect, and to be successful. In many cases there were powerful debates with cynical family members, especially after the introduction of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, about choosing work or study. Many families traditionally saw tertiary education as a waste of time. To be pioneers of change, our education students have endured that ridicule, forgone a wage while studying, and are now in positions where they get to advise the next cohorts we are expecting through the front doors of our campuses. So, was that early experience of shoulder to shoulder staff room meetings, tag teaming of lectures with one finishing one minute before the hour and another commencing on the hour, worth the effort? Absolutely. Beanland should be preserved by the National Trust. Do we need to recognise the heroism of those first few groups of pioneering students? We dont need to. They have proved themselves, as they start to send their own children to VU to realise their own dreams. The Beanland Building at Footscray Nicholson Campus was named after Charles Howard Beanland OAM, principal of VU predecessor institutions Footscray Technical School and Footscray Technical College from 195167.

31

CRISES TOWhen the floodwaters of the devastating Boxing Day Tsunami receded from the Indonesian region of Aceh in 2004, they not only left a humanitarian crisis in their wake, they also created an opportunity for Aceh to emerge from decades of poverty, corruption and war. According to Victoria University graduate and tsunami survivor, Rahmadhani Sulaiman, the scale of the disaster forced the people of Aceh to consider a future beyond the brutal conflict that had been raging for 30 years between local separatist rebels and the Indonesian army. The tsunami offered a precious trade-off, says Rahmadhani. Many people died, but the disaster also created an opportunity for real change. People began to understand there could be no peace without reconstruction and no reconstruction without peace. Rahmadhani, who completed a Masters of Business in Tourism Management at VU in 2003, sees it as is his duty to use his education towards assisting that reconstruction. What is knowledge for if I cant help my people, he says. I must work to honour those who died in the tsunami.

CROSSROADWhile the human toll of the tsunami was gruesome (166,561 people listed as dead or missing, and a further 192,055 made homeless), the less-noted economic fallout from the disaster is staggering. The tsunami wiped out civic and economic infrastructure courthouses, schools and farms were swept away, hobbling the countrys ability to sustain the livelihood of its people. Aceh lost 78 percent of its economic productivity, with material losses estimated at nearly two billion Australian dollars. With the worlds attention fixed on Aceh in the wake of the devastation, the country received the international support it needed to begin reconstruction. Progress has been steady. Widespread commercial and residential construction projects are slowly stimulating the Acehnese economy. But, for Rahmadhani, the next phase of reconstruction in Aceh has to do with making the region economically independent. Rahmadhani says his studies in management have been useful in his current role in Aceh as provincial director for industry, planning

Alumnivu alumni Rahmadhani sulaiman is working on a brighter future for aceh.

32

and development, where he is developing the processes of turning agricultural goods into useable commodities, such as turning animal hides into hand bags and making chips from potatoes. Rahmadhanis studies in commercial marketing have been instrumental in marketing products to consumers to help stimulate the local economy, which is helping to reduce the regions dependence on international support by fostering economic independence. But Rahmadhani says there are other, untapped opportunities that can help grow the Acehnese economy. One of these, he says, is tourism. While some may have trouble reconciling the grisly scenes of destruction synonymous with Aceh with those of a relaxing tourist destination, Rahmadhani is confident that tourism can be a source of long-term revenue for the Acehnese economy. In Aceh we have beaches, we have a rich history, we have culture, we have natural rain forests with rare plants and animals, we have great potential for eco-tourism, we have lots to offer tourists.

VU has a strong reputation in teaching community-based tourism and Rahmadhani is planning to study a PhD to further explore his idea of developing tourism in his homeland. While some may consider Rahmadhanis vision optimistic, he reckons optimism is just what Aceh needs. For reconstruction to succeed, the people of Aceh must not look back, they must look forward. YANNICK THORAVAL

Alumniwith the assistance of Oxfam, new houses are being built in the village of Lhohseudu in aceh Provence, Indonesia.

Photo: Jim Holmes/Oxfam

33

Bachelor of Business computing graduate George Parthimos with his portable internet radio, Infusion.

Alumni

RADIO ORIGINALGeorge Parthimos is keen to move beyond the story of how his company started, a tale that has become the stuff of urban legends. It goes like this: George decided while on holiday in Greece in the late 1990s that he needed to find out about his beloved Collingwood footy team. Frustrated at having to hunt through Athens streets for internet cafes, he came up with a plan on the back of a napkin for a portable radio that could pick up any station around the world. George, among the first intake of students of VUs Bachelor of Business Computing back in 1993, returned to Australia and set about developing his idea. In 2001, he established his company, Torian Wireless. Today, Torian Wireless has brought several internationally-award-winning inventions and technology to market, including the product of Georges original brainstorm: Infusion, the worlds first compact radio that can tap into any of the worlds 100,000 or so internet-streaming radio stations. Torians numerous awards have included three consecutive honours at the annual and prestigious Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. But it is the technology behind the product that George sees as the core of the business. It can easily be embedded into other products, so that cars, games consoles, mobile phones, televisions and stereos can also pick up internet radio. We realised early on that most major electronics players out there dont want to develop this sort of technology, they want a solution they can integrate into their products. To that end, Torian (short for Victorian) is building partnerships around the world and preparing to list on the Australian Stock Exchange. George travels often, most recently to trade shows in Europe and Asia. In addition, the companys small Collingwood office (territory of his much-loved football team) will soon be moved to a more respectable and corporate area of town, and its staff of 15 expanded. We are really at a crossroads now and all the hard work is paying off. George looks back at his VU education fondly, saying that the well-rounded business, accounting, and legal skills he acquired during his three-year degree have been as important as the information he learned at VU about computers. I didnt realise it at the time, but that background helps me every time I sign a complicated contract. Con Nikakis is one of Georges former teachers, and heads the School of Information Systems within the Faculty of Business and Law. He said the course, now called the Bachelor of Business Computer Systems Management, has come a long way from its first year when it was held in portables at VUs Melton Campus. George was part of the first group we called the originals, Con says. We prepared the students to be independent thinkers at a time when big computers were still seen as the future. Torian was commended in August 2007 by the Pearcey Foundation, an organisation that promotes Australian achievement in technology. Dr Trevor Pearcey, after whom the award is named, helped build the worlds oldest surviving computer in the late 1940s, which is still in Melbourne. It is fitting that George has built on Dr Pearceys work to pioneer his own technology success. ANN MARIE ANGEBRANDT

34

NEW BOOKSTeaching secondary school Mathematics Research and Practice for the 21st Century By Merrilyn Goos, Gloria Stillman and Colleen Vale Published by Allen & Unwin This comprehensive introduction to teaching the fundamentals of secondary school mathematics outlines the challenges maths teachers face today. It explores how engaging students interests through their world experiences can help them develop a positive attitude to mathematics. By A M Hosofer, V R Beck and I D Bennetts Published by Butterworth-Heinemann

VU Books

Risk analysis in Building Fire safety engineering

This book bridges the gap between risk assessment and fire safety engineering like few other resources. It describes the theory and the models in building fire risk analysis. Building fire safety and human behavioural responses to these scenarios show the benefits of risk-based fire safety design.

Offset 2007 Published by Victoria University Offset literary magazine is published annually by VUs Professional Writing students as part of their third-year project. This year features an essay by writer and ABC Radio presenter, Helen Razer, alongside the fiction, poetry and artwork of aspiring writers and artists, many from Melbournes west.

understanding and Managing Tourism (2nd edn.) By John Richardson and Martin Fluker Published by Hospitality Press, Australia This book explores the theory and practice of Australian travel and tourism in a changing world. With new case studies, profiles of industry leaders, and thought-provoking discussion questions, the text offers students a firm grounding in understanding and working in tourism.

Inventory: on op shops By Sue Dodd and Enza Gadolfo Published by The Vulgar Press Op shops are places of mystery and treasure containing personal and cultural narratives waiting to be told. The authors explore the role and meaning of op shops to both individuals and to the community, based on their extensive and enlightening interviews with volunteers, staff and customers.

The whisper of Leaves By Karen Simpson Nikakis Published by Allen & Unwin When the fantasy world of Allogrenia is attacked by Shargh forces, even the skills of Kira, its most gifted Healer and leader of the Tremen people, are tested. Her mission to save her people leads her on a perilous journey, marked by adventure and love.

VU fACTSHISTORY Founded in 1916 as Footscray Technical School and established as Victoria University in 1990 STUDENT POPULATION Current student population: more than 52,900 enrolled students International students: more than 11,400 Postgraduate students: more than 4500 CAMPUSES AND SITES City Flinders City King City Queen (site) Footscray Nicholson Footscray Park Newport Melton St Albans Sunbury Sunshine Werribee FACULTIES Arts, Education and Human Development Business and Law Health, Engineering and Science Technical and Trades Innovation Workforce Development and VU College NUMBER OF COURSES 792 higher education and TAFE courses GENERAL ENQUIRIES PHONE +61 3 9919 4000 INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENQUIRIES Victoria University International PHONE +61 3 9919 1164 EMAIL international@vu.edu.au POSTAL ADDRESS Victoria University PO Box 14428 Melbourne VIC 8001 WEB www.vu.edu.au

35

VU ART

ARTIST/STUDENT: Troy Johns COURSE: Diploma of Arts (Visual Art) TITLE: Urban Blend Tupac DATE: 2007 MEDIA: Dry pastel

www.vu.edu.auCRICOS Provider No. 00124K