GRADUATING BY DEGREES

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2 GRADUATING BY DEGREES When international business consultant Jenny Morawska spoke to fellow USC graduates on campus in 2013 as she was named one of two Outstanding Alumni of the Year, her words and experience reflected the whole ethos of the institution. There is so much going on here that is cutting-edge, said Ms Morawska, who has worked with the United Nations, world leaders on five continents and the World Bank since she became the University s first Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduate in USC has the people, passion and possibility Everyone is connected and working together and linked into that passion. There are huge possibilities for the future. She is one of thousands of graduates who have spread across the region, the state and the globe, as the University has extended from one campus to eight locations. AS 15,700 University of the Sunshine Coast graduates took their knowledge to the world in the past two decades, one thing led to another for 1,500 of them who didn t stop at one degree. The commitment to learning has sparked stunning career kick-starts and the fulfilment of personal passions. It s funny how things happen, said Debbie Platz, who was a 34-yearold police officer living at Mooloolaba in 1999 when she enrolled in an MBA at USC. I wanted to do something that set me apart from everyone else. Six years after her MBA graduation, Ms Platz returned to USC for a Graduate Diploma of Education. I wanted to further my career and I thought it would be handy to have curriculum knowledge and a background in education. She received that degree in So where did it all lead? She is now Chief Superintendent Platz, after rising through the ranks of Queensland Police to become the executive manager responsible for the professional development of every police officer in the state, from recruitment to retirement. Based at the police academy in Brisbane, she is involved in top-level administration and education the perfect combination of her USC degrees. Chief Superintendent Platz is a crusader against domestic violence, a researcher of innovative, evidence-based policing and a scholarship Master s student of the University of Cambridge in Britain. All of the training and education I did at USC stood me in good stead for a whole range of opportunities I ve had in policing, said the recipient of national and state awards for distinguished service, including an Australian Police Medal in 2010 and a National Medal in I like working in this dynamic environment and I m always looking for new challenges. Postgrad work adds to your diversity and strengths so that when you go for promotion, it should help. For me, it definitely has. I ve used the experience from budgeting and accounting all the way through to project management and how to deal with people in a classroom setting. If it wasn t for the education I had at USC, I wouldn t have gone to Cambridge. While the theory of both degrees helped me mentally, I also used USC as a stepping stone to get a Wakefield Scholarship to study applied criminology over there. By September last year, Chief Superintendent Platz had completed two of three residential components of her Cambridge program and was writing her thesis on a field trial underway in Queensland to improve police training regarding workplace sexual harassment, racism and bullying. The results of our trial will inform how we train recruits to encourage intervention in those behaviours, she said. The theory behind it stems from lessons I learnt during my education degree at USC. Chief Superintendent Platz s degree choices uncannily match the two most prolific programs conferred by USC since its first 62 63

3 graduation ceremony in 1999: the Graduate Diploma of Education at number one and the MBA at number two. Those two programs, which have taught more than 2,500 people how to teach and how to lead, are now being applied by savvy graduates across a wide range of industries and communities. Justin Pritchett is a physical education and science teacher at one of the biggest state high schools on the Sunshine Coast, and the co-founder and coach of Mountain Creek State High s flagship Australian Football League (AFL) program. Mr Pritchett won the plum job as he finished his USC Graduate Diploma of Education in 2008, in a neat tie-in with his Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science awarded in A current champion of female participation in sport, the former competitive surfer and AFL player says the University enabled him to reach cherished goals at different stages of his life. The first was to travel overseas on the world pro surfing circuit; the second was to carve a niche in the local school system, teaching the next generation while his own family grew. I ve ticked the boxes for my dream job twice, said the father of two. I ve hung out with my idols in pro surfing, touring Australia, South Africa, Europe and England with them for two years with my science degree. I did their stretching and taping and muscular therapy after the physiotherapists diagnosed them. I got to live and breathe the lifestyle, surfing with them every day. Occy was great. He was one of the older guys and needed a fair bit of work. He mentioned me in his book. (Australian surfing legend Mark Occhilupo won the world title as a 33-year-old in 1999, a few years before Mr Pritchett s trip of a lifetime.) Now I ve been at Mountain Creek for seven years and it brings plenty of enjoyment. No two days are the same as a teacher. I put out positive energy and get good outcomes from the kids. Coach Peter Bock and I created this AFL school of excellence to build local talent and good community relations. It s an inclusive sport, which works well for female participation, and we ve had some fantastic athletes go through, including a couple of guys in the Brisbane Lions Reserves. Our approach is holistic we want to nurture students, not just athletes. One of the reserves was Cameron Stevenson, who also got an OP1 (the top Year 12 academic score). We keep in touch with kids who kick footy with us after school. If you make an impact on someone s life, it doesn t stop when the bell goes. Mr Pritchett noted other former students Jemma Baker, who in July 2015 was on a research trip in Tonga to study humpback whales for her USC Bachelor of Business (Tourism, Leisure and Event Management), and Ben Henderson, an exschool captain studying a USC Bachelor of Paramedic Science. It s no coincidence that an AFL elective subject for Year 9 and 10 students at the school offered a focus on the biomechanics and sports science underlying performance at the elite level a little something Mr Pritchett picked up in his first USC degree. He recalled key lecturers who became mentors and are still at the University in 2016: Professor of Sport Science Brendan Burkett, my academic hero because he made learning so powerful ; and Research Fellow Dr Mark McKean, a PhD graduate of USC, who became a colleague in a joint personal training and exercise therapy business. I didn t even do science at high school and I had to battle my way through uni the first time, working five jobs to pay my way, said Mr Pritchett, but I ended up with a high distinction in biomechanics and used that as a basis for business. Mark had a gym on the Coast and took me under his wing. The Sippy Downs campus also was the venue for Victorian-raised Mr Pritchett reconnecting with Tracey, a former school friend who became his wife and a teacher and the impetus for his postgraduate study in education. The degree s practical component, supervised teaching in high school classrooms, proved a game-changer. I was at my prac, went to a job interview at Mountain Creek, and got the job the next day. I ve never left. I VE HUNG OUT WITH MY IDOLS IN PRO SURFING, TOURING AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA, EUROPE AND ENGLAND WITH THEM FOR TWO YEARS WITH MY SCIENCE DEGREE. NOW I VE BEEN AT MOUNTAIN CREEK FOR SEVEN YEARS AND IT BRINGS PLENTY OF ENJOYMENT. NO TWO DAYS ARE THE SAME AS A TEACHER. I PUT OUT POSITIVE ENERGY AND GET GOOD OUTCOMES FROM THE KIDS. 64 JUSTIN PRITCHETT 65

4 IN SPORT, WE RE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT DEVELOPING PATHWAYS FOR JUNIORS TO SUCCEED AT THE ELITE LEVEL. I D LIKE TO GET MORE STRATEGIES IN PLACE THROUGH THE BURANGA CENTRE SO WE HAVE CLEAR PATHWAYS FOR STUDENTS TO SUCCEED AT THE ELITE LEVEL IN EDUCATION. KEANE WHEELER HAYDEN KENNY AND DAUGHTER MELINDA SALMOND EMMA KILL Another alumnus from a strong sports background now intent on nippers, rugby, cricket, netball, youth theatre and singing groups. program but it had been a long time since I d studied. The former flight attendant discovered the University s TPP (Tertiary Preparation Pathway) program, up to four courses that equip students with necessary skills and familiarise them with university. I was confident in my writing ability but not sure how I would manage at a tertiary level, so TPP was great. but it was a struggle to find a home for it back then. Then Dean of Science, Professor Rod Simpson, said he d have it in his faculty (where it remains). Numbers rose annually and recently plateaued with up to 1,000 students a year going through. About 60 percent stay with us and another cohort go on to other universities. It s a powerful program. educating future generations is Keane Wheeler though it ll be a tall My kids are very active and I don t miss a thing. But I realised they order to top his 2010 achievement of becoming the University s first Aboriginal Doctor of Philosophy. The rugby union coach and sport science academic expects the new degree to give him extra skills in his quest to improve the educational outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Dr Wheeler was last year appointed head of USC s Buranga Centre and has firm plans in mind. In sport, we re always talking about developing pathways for juniors to succeed at the elite level. I d like to get more strategies in place through the Buranga Centre so we have clear pathways for students to succeed at the elite level in education, he said. The accessibility and flexibility of the USC study experience is as important for aspiring graduates in 2016 as it was when the campus first opened in 1996 especially for the 50 percent who are still the first in their families to attend university. While the burgeoning architecture and numbers of staff and students have transformed the look and feel of campus life, even the most recent graduates cite the benefits of learning in a more personalised, regional environment with supportive staff and programs. In 2015, for the 10th year in a row, the University achieved five out of five stars for teaching quality (Hobsons Good Universities Guide), as well as five stars for overall graduate satisfaction, and graduates satisfaction with the generic skills they gained while studying. Its rating for graduates finding employment reached four stars for the first time. Feedback to USC staff found that while many graduates were motivated by career goals, others were seeking personal growth or intellectual challenge. will leave home one day and then what is there for me? What on earth will I do? What Ms Salmond did, in 2009, was enrol part-time in a Bachelor of Arts (Creative Writing). This year, as USC has its 20th birthday, she celebrates as both a graduate and an ongoing student. While her husband Mark has two degrees in agri-business to run their local company Beautiful Farms, Ms Salmond last year became the first in her own family to graduate. It was the latest USC connection for her famous Sunshine Coast surf lifesaving family. Ms Salmond s father Hayden Kenny and her brother Grant Kenny are both honorary senior fellows for their services to sport and the community. Hayden, Australia s first Ironman champion in 1966 and now-retired crewman of the local rescue helicopter, received his honorary award in Grant, a former Australian Ironman and Olympic kayaker who runs his own aviation business, received his award in 2000 in tandem with then wife Lisa Curry-Kenny. The three are also inducted in the Sunshine Coast Sports Hall of Fame, an annual who s who of the region s sporting celebrities hosted by the University since When Ms Salmond received her arts degree at one of four graduation ceremonies last April, she was delighted to have her father watching on the same stage, wearing the robes of an honorary senior fellow, and her mother Fae in attendance. Ms Salmond won a Faculty Medal for academic excellence with her grade point average of 6.75 out of 7. When I started at USC, my eldest child was in grade one and my husband was working long hours. I had the idea that I d like to teach Ms Salmond said she found the workload a juggle but the content a joy. I wouldn t have enjoyed studying externally and I wouldn t have contemplated going to Brisbane. We re based here and I like the contact. I liked sitting in a lecture theatre and listening and asking questions. We analysed such high-quality texts and I gained a historical perspective of Indigenous Australia that I d never been exposed to before. The lecturers and tutors have incredible minds and are so accessible. I wanted to record every word of the lectures by people like Dr Clare Archer-Lean (Discipline Leader of English Literature), with her perfect vocabulary, and Dr David Trudinger (retired lecturer in history), with his depth of knowledge. Ms Salmond is continuing with a Graduate Diploma of Education. I believe in the value of a good education and want to share that passion with kids coming through the system. I m beginning to feel empowered with the tools and knowledge to teach in a classroom. TPP has proved a major boost for student participation on campus in the past 10 years. It has launched the study success of undergraduate, postgraduate and research students of all ages, encouraged whole families to attend university, and provided compassionate pathways for teenage mothers. I pushed TPP through the first year I was here, recalled Professor Greg Hill, who started at USC in 2005 as Deputy Vice-Chancellor before leading the University alongside current Chancellor John Dobson from It s part of the furniture now, with full-time staff, TPP courses, which are free for most domestic students and range from biology to digital futures, are now offered at USC campuses at Fraser Coast, Gympie, Noosa, North Lakes and Caboolture. Emma Kill, a social justice advocate who gained the Chancellor s Medal in 2005 when she graduated with her USC Bachelor of Social Science (Community Work), was one of the early TPP staff. In 2011, she received an Australian Learning and Teaching Council citation for pioneering innovative programs that enable young mothers and under-represented equity groups to re-engage with and achieve a tertiary education. My first job at USC was a student support officer at the Student Guild, where I saw many of the challenges facing our diverse population, said Ms Kill, who this year continues a Master of Social Work. Now an associate lecturer and the mother of four young children, Ms Kill also benefited first-hand from the supportive learning environment. She studied, graduated and worked on campus at Sippy Downs in between pregnancies and maternity leave. It s little wonder she is also passionate about TPP s positive impact on the young women from STEMM (Supporting Teenagers with Education, Mothering and Mentoring), based at nearby Burnside State High School since STEMM is the only program of its type in Queensland, providing support including childcare for young parents as they learn life skills and enrol in further education. Ms Kill, who coordinates the integration of the TPP STEMM program, featured in a June 2015 cover article in Coast lifestyle magazine My Weekly Preview which I never would have attended university if USC wasn t here, said one day. I looked for a degree that I was interested in and could Melinda Salmond, who has two children involved in surf life saving work in with school hours. I knew I would love USC s creative writing 66 67

5 PORTRAIT OF JOHN DOBSON BY CHRISTOPHER McVINISH NICOLE DAMARRA, NEV THE GUIDE DOG, CHANCELLOR JOHN DOBSON BILL DARBY, DEBBIE PLATZ, DR CHRIS WALKER USC LAW STUDENTS LILI MORAN, TORI PEARSON AND HARRY MCDONALD AT THE OFFICIAL USC MOOT COURT OPENING called TPP the shining light of STEMM. She told the magazine Mr Dobson attended the University s 1996 opening as a community Another annual ceremony celebrating USC s graduates is the with a physics research background. She is an atomic and molecular that TPP helped the women become role models for their children representative, became a member of the University Council in 1998, Outstanding Alumni of the Year Awards, which last year recognised physicist, while the first DVC, Paul Clark, specialised in nuclear by overcoming obstacles and setting goals to become lawyers, and was appointed Chancellor in In the nine years since, annual regional business achiever Bill Darby, rising environmental science physics. Professor Lohmann recalled, I was scanning for deputy occupational therapists and social workers. enrolments almost doubled to 12,600 as USC strived to cement its star Dr Chris Walker and Police Chief Superintendent Debbie Platz. vice-chancellor positions and one came up here. I d never visited this Meanwhile, the production coordinator/graphic designer who ensured the magazine went to print on time was Kara Holmes, a USC graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Design and Marketing. Ms Holmes (nee Taylor), who in 2000 was the first recipient of the University s annual Vic Walker Memorial Scholarship, will return to the campus this year to see her name stamped on a paver as part of the Graduate Walk initiative. Benefactor Jocelyn Walker is so delighted with the success of her USC scholarship recipients that she has bought a dozen pavers as another fundraiser and milestone. Social justice and social welfare have long been priorities for Chancellor John Dobson, a veteran Caloundra community leader who has witnessed from the inside and the outside the growth of both the USC campus and the influence of its graduates over two decades. Before this university, there was a culture of inertia on the Sunshine Coast, said the former Catholic parish priest of 30 years. But Paul Thomas pulled the University out of the ground and now Greg Hill is consolidating its future. This is a great success story for the region and among universities across Australia. I think it has gone beyond most people s expectations. We are the fastest-growing and we are topping the nation in teaching skills and graduate satisfaction. We are a major employer on the Sunshine Coast, turning over more than $200 million a year. You don t do that by strings and mirrors. Paul and Greg put a lot of effort into staff selection and, from the council s perspective, the importance of long-term sustainability and status through expanding degrees and research, facilities and technology, partnerships and geographic reach. An archived DVD of the 2007 State of the Region conference is almost prophetic, as Professor Hill tells the audience of business, government and community representatives why USC is one of few universities with growth potential in Australia, after it received 165 of that year s 200 Commonwealth-funded student places for Queensland. It s exciting for the University and the region, allowing us to provide more of the degrees the region wants, he said. Education, which came on stream in 2005, and nursing, which started last year, are key examples of how we can provide what our community wants and needs. But in a rapidly changing world we also need to plan for the skills that will be required of future workforces. As USC graduation ceremonies have snowballed due to increasing demand, reaching six events over three days in the sports stadium last year, it s been all hands on deck for the multitude of staff and volunteers ensuring smooth operations and a celebratory atmosphere. John Dobson s Chancellor s Address has been a constant for almost 10 years, his frank conclusions on the state of the world and the importance of education delivered to thousands of graduands. He s not above shaking the paw of a guide dog, however, or accepting a sudden bear hug instead of a handshake from a graduand who was the last in a long, alphabetical line thanks to his surname, Zafir. Perhaps a lucky thing science and education graduate Anton Zafir not only became a school teacher, he won the 2014 and 2015 Returning to campus for the presentation was familiar territory for Chief Superintendent Platz, who like many graduates over two decades had developed strong family links to the University. She d spent many weekends barracking for two of her children playing in USC Barbarians rugby matches, and was celebrating Ashley s recent grand final win. She was accompanied by her husband Glenn Ferguson AM, a senior Sunshine Coast lawyer who helped the University establish its own Law School in Mr Ferguson, past president of the Law Council of Australia, is now a member of the USC Vice-Chancellor s Indigenous Advisory Committee and an Adjunct Professor of Law. The introduction of law was a coming-of-age for USC, according to Professor Birgit Lohmann, who started as Deputy Vice-Chancellor in February 2011 with a brief to guide academic direction. Law was a completely new discipline area, one of those high-profile professional programs that USC had thought about in the past but hadn t yet introduced, she said. It only made sense to offer law when the region had a critical mass of population and legal expertise, so it was satisfying when we decided to do it. The feasibility study involved the local legal community, which was very positive about the need for a program here and about the opportunities. We got permissions from the University s academic board and council to offer it and resource it, which required upfront investment, and law is now an accredited program doing very well. She paused with a smile. Next step, medicine. university but knew of it from when I worked at Griffith University in the 1990s and I d heard from colleagues that it was a great institution. After my interview, I felt its potential and vibrancy. USC was obviously going places and it s been an exciting place to work. Tori Pearson, who joined the USC Law School s first student cohort in 2014, intends to be among its first official graduates in Ms Pearson, who gained an OP2 from Siena Catholic College adjacent to the campus at Sippy Downs, said the new discipline came in the nick of time. I started law at the University of Queensland in 2013 but I felt overwhelmed and wasn t happy in Brisbane. I was having financial struggles. I was still working as a dance teacher up here and my mum and my partner were here. When I heard USC could be getting law, I contacted Anne Rees (Co-Head of School) and I made a smooth transition. Ms Pearson thrived on the work-integrated learning included in her Bachelor of Laws, one of 11 programs now offered by the USC Law School. We did placements at the Suncoast Community Legal Service in Maroochydore right from the foundation course. We did client interviews under supervision, took notes, briefed solicitors on the facts of the case and watched them deliver advice. You just don t get that kind of practical legal experience so early in degrees at other universities. Ms Pearson added that it was even beneficial for fellow students who decided to change direction and use their degrees for different career goals. Professor Anne Rees and her husband, Emeritus Professor Neil governance is to make sure you ve got the right people, starting with Australian welterweight champion in mixed martial arts and recently Professor Lohmann, a former University of Adelaide Pro Vice- Rees, were appointed as USC s foundation professors of law in 2013, the vice-chancellors. fought in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). Chancellor (Learning and Quality), is USC s third deputy and the second bringing with them extraordinary qualifications. She was Head of 68 69

6 Deakin University s School of Law from 2007 to 2012 and full-time commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission for three years until He chaired the Victorian Law Reform Commission from 2007 to 2012 and was founding Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Newcastle from 1991 to Anne Rees said the opportunity of starting the Law School from scratch married their interest in educating the next generation of legal professionals with their love of the Sunshine Coast. Their fresh ideas and academic experience shaped its development. We have a strong interest in clinical legal education as being the best way to bring law alive for students, so they can see how it works in practice, she said. That s a guiding feature of our degree. We have had fantastic support from the local profession which has about 300 lawyers, and especially from the Suncoast Community Legal Service where we ve based our clinical lecturer, Dr Gwynn MacCarrick. We re one of the only universities in the country that gives first-year students this taste of life in law. Dr MacCarrick brought with her a global CV, after working with the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, and with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Bosnia and East Timor. She was also assigned international defence counsel appearing before the United Nations Special Panel for Serious Crimes in East Timor. At USC, we have established a clinical program that will give our students the edge, Dr MacCarrick said. They have an opportunity to develop positive professional identities and practice-ready skills. The feedback is that students are really enjoying the experience. The USC Law Clinic was officially opened in 2014 by local MP and then Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie, alongside fellow MP Fiona Simpson who was then Speaker of the Queensland Parliament. It is located in refurbished offices in Maroochydore with the Suncoast Community Legal Service, whose principal solicitor, Julian Porter, praised the benefits not only for students, but for increasing the capacity of the service to take on new projects. About 150 students were enrolled in the USC Law School last year, in undergraduate and graduate entry Bachelor of Laws as well as a variety of double degrees. There s no single type of law student, Professor Rees said. We have students of various backgrounds and ages, from school leavers to those who have already had highly successful careers pharmacists, nurses, police, business people. A large number want to stay on the Coast but some are looking further afield to places like London, which is a big employer of Australian law graduates. There is also significant employment potential in rural areas, where the baby boomer generation of lawyers are retiring. By July 2015, Ms Pearson s future was shining. She attended a dinner event of the Sunshine Coast Law Association, where she enjoyed meeting people who in 2014 awarded her the inaugural Justin Crosby Memorial Bursary. The association established the annual $5,000 bursary for USC students to honour the late solicitor, and Ms Pearson was pleased to meet Mr Crosby s wife Catherine. Days later, there was more news. I can t believe my luck! Ms Pearson said. I ve got an interview for an internship with Herbert Smith Freehills in Sydney. It s a company with huge experience in the area I m interested in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences of law. (The law firm, with 20 offices across the globe, has a tradition of providing pro bono legal services including more than $4.4 million worth of advocacy for Indigenous clients in Australia since 2011.) As Ms Pearson prepared for her Skype interview, she explained her motivations. I m from Dubbo in western New South Wales and I m of Aboriginal descent so I know a lot of my family were disadvantaged by the law. I m the type of person who needs intellectual stimulation and has a strong sense of justice. I like that the law is dynamic. I d love to work in an area where my skills as a legal professional intersect with some form of helping Indigenous people. In August, she got the internship in the area of finance, real estate and projects and she didn t even have to give up her studies at Sippy Downs. They re going to pay for me to fly down 12 weeks a year until I finish. I ll still get to be the first person in my family to graduate from tertiary education. For Ms Pearson, one of the spin-offs of studying on campus in 2015 was the social whirl. I m the director of Indigenous Perspectives for the Law Students Association and I m involved in all the events and activities, such as mooting competitions, she said. My best friend is social convenor of the association and we ve already had balls and networking nights. It s not just law students. We have a lot of associate members studying degrees like politics and engineering. I think we re the second biggest group on campus now and we re not even two years old. Lively mock trials were held in the moot court constructed in USC s tallest building (Building J), next to the library, and officially opened in September by Queensland Court of Appeal President, Justice Margaret McMurdo. Ms Pearson said she liked competing and practising her communication skills, advocacy and court protocols. Last year, 80 percent of students on campus were undergraduate and the average age was 25. Two-thirds were local residents and the next most common address categories, with 11 percent each, were the Moreton Bay region to the south and international students (64 countries represented, with the top five: India, Nepal, Germany, US and China). More than 20 clubs and societies were making campus life more diverse, backed by the resurgence of the Student Guild which had faced funding upheaval from 2007 when the Australian Government cancelled compulsory student unionism. Most of the groups were linked to fields of study, sports, hobbies and other shared interests. Popular newcomers included the USC Quidditch League, a ball sport based on a fictional game in Harry Potter books where teams ride broomsticks, and the Humans of USC (#HoUSC), modelled on the worldwide social club phenomenon that started as a blog about the people of New York. Its Facebook page had more than 2,400 likes by the middle of 2015 and featured plenty of humour and fun, from photos of a culture jam where members learned salsa dancing to jokes about study procrastination. Third-year Gympie student Lauren Kaloczy established Humans of USC in October 2014 to create stronger social connections on the campuses where she studied Sippy Downs and Gympie. USC s $5.5 million, state-of-the-art Gympie facility, which opened in 2013, will deliver its first graduates this April. The camaraderie between its smaller cohort of students and staff was obvious at a Diversity Week function last year where school leavers, matureage students and staff mingled under a marquee while eating international food. In the crowd was founding manager Graham Young, a business academic dedicated to helping the rural region realise its potential. Education is key to overcoming the challenges of a low socioeconomic demographic, he said. The reception we ve had from the community has been fantastic and our programs and partnerships are growing. (See Voices for the next generation ) Lauren wore a glittering top hat, red bow tie and braces to the costume function, surrounded by close friends from nursing science degrees. It was no surprise to learn that her favourite subject was marketing, though it took her a while to find her study niche. The OP3 graduate of local James Nash State High School, who won a $6,000 Vice-Chancellor s Merit Scholarship in her first year at USC, changed to a Business (Management) degree from property economics and development. What I m studying now is what I m passionate about people, she said. Marketing is so creative and it s got that professional business tone as well. My aim is to be a manager in a marketing company. But people shouldn t be at university just to get a degree they should enjoy the social life, meeting the people around them. We ve held masquerade parties, trivia nights, a day of self-expression including body art. It s about enhancing community spirit. Marketing the University to the wider community also took imaginative turns in recent years, with plans to involve the public in campus life more often. And the star power for these showcases has usually come from within. Outstanding and intriguing staff, students, graduates and facilities have increasingly hit the spotlight, with big stories and viral photos keeping USC s media manager of 10 years, Terry Walsh, and other USC marketing staff on their toes. Current academics Adrian McCallum, Mike Nagel, Fiona Pelly and Bronwyn Stevens were among those who notched up plenty of memorable media moments at USC. LEFT TO RIGHT: HEATHER FITZPATRICK (NURSING SCIENCE), SARAH ARMSTRONG (NURSING SCIENCE GRADUATE ENTRY), LAUREN KALOCZY (BUSINESS MANAGEMENT MARKETING AND ECONOMICS), NICOLE BARBAR (NURSING SCIENCE) AND SOPHIE GOULIS (NURSING SCIENCE). HEATHER: I chose USC Gympie because you get oneon-one time with staff and it s close to my family. No travel, less cost. It s great. I chose nursing because I want to help people and do something influential overseas. I want to be a missionary nurse in rural communities. SARAH: I did a Bachelor of Environmental Science at USC and now I m doing Nursing Science. My mum had heart problems and I decided to pursue my interest in cardiac nursing. I m finding the Gympie campus a very social, personal experience. LAUREN: I m from Gympie so I try to do all my Business (Management) subjects here rather than Sippy Downs. It s more convenient and the class sizes are smaller. I run a social club (Humans of USC) that covers both campuses because I want to enhance community spirit. NICOLE: I m in my second year of nursing at Gympie and it s very enjoyable. We re like one big group of friends. We live locally but none of us knew each other before uni. I m planning to do paramedic science as a double degree. SOPHIE: I was home-schooled and by the time I finished my second Headstart course (health, culture and society) in 2013, USC Gympie was open. I got into Nursing straight away. Studying so close to home is a blessing. I love the smaller environment where you get to know the staff as well as the other students

7 Dual degrees take top cop to Cambridge When then Inspector Debbie Platz was awarded an Australian to apply theory in real life. I got high distinctions for my practical Police Medal in the government honours list in 2010, it described components, which I undertook at Sunshine Coast Grammar her as a most competent, experienced, professional and intelligent School. Within a few years, I was deployed to the police academy officer who has contributed a wide range of values and skills to in Brisbane as the Executive Manager of Education and Training for ANITA EDMONDS the operation of Queensland Police. She possesses high levels of judgement, interpersonal communication skills and operational/ resource management skills. It praised one of her early child protection campaigns involving lectures to students, teachers and community groups. the whole service. That promotion came through while I was at Cambridge in 2014, doing the initial three-week residential component of my scholarship to study a Master of Applied Criminology. I m involved in randomised controlled trials of evidence-based policing to achieve more After Queensland s fatal floods and cyclone in 2011, then effective and efficient services. We re implementing a mobile police Superintendent Platz helped conduct a review of police operations community office to encourage people to make complaints in hot during natural disasters. Last year, Chief Superintendent Platz spot crime areas, to examine the effects of high visibility policing. appeared in the media as a face of the State Government s Domestic This research is quite rare in Australia, and a sponsored project and Family Violence Taskforce, recalling with sadness the incidents linked to the University of Queensland. she had witnessed within families and expressing her determination to reduce the statistics. I get involved in a lot of community-based projects to improve safety because, after eight years working as a detective in units JOHN DOBSON WITH SUZIE BURFORD AND LAURA BRAY ABE BURFORD investigating child abuse, I ve seen horrific things. What I find pleasing is developing a rapport with community members who then go on to have complete trust in police, which may save somebody s life. In 2016, the University s choice of campuses has attracted a greater diversity of students. In addition to its earliest study centre at Noosa, research facility on Fraser Island (K gari) and standalone campuses at Gympie and Fraser Coast, USC has students enrolled at Caboolture, North Lakes and South Bank in Brisbane. (See The world through new eyes ) Some graduates even turned their study locations into their workplaces. USC ecology lecturer and researcher Dr Gabriel Conroy, whose science Honours degree and PhD revolved around field work on Fraser Island, returned there in the past 18 months with several Queensland Government grants to undertake genetic research into the island s iconic dingo population. I studied the geochemistry of Coffee Rock for my Honours studies and worked on fire ecology and the ecological genetics of threatened plant species for my PhD, he said. These ignited my passion for further Fraser Island research and I keep finding excuses to gravitate towards it. The island is a fantastic natural laboratory and it is a great boon to have a World Heritage landscape on our doorstep. Anita Edmonds, who has managed USC s Alumni Relations for the past decade, said the pleasure of her job was rediscovering graduates prospering not only globally, such as USC s first online MBA graduate Jenny Morawska, but also locally. There are so many of them making a real difference to their community in areas like tourism, business, nursing, human services, the humanities, engineering, environmental science and education, Ms Edmonds said. When we reconnect, it s clear they have an enormous level of goodwill and passion for this place, and a desire to contribute to its success. As Ms Morawska, founder and CEO of Sydney-based global management consultancy The Morawska Group, gave her speech at the 2013 USC Outstanding Alumni Awards, 2012 recipient Dr Laura Bray was publishing papers at the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research in Germany. Dr Bray (nee Sinfield), a USC science graduate who became a PhD medical engineer based at the Queensland University of Technology, was using a $118,000 national award to work on her world-leading eye tissue research. The inaugural Australian Prime Minister s Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award was supporting Dr Bray s project to develop a new clinical therapy for patients with painful eye disorders. It involved isolating a protein from silkworm cocoons to repair injuries to the eye s surface and was prompted by her own brother s partial loss of sight in one eye after it was punctured on a building site. (In late 2015, Dr Bray received a Young Researcher award at the Lush Prizes ceremony in London for her work supporting animal-free testing.) Receiving an alumni award alongside Dr Bray at the 2012 USC ceremony was 2006 USC Arts (Honours) graduate Suzie Burford, who became manager of USC s International Projects Group while dedicating her career to global community development, particularly in Indonesia. A Chancellor s Medallist, Ms Burford was part of a team that received the 2012 Office for Learning and Teaching Award for the IPG s education work in Indonesia (see Sustainability ). She also won a Vice-Chancellor s Award for Excellence as an employee in 2014, the year her USC student son Abe Burford was flown to Canberra to receive a highly-competitive New Colombo Plan scholarship from Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop. Mr Burford used the $67,000 scholarship to travel to the Indo-Pacific region last year for training in language, business and diplomacy, as well as an internship with the Indonesian Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This is an unbelievable opportunity to serve as an unofficial diplomat and contribute to positive bilateral relationships, he said. He was the second student of USC s Bachelor of International Studies to win the prestigious New Colombo Plan scholarship, after the multilingual Tess Harwood went to Java as she pursued her goal of becoming an ambassador for Australia. This is an incredible doorway into my future career, said Ms Harwood, who worked in Indonesia on projects for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as the Australian Trade Commission, both in the Australian Embassy. DEBBIE PLATZ The double USC graduate is now immersed in cutting-edge research on evidence-based policing, looking at why we do things, how we can better direct resources, predicting where crime might happen next and who might become the next victim. Last September she was voted president of the Australasian Council of Women and Policing, dedicated to improving both policing services for women and outcomes for women in policing. Yet her humility and down-toearth nature shine. Some people may tell you my forte is talking, laughs the executive whose USC studies helped take her from police prosecutions sergeant in 1999 to her current leadership position. I m one of those people who likes to be a lifelong learner. I study things I m interested in, and which will be useful. I plod my way through degrees, sometimes one subject a semester, but that means I stay enthusiastic and can keep going with my work. I changed to USC from a Brisbane university because I was living at Mooloolaba and got a job at Maroochydore when the local university had not long opened. I wanted the convenience of library access and faceto-face teaching. I liked seeing my lecturers and tutors easily but I also wanted the online options of your MBA. (She finished it in five years, graduating in 2004.) USC was a really good environment for people working full-time, managing family, career and education. During my Graduate Diploma of Education, a lot of the facilitators were current or recent school teachers so they had hands-on experience and a good grasp of how Debbie expects to graduate this year from the University of Cambridge s Institute of Criminology. At the 2015 USC Outstanding Alumni Awards, she told the audience including her family, friends and special guest, Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart that there was absolutely no rivalry with her brother Dr David Pattinson. David just happens to be another USC alumnus, now working as an immunologist at renowned UK university, Oxford. (See Helping make dreams happen ) 72 73

8 PhD grad plans pathways for Indigenous students Quirks and perks of campus life Keane Wheeler s first connection with USC was when his Honours supervisor at the University of Canberra got a job there. By 2010, Keane was USC s first Aboriginal recipient of a PhD. Last year, he was appointed Head of Buranga Centre, guiding the next generation of Indigenous students. WHAT I LIKE MOST AT USC IS ITS HUMANISTIC POINT OF VIEW. STUDENTS ARE NURTURED THROUGH THE CENTRE AS THEY STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE. took an opportunity at USC. Leading the Buranga Centre is fantastic. I want to make a difference in the lives of people who have been underrepresented in tertiary education for too long. What I like most about USC is its humanistic point of view. Students are nurtured through the Buranga Centre as they strive for excellence. I knew the Vice-Chancellor here was supportive of Indigenous issues and I knew the University was progressive and willing to give Indigenous people a voice. USC is investing in these services and has a proud history of Indigenous people. That s what attracted me to the role. When I started studying, I didn t plan to get a PhD it was just something I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to do. I d actually disliked school as a kid. Ten members of my family flew up from Canberra and Melbourne for my USC graduation ceremony. My eldest brother is a paediatrician but I am the first in our family to complete a PhD. I have two young children now and I want them My prime role was the safety of the aircraft, the pilot and the site so that when we got the patients loaded and in flight, there were no surprises before we reached the hospital. We went to car crashes, farm accidents, attempted suicides and it was so sad. But before the helicopter was introduced in this region, these people were more likely to die because of the lack of early intervention. When I was flying, I was on call three nights a week and had to sleep with the mobile phone beside the bed for years. People don t talk on the mobiles now they re always showing you the selfies! I think it s okay if technology is working for you, but not the other way around. The rescue helicopter equipment is a good example of how far technology has come. What we first carried as diagnostic tools were two big heavy things that did three functions: saturated oxygen, heart rhythm and blood pressure. Now there are 20 functions in a small portable box that can even proceed to automatic defibrillation. It s a civilian version of military technology. Coupled with the advanced This October, Anne Steward celebrates her own 20-year anniversary at USC. The executive officer to the Pro Vice- Chancellor of Research has worked at Sippy Downs in administrative roles for the science faculty since For the past 10 years, she s been able to share an occasional coffee break with her daughter Tarryn, who works in administration for the School of Education. Anne, whose caring personality has endeared her to colleagues, recalls some favourite moments: The Faculty was approached by Peter Owen of the Sunshine Coast Daily to be involved in the Sunshine Coast Sports Hall of Fame, which we undertook in Brendan Burkett became chair when Bard Claffey of the Maroochydore Surf Life Saving Club stepped down and Brendan and I have coordinated the annual event since. KEANE WHEELER, RIGHT, WITH DR MARK SAYERS IN 2007 My Honours was with Dr Mark Sayers (now USC Senior Lecturer in Sports Biomechanics). He was working with the New Zealand All Blacks and offered me a doctoral scholarship around rugby union, which I jumped at. In 2006, I moved up here with my now wife to take up the scholarship, with my research focused on coaching. It was field-based rather than laboratory-based and I used video analysis to look at the interaction between attack and defence in rugby union, particularly how an individual s ability sits within a team s performance profile. I ve used the findings in my coaching and presented at international conferences, and we ve had papers published in peer-reviewed journals. I played with the Sunshine Coast Stingrays rugby union team while I studied the PhD, so I had access to the players for my sample. I also returned to Canberra and collected data from Brumbies rugby players. The sample was high quality a lot of players were emerging Super Rugby or ended up representing the Australian Wallabies. Now I find it really rewarding to coach the USC Barbarians and use the knowledge that I had created. I returned to the University of Canberra as an assistant professor, and was course convenor for seven undergraduate degrees and external engagement activities such as building the study aspirations to grow up being proud Indigenous people with strong aspirations. Indigenous students are hungry for a teaching approach that is individual to their needs. I think university is highly accessible if you have high-quality teachers who are engaging and individualise the curriculum. In the long term, I want to take the Buranga Centre from student support into collaborative research and teaching. Surprise! You re an honorary USC confers honorary awards in three categories: doctorates for excellence and extraordinary achievement in significant areas of human endeavour; senior fellows for significant and sustained contributions to the development of either the University or the Sunshine Coast region; and emeritus professors for sustained or distinguished service by professors who have retired or resigned from the University. The awards have been presented to a vast range of people since USC s first graduation ceremony in 1999, in many cases surprising the recipients. Hayden Kenny was humbled by one in 2012, despite a lifetime of accolades including a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2006 for his sporting and community service. Famed for his and his family s achievements in surf lifesaving, the retired helicopter crewman was a welcome face to thousands of desperately ill and injured people airlifted by the local rescue chopper since The Sunshine Coast Helicopter Rescue Service, now merged with the CareFlight group, was launched by Hayden and friends including Des Scanlan and significant USC donor Roy Thompson, and has become the longest-running service of its type in Australia. Hayden often flew with anaesthetist Dr Ken Wishaw, Australia s first full-time helicopter rescue doctor, who also received a USC honorary award in As a training helicopter whirs above Hayden s home at Alexandra Headland, within sight of the surf club he joined in 1955, the 80-yearold recalls: I always envisaged these awards were for other people. I didn t go to university. I learnt hardcore in the field and did some training at intensive care that paramedics provide now, with all their skills and drugs, patients have a much better chance of recovery. And the aircraft are so much bigger and faster than the Bell JetRangers I started with. I remember riding my mountain bike along bush tracks under the power lines that criss-crossed the old university site, for training. (Developer) Bill Freeman used to talk about a university at Sippy Downs and I said, Who s going to go way out there? Of course, in hindsight, what a great venture it s been and plenty of room to expand. I swim at the uni pool now. If you go at the right time you can get a few lanes to yourself. And my daughter Melinda loves studying out there. Her daughter Romy is a bookworm, too, but she s not allowed to read at our dinner table when she comes to visit. When I was flying, I was on call three nights a week and had to sleep with the mobile phone beside the bed for years. People don t talk on the mobiles now they re always showing you the selfies! HAYDEN KENNY I played netball for years and have a real passion for sport. It s exciting each year to think about who from the Sunshine Coast has achieved at an international level in their sport. The honour board at the sports stadium lists them it was great to induct Pat Rafter (tennis) and Mal Meninga (rugby league). Golfer Ian Baker-Finch was one of our first, and the late Otto Nothling, who played cricket for Australia with Donald Bradman, was amazing. In 2014 we had swimmer Marayke Jonkers, also a USC graduate, and surfer Josh Constable. I also love going to all the graduation ceremonies, even the year it was in a tent in the rain and we had to walk over wooden boards to avoid sinking in the mud. When I started in Applied Science we only had two courses, but I used to get a lot of phone calls from people saying they wanted to donate their body to the University. I had to do a bit of research on that and referred them to the University of Queensland because we didn t have those facilities. I received calls from people wanting us to find the Buderim tiger or solve an astronomy mystery or identify spiders or snakes in their backyards. I could only ask Ken Chan in the early years, he was an ecology lecturer and animal researcher. I remember his beautiful butterfly collection. (Dr Chan left in 2005 for universities in China and is now consulting from Australia.) Professor Rod Simpson (Dean from 2001 to 2010) developed the faculty into what it is today. He introduced programs including nursing and engineering that have been very successful. (See University for the Sunshine Coast ) Even though we re one of the biggest employers on the Coast now, we re still a close group of people, though it s not quite the family atmosphere of our first Christmas party in the tin shed. When Rod retired, I put my hat in the ring for a position with our inaugural Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Roland De Marco, and I was successful. Roland really encourages people in their research and he s going to keep striving until we reach that global ranking in the Top 100 universities under 50 years old. A highlight of working in the Office of Research is our annual Research Week, where we celebrate the outstanding and innovative research at USC. of Indigenous secondary students. I felt like a new challenge, and the hospital in emergency care

9 Paving the way for alumni The 400 alumni who may this year walk past the library and see their names and graduation dates forever etched on pavers in the new Graduate Walk can feel more than pride. Their $200 donations are boosting the fund for USC Study Support Bursaries, which help students at risk of dropping out due to financial stress. The Graduate Walk is part of USC s 20th anniversary celebrations. USC Foundation board member Jocelyn Walker, a commercial property investor who has long contributed to the University, snapped up a dozen pavers to honour recipients of her Vic Walker Memorial Scholarships and family members. Staying in touch with the scholarship recipients has been enormously rewarding to our family, says Jocelyn, whose son Drew and daughter Wendy help administer the awards for first-year USC students who attended their old secondary school, Immanuel Lutheran College. It s wonderful to hear from the recipients about their career paths and what the scholarship meant to them. Winners are not selected solely on merit or need; the scholarship recognises qualities such as commitment, responsibility, community service and generosity to others. It covers the full cost of the first year of their USC studies. The Sunshine Coast supported my family tremendously, from when we opened the first 24-hour service station on the old Bruce Highway, and my husband Vic always wanted to give back to the community, Jocelyn says. This is our link between the community and education. It s wonderful to get the students s and Christmas cards. Some are working on the Coast and some are working across the world. Sine McGregor (Clinical Exercise Science 2012) is an exercise physiologist at Maroochydore. Alyce Biggs (Arts Design and Marketing 2008) became a digital designer in New York and is now working in Sydney. I often see the recipients at their graduation ceremonies, especially since I became an honorary senior fellow in And the family links continue multiplying. Drew is a USC Master of Business Administration graduate, as is Wendy s husband, Andre Gorissen. Drew uses his business acumen to oversee the day-to-day operation of the family company Moby Vic s, while his wife Meegan is currently at USC completing a PhD in exercise physiology and lecturing in clinical exercise science. Wendy and Andre own and operate the successful Noosa Junction Seafood Market. Jocelyn cannot wait to see what paths her grandchildren will take. Palliative care nurse a poster child for postgrad study Sandie Pott never expected to become a university student. Her hospital-based nursing training in South Africa in 1985 took her around the world, working in neo-natal intensive care units and on community aid projects, until she landed in Australia in After working as a midwife and palliative care nurse at Nambour Selangor Private Hospital and helping establish its palliative care unit, the Miles Savill ward, she joined the nearby Cittamani Hospice Service and visited patients in their homes. For the past six years Sandie has worked in palliative care outreach and programs with the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service. I discovered I loved project management and started to think about studying, but life seemed too busy with my three teenagers and my mum at home, she recalls. This year, however, Sandie is due to complete a USC Master of Nursing (Clinical Leadership), started part-time in 2013 all because of a palliative care project and poster. In 2013, I was asked to look at any local gaps in services regarding palliative patients being admitted to hospitals. After I presented a poster of this PalliAPP (Palliative Admission Prevention Program) to a conference in Brisbane, it won a statewide award and two district awards for improving patient safety, and innovation in palliative care. I discussed the project with Professor Marianne Wallis and Dr Amanda Henderson from USC and they said, This work is so good, you should do a Master s. I said no, because I d never been to uni and didn t think I could do it. By the end of that year, I was enrolled at the University and had won a Wishlist Research Grant. At first I felt like I was learning another language because everything was foreign to me. While still working full-time, I couldn t take advantage of the daytime support offered on campus and studied mostly online. But I love a challenge and advancing my knowledge, and I asked a lot of questions. I also saw how I could bring something different to the learning, among the many younger students with less life and work experience. People generally talk about the great divide between academics and practitioners in health, but you bridge gaps by working together on research that s actually required. Use the research to improve something we re doing, and to explain why we should be doing it. That s evidence-based practice. My latest project is Hospital in the Home, a new program implemented on the Sunshine Coast in 2014 to help more patients remain in their own home environments for longer. It is the first model of its type in Queensland and is having exciting results. I ve just collaborated with stakeholders on another poster regarding Hospital in the Home, which will be presented at an international health conference in Hong Kong (in late 2015). The Chancellor behind the graduation handshakes When John Dobson spoke at last year s official opening of USC s multi-storey car park, he quoted from stage play The King and I to describe benefactors Roy and Nola Thompson as teachers of philanthropy whose generosity could inspire others. The Thompsons $5 million donation, matched dollar-for-dollar by the University to provide the much-needed facility, will be generating student scholarships through parking income for decades to come. When the Chancellor addressed graduands at the April 2015 ceremonies, he urged them to use your demonstrated ability to engage in the process of study, the art of research and the development of critical thinking and wisdom to improve not only their own lives, but the world around them. For John, the big picture is always important and the message is always delivered with a flourish. He even uses vivid art history to explain the role of university governance, while deftly answering a question about his achievements at USC over 18 years. CHRISTOPHER McVINISH PAINTS JOHN DOBSON The Greek philosophers of old would say that Michelangelo never carved the Pieta (famous Christian sculpture)... They would say that the sculptor only released the beauty within. Accurate governance, in my view, releases the potential of the vice-chancellor, rather than control or police him, so that he can freely develop what the Greeks called beauty in this case, a wonderful university. I d rather look at the achievements of the USC Council as a harmonious governing body working closely with administration. John, who retired as a Catholic priest in 2012 and will finish his term as Chancellor in 2017, has thoroughly enjoyed his long-time role on the University Council. The voluntary body has more weight in decision-making than is often understood by those outside its 18 members. Its powers include appointing and monitoring the vice-chancellor, determining the University s vision and strategic direction, approving budgets, reviewing management, establishing high-level policy and monitoring systems of accountability. Along with the Chancellor, current members include the Deputy Chancellor Bruce Cowley, chairman of Australia s largest law firm Minter Ellison, as well as Greg Hill and Birgit Lohmann, fellow staff, community and student representatives. John, whose previous philanthropy included facilities for the aged and for people with intellectual disabilities, and support groups for prisoners and their families, says his role as Chancellor has ranged from facilitating council debate to providing a sounding board for the vice-chancellors. I said to both Paul Thomas and Greg Hill that they could think aloud with me. My rule was no surprises. I needed to know why they wanted to make a policy and what the value of it would be, before a case was presented to the council for debate. Paul was an extrovert who saw opportunities and went for them. Greg is a deep thinker and a person of the highest integrity. So I ve had two very good working relationships. This university s growth has been sure and steady. In the early days we took risks, but we didn t overreach ourselves in terms of reliance on international students or multiple campuses. Now look at the budget and the growth, in engineering, the medical and allied health sciences, nursing, paramedics He recalls recent subjects of debate in council: MOOCs (massive open online courses), government legislation, new strategic and master plans and medical teaching and research in relation to the new hospital. When asked for highlights of his time at USC, John talks about the people. He delights in seeing people of my age group (70) becoming students or joining the U3A on campus. In the old days on the Coast, seniors sat on a chair in a corner knitting. Now they re at university, if for no other reason than to expand their brains. It s brilliant. He is impressed by outstanding students and staff who try to help others overcome disadvantage. The graduating class of 2013 will never forget the moment forever caught on YouTube when John knelt to shake the paw of a guide dog as it crossed the stage with its owner, visually-impaired Bachelor of Social Science graduate Nicole Damarra. As the packed stadium cheered, the Chancellor said, I d just like to let you know that Nev the guide dog went to every lecture, so he deserves congratulation too. Nicole is now doing postgraduate study on campus, aspiring to work in academia. Next year, John will swap his extensive travels of the Middle East for caravanning in Australia. I m going to do more cycling and reading, work on my 10-acre block and continue in discussion groups that look at visionary development. It s a great world! Sounds fitting for a man described by Sunshine Coast Daily editor Peter Owen as a visionary who can see the potential of people. A friend of John s since the 1970s, Peter adds, Who would have thought that a parish priest could be an extraordinarily effective chancellor of a university? It s been remarkable to see Dobbo bring that intellect and view of the human spirit to the USC culture. Throw your hands in the air (not your trenchers) Margaret Hoger started work at USC in January 2001, in facilities administration. One of her first tasks was to run the cloak room at the April graduation, USC s third ever ceremony. It was the first one held at the Innovation Centre, which was exciting. The whole breezeway was lit in multicolours and the procession of graduands marched across from the centre of campus, up the hill, and into the auditorium. The graduate participation was organised by Tanya Parker (now USC senior strategic information analyst). As ceremonies coordinator, Margaret has notched up plenty of graduation experience since. The ceremonies were held at the Innovation Centre auditorium from 2001 until 2007, which was the first one at the sports stadium. We ve been fortunate to have very few rainy graduations, however 2004 was one. We had to get students to the reception in the Brasserie and VIPs to the reception in the Art Gallery and everything was wet: 76 77

10 the grounds, their academic dress, including trenchers that are really (Professor of Psychology), Gary Crew (Professor, Creative Writing), or do online quizzes before they come to class, to allow for a really only made of cardboard. Natasha Read and Julie-Anne Mee (both USC Council). interactive learning experience rather than a lecturer just standing I ve always liked the sense of celebration and the public recognition for students personal success stories. It was a great pleasure to see them in their academic dress, walk across the stage and celebrate We kept some traditions and changed others. There are different colours of hoods and stoles for different disciplines and levels of study, including colours for Indigenous graduates and honoraries. up there talking to them. In the room, students sit at pods where they plug in their laptops or use the desk computer to broadcast their work on a big screen in front of everyone. with fellow graduands and lecturers. And we do not throw trenchers in the air. When I arrived, the strategic plan was just being It was also a reward for the families who sacrificed a lot to support the students through their degrees. This university brought a lot to the Sunshine Coast and a graduation was an opportunity to engage with people in the community. I d see the employers of our graduates in the audience. It wasn t just an awards ceremony, it made a real impact. The local Daily even published all the graduates names for the first few years and that was a big deal. I m particularly pleased when we help people with disabilities enjoy the ceremonies. The spontaneous applause for Nicole Damarra, her guide dog and the Chancellor was a precious moment. I remember Patrick Walden, who had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair and won the Chancellor s Medal in 2012 after his two degrees in education and business. He gave the Graduate Response. It didn t go to plan, though, when our hands-free microphone suddenly didn t work. Of all the channels available, our mic was on the same one used by the guys doing athletics training. A couple of my favourite honoraries were Dr Mark Loane, the ophthalmologist who helped remote communities and who played rugby for Australia (2012 Honorary Doctor), and Caroline Jones, the veteran ABC journalist (2007 Honorary Doctor of Letters). There are so many academics and council members and donors who come year after year to share their students journeys people like Ross Kirkham (Associate Lecturer, Accounting), Mary Katsikitis Physicist focuses on new academic directions A newspaper feature on Birgit Lohmann in November 2014, headlined Putting the wow into science, outlined the now Senior Deputy Vice- Chancellor s love of science and technology and belief in the transformational power of education as well as her nonchalance about being USC s first female executive. Today, after five years at the University, the academic who worked in four capital cities before landing on the Sunshine Coast is still happiest in her DVC role, having finished research that examined the interactions of atoms and molecules in hydrogen. (Her collaborative experiments on the way that radiation travels through biological systems may lead to new modelling of dosages in human cancer treatment.) My role is basically 2IC to the Vice-Chancellor, looking after the developed. Some people were doubting the previous target of 12,000 students by 2015, and things like the USC Gympie campus and multi-storey carpark were pie in the sky, but we got there on all accounts amid huge growth and change. We had our first graduates out of USC SouthBank. We re a comprehensive university now, with standout strengths in nursing, midwifery and allied health areas such as paramedic science, occupational therapy, nutrition and dietetics and psychology. A clinical trials centre has opened and a mental health institute is planned. It will be interesting to see what flavour of engineering we introduce next the suggestion is mechatronics, which is a bit more modern than electrical engineering. My biggest challenge was probably the restructure of the faculties because it involved so much change. We had to look at the structures because the University was growing unevenly. After consultation, we decided that two faculties of roughly equal size was the way to go. They re now more balanced in income, which creates more capacity for cross subsidisation, or safety nets for different programs and schools. Science graduate grabbed by island paradise on doorstep When the Indigenous Butchulla people inhabited a huge sand island off the Queensland coastline thousands of years before the 18th century arrival of European settlers, they named it K gari, FRASER ISLAND GREG HILL, PATRICK WALDEN AND DAVID JEFFRIES academic side of activities the staffing, support, students, faculties and executive deans. The portfolio changed a little with Professor Karen Nelson s appointment to the new position of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students) in I also chair the academic board, which works quite well even though it s uncommon outside Queensland for a senior, non-elected executive to have that position. The board s role is to make recommendations to council about what programs to offer. Law was a fantastic one. USC has also had great success in getting federal government funding for new buildings. There s the Learning and Teaching Hub, with a high-end simulation laboratory primarily for health programs such as nursing and an Immerse lab for the Engage research group, and last year s $37 million Engineering Learning Hub, which fits in with our civil and mechanical engineering programs. Its 3D visualisation theatre (called the CAVE2 TM ) is absolutely iconic and using it for teaching is cutting-edge stuff. These facilities are having a tremendous impact on students on-campus learning experiences. Another goal is for every course at the University to offer an element of blended learning, which is a fusion of face-to-face and online or technologically supported learning. C-SALT (The Centre for Support and Advancement of Learning and Teaching) is developing our capacity among staff and there are plenty of examples already, such as the flipped classroom. That s where students listen to a podcast meaning paradise. Today, Fraser Island is World Heritage listed and remains paradise for thousands of visitors enjoying everything from the crystal-clear freshwaters of Eli Creek and Lake McKenzie to the world s largest fern fronds and 120km of sandy beaches. Located east of Hervey Bay where USC also has a campus and accessible from Noosa s North Shore, it also provides fertile ground for USC studies and research. Staff and students, particularly internationals, have flocked to the University s first off-campus research facility since it was established at Dilli Village on the island s east coast in Graduate, lecturer and researcher Gabriel Conroy just keeps returning. He recalls: I started studying environmental science at USC in 1999 alongside a few other students who have also become staff Rob Lamont, Peter Davies, Lyris Snowden. I studied the geochemistry of Coffee Rock on Fraser Island for my Honours and that ignited my passion for research there. I travelled overseas for a few years and resettled in the Sunshine Coast hinterland in 2008 to start my PhD (completed in 2012), working on threatened plant species in terms of fire ecology and genetics. Half of my fieldwork was on Fraser and across the Cooloola region. It s a World Heritage landscape on our doorstep, with fascinating geological processes and some relatively undisturbed wallum ecosystems. My current post-doc research revolves around ecological genetics projects on threatened plants and animals, including the island s dingoes. In July 2015 I won a $32,000 Queensland Government grant to estimate dingo numbers, which builds on research I m undertaking with Steve Ogbourne and Rob Lamont. We re using volunteers to collect dingo scats for genetic analysis and that will allow us to establish a framework to monitor trends in dingo population size. Dingo management is controversial so it needs to be backed by as much data as possible, and I m really enjoying this project. It was kickstarted by an internal university research grant and has snowballed into larger-scale analysis using our laboratories at Sippy Downs. I ve had interest from Special Research Project and postgrad students in the research and I m also teaching a field-based subject on Fraser Island, specialising in ecological studies. It s a great opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the experience for a week, based at USC s centre at Dilli Village

11 Academics reveal memorable moments in media ADRIAN MCCALLUM is a Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering who started work at USC in 2011, now leads the science discipline, and was recently elected to the USC Council. In 2015 an offshore earthquake was felt widely along the Sunshine Coast. I was conducting a geology field trip at Point Arkwright but I didn t feel a thing. Perhaps I was too busy observing strata! The next thing I knew, I was being teed up for media interviews. (Adrian has extensive expertise in geohazards from the Arctic to Antarctica.) It was terrific because I often discussed these matters with my students, but I had to quickly call my wife at home and ask her to Google the details of this particular quake. In 2016 Adrian intends to continue his polar research expeditions via lightweight and innovative means, with the added goal of fundraising for leukaemia research. He is focused on promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) engagement with the young people of the Sunshine Coast. MIKE NAGEL marks 10 years at USC in January He joined USC s then one-year-old education discipline in The Associate Professor of Education and author of bestselling books on children s neurological development and schooling regularly packs the USC Innovation Centre auditorium for his public lectures. One of my media highlights was appearing on the national television breakfast show Sunrise in 2012, when the hosts Melissa Doyle and David Koch discussed one of my books. I didn t realise how well the five-minute interview went until the producer told me later that they must have enjoyed it because those segments were usually much shorter. Another milestone was in 2014, when my selection for the Australian Science Media Centre s Scientist in Residence program gave me a platform for discussing with journalists new ideas in child development and education. In 2016, Mike is investigating the potential impact of mindfulness and emotional intelligence programs in schools. There is growing evidence that such programs may serve to not only enhance social and emotional wellbeing in students, but also contribute to better scholastic outcomes. FIONA PELLY joined USC in 2004 and won an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (now Office for Learning and Teaching) citation in 2011 for her founding leadership of the University s nutrition and dietetics discipline. The Associate Professor is internationally recognised for her expertise in food provision at major sports events and has worked with entertainers The Wiggles on research into children s food choices. I remember unexpected media questions at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. I had been interviewed previously about my involvement in Olympic and Commonwealth Games and thought I would be talking about my research on the food provision and dietary intake of athletes in the village in Delhi. But the media started asking about other areas of concern, from unfinished facilities to pollution and even security threats. Not my areas of expertise! In 2016, Fiona is leading USC s Research Cluster for Health Improvement. My biggest hope for USC is to see continued growth and development, increase our profile and reputation, but not lose the personal and relaxed coast feel of the University. BRONWYN STEVENS is a Lecturer in Politics, specialising in Australian politics and public policy. She has worked at USC for 19 years, and names as a career highlight an award from the Student Guild for her support of students in the early years: As an election junkie, I started to receive requests for media interviews soon after joining USC. Interviews often entailed driving to radio stations at Nambour, Maroochydore or Brisbane. As part of a region with limited media staff and resources, I have seen media engagement as an important part of my duties. Preparation fortunately also relates to my teaching and research area, and it usually begins with ABC radio and print media scrutiny from 7am. One memorable moment was walking between Parliament House and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in the freezing Canberra winter to discuss Kevin Rudd s removal. Bronwyn was part of a team that received an ARC Linkage grant to write a centenary history of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, with the book winning a Mander Jones Award in 2012 for best publication featuring archives. Spotlight on USC: a second decade in the news Who, and what, have been the outstanding media stories of USC in the past decade? Former regional print journalist Terry Walsh, who has headed USC s media unit since 2006, recalls: This university has enjoyed tremendous support from the local media during its first two decades. Journalists have appreciated the many success stories that have emerged from USC, witnessed the positive impact the University has had on the region s growth and development, and enjoyed ready access to academic experts for commentary on a wide range of topics. Many of these journalists are now USC graduates and their fondness for the University is evident. Among the local media, the Sunshine Coast Daily stands out for the way it strongly backed the push for a local university to be established. In the mid-1990s, the newspaper s manager Rick Bronson and editorin-chief Peter Owen understood how important the project was and were very receptive to Professor Paul Thomas requests for support. The Daily even provided the founding vice-chancellor with his own column every Saturday for more than 15 years, enabling him to connect with the community and have his say on all matters relating to tertiary education. The real go-to person for the media for much of USC s first 12 years was Lecturer in Popular Culture Dr Karen Brooks. Her expertise touched on many topics that interested the media, including celebrities, politicians, sex, fashion and fads occasionally a combination of these. USC s media unit fielded interview requests for Dr Brooks from right across the country, sometimes for several different topics on the one day. Busy was an understatement to describe her, as she also wrote a mid-week column for The Courier Mail and starred on ABC TV s quiz show, The Einstein Factor. After Dr Brooks left the University in 2007, the mantle of the media s most sought-after USC academic went to Dr Scott Prasser, whose areas of expertise were politics and public administration. Journalists enjoyed his insights into how political decisions were likely to impact local councils, businesses and residents. He was responsible for coordinating the highly successful State of the Region conferences that brought together many of the Sunshine Coast s leading decision- makers to consider future directions. In 2009, Lecturer in Politics Bronwyn Stevens emerged as a leading light for media interviews. Her enthusiastic and candid analyses of the rapidly changing political landscapes of that time helped local journalists seeking comments about things like: LNP s Campbell Newman winning the 2012 state election and making widespread changes; Federal Labor s in-fighting seeing the leadership pass from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard and back again before the Tony Abbottled Liberals won power in 2013; and a national focus on Sunshine Coast politicians like Peter Slipper and Clive Palmer. Ms Stevens once returned a call while on holidays in the UK at 3am. The media s interest in why people behave the way they do has led to many requests for interviews with USC s psychology academics. Dr Rachael Sharman fielded the bulk of these requests in 2014 to become the University s newest media star. Her frank discussions about matters of the mind ranging from what motivates an arsonist, why parents smack their children and what are the best ways to deal with peer pressure and workplace stress have seen her featured across the country, including on Network Ten s popular evening program The Project. Many USC academics have done media interviews over the years and there s certainly not enough space to mention them all. But those who have gone above and beyond in raising USC s profile by doing media interviews include Anna Bishop, Brendan Burkett, Jane Fynes-Clinton, Mike Hefferan, John Lowe, Adrian McCallum, Michael Nagel, Gabrielle Parle, Anna Potter, Fiona Pelly, Bridie Scott-Parker, Tim Smith, Neil Tindale and Peter Waterman. Non-academic staff who also have featured in the media include USC Gallery curator Dawn Oelrich and Adjunct Professor John Mendoza. Even though most media coverage of USC has been very positive, the University sometimes cops some flak. One recurring topic for many years was the perceived insufficient parking for the rapidly growing campus. The gloves then came off when the University introduced paid parking on campus in 2013 and the topic stayed in the headlines for almost five months. Many of the journalists who covered parking stories at USC over the years, though, needed no prompting to realise the significance of the recent opening of USC s first multi-level carpark that was built years earlier than planned thanks to a generous donation from Roy and Nola Thompson. The rise of social media in recent years has added another layer to the public s perception of, and connection with, USC. Students flocked to Facebook, journalists tweeted on Twitter and people across the world networked through Instagram and YouTube, as USC communications officer Natalie Delamont recalls: Since August 2014, I ve seen a sharp spike in engagement and followers of the USC accounts. The content that resonates most with our community is that which provides inspiration or celebrates achievement. Some of the top social media posts have been: graduate and new mum Jacci Sharkey, who shared a beautiful photo of herself breastfeeding at her USC ceremony; an art exhibition by our design students at the USC Gallery; an inspiring visit to campus by Mao s Last Dancer s Li Cunxin of the Queensland Ballet; another inspiring visit, this time by Jamie Oliver s Ministry of Food Mobile Kitchen which gave our nutrition and dietetics students some great cooking opportunities; and a funding boost for two USC microbiologists trying to stop koala blindness due to chlamydia. The Jacci Sharkey post reached 10 million people and achieved more than 400,000 likes, comments and shares, along with international headlines that showed strong support for USC s decision to post her memory of the occasion. (A sample from Kristen Langton, 2 November 2014: That s awesome. I have four children, the last one whilst studying at USC and was supported and able to continue studying whilst breastfeeding and bringing my son to some classes. Best uni! ) Jacci was interviewed on major Australian TV news programs including The Project and Sunrise and we fielded s and calls from media around the globe, including the New York Daily News. Jacci told us she d sent in the photo as recognition of the support she received at USC while raising a young family and finishing her business degree. (The former local business owner has since won a dream job in human resources with the Australian Government.) 80 81

12 GREATEST FEMALE ATHLETE CONTEST 2011 GREG HILL WITH 10,000th GRADUATE MEGAN AILEY 2012 POOL ANNOUNCEMENT AND START OF CONSTRUCTION 2010 ADAM POLKINGHORNE AND PETER TIMMS KOALA RESEARCH 2015 SPOTLIGHT ON USC: a second decade in the news FREE BUS SERVICES 2012 RADAR USED IN SEARCH FOR FRASER ISLAND BURIAL SITE 2014 PARALYMPIC SWIMMERS SEND-OFF 2012 KOALA RESEARCH 2015 THEN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER WAYNE SWAN WITH MARK PORTER TO ANNOUNCE $30 MILLION GRANT FOR ENGINEERING LEARNING HUB 2013 SPACE CHALLENGE EVENT FOR SCHOOL STUDENTS 2012 IMAGINARIUM 2014 PAID PARKING 2013 CHRISTIAN JONES CHILD SAFETY GAME 2009 SCHOLARSHIPS PRESENTATION CEREMONY 2011 PRIMARY EDUCATION DEGREE LAUNCHED 2009 BETH BRUNTON, CAMPUS KANGAROOS TRACKING PROJECT WELCOME WEEK/ORIENTATION GECKO SKIN RESEARCH 2015 RESEARCH WEEK