SAMSS News Archive (2006)
Did you know?
School Meeting at Green Inc.
On Thursday 14th November a very
productive school meeting took place at at Green Inc. The purpose
of the meeting was to discuss the school response to recommendations
of the recent Academic Review of SAMSS.
Attendees broke into groups to brainstorm ideas on three identified
areas of priority (Honours, Research and Curriculum Change) then
shared their discussions with the school. The following photos were
taken on the day:
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Research Interview - Ohio State University, Athens, Ohio
On Thursday 14th September, Assistant Professor Mark Leff, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, interviewed Keith Wilson from the History/Politics Section about his Civil War research. The video interview will form part of a documentary on the life of Sgt. Milton M. Holland, an African American Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor winner from Ohio. The interview will be broadcast on the Ohio State University's radio and TV stations. The production and technical assistance team included: Dan Clancey (Audiovisual Production Officer, Gippsland Campus), Russell Stewart (SAMSS IT coordinator) and Dr. Amy Forbes (SAMSS Journalism Section).
Lighting
the Set
Live
link with Ohio State University
SAMSS Awards Night 2006
The School would like to congratulate the following students who received awards for academic execellence for their 2005 studies.
The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Homer Le Grand, presents the following Academic Excellence Awards
Bachelor of Arts
(on-campus) - Kristie Young
Bachelor of Behavioural
Science (on-campus) - Holly Campbell
Bachelor of Arts
(Journalism) (on-campus) - Jing An
Bachelor of Social
& Community Welfare (on-campus) - Kerry Jarvis
Bachelor of Social
Welfare (off-campus) - Kim Bilston
The Noweyung Award
for Academic Excellence in the Diploma of Social Welfare - Chantelle
Cella
Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor
of Social Welfare (off-campus) - Naomi Furlong as Naomi was unable
to attend the Awards Night, her mother accepted the award on her
behalf.
Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor
of Social & Community Welfare (on-campus) - Michelle Tisdale
Bachelor of Cognitive
Science (off-campus) - William Schmidt
The School acknowledges the significant support provided by the following awards sponsors:
- Peter Kerr Foundation
- Anglicare Gippsland
- Noweyung Centre
- Gippsland Area Consultative Committee
- The LV Printers/Needham PR
- Spotless
- Department of Human Services
Cambodian Scholars Visit SAMSS
This semester the School is hosting the visit of two Cambodian scholars, Suon Sokoeun and Top Sophanou, from Norton University , Phnom-Penh. Suon Sokoeun has joined the SAMSS staff. He is currently carrying out research into Khmer culture and history, and the development of the tertiary education system in Cambodia . Top Sophanou is currently enrolled in the School's Graduate Certificate in Regional Community Development units. She intends to continue her postgraduate studies in community development when she returns to Cambodia . During the course of the first semester Suon Sokoeun and Top Sophanou have enriched the School's teaching program by lecturing to SAMSS students on Cambodian culture and history.
Photographs
On Thursday 2nd of March our visiting Cambodian scholars made an official presentation to the School and University of a decorative silk head covering and a marble buddha. The presentation took place in the Head of School's office on the occasion of the School Advisory Committee meeting. The Monash Gippsland Campus chaplain, the Rev. Lyn Porritt, also attended the presentation. The buddha is now located in the Monash Gippsland Campus Spiritual Centre.
The following photographs were taken of the presentation ceremony.
1. Unpacking Buddha
Suon Sokoeun and Top Sophanou unpack buddha while the Deputy Head of School, Keith Wilson looks on with Head of School Colleen Lewis..
2. Advisory Committee Receives Buddha
Those holding the buddha from left to right are: Rev. Lyn Porritt, Suon Sokoeun, and Dr. Keith Wilson. The Head of School, Assoc. Prof. Colleen Lewis, is holding the decorative head covering.
3. A Welcome Gift
The Deputy Head of School and Head of School receive buddha. From left to right, Suon Sokoeun, Dr. Keith Wilson (Deputy Head of School), Assoc. Prof. Colleen Lewis (Head of School) and Top Sophanou.
Research News
After a busy start to the teaching year I would like to pass on some research good news.
- The ARC Discovery Grant applications closed last month with 5 research projects submitted from SAMSS staff. This is an excellent outcome and represents a very strong research presence for SAMSS within the Faculty. Congratulations to all applicants for such a strong result.
- Congratulations also go to Dr Barry Richardson, Dr Dianne Wuillemin and Dr Mark Symmons from the Bionics and Cognitive Science Centre, who have received a grant of $39,700 from the Brockhoff Foundation for their project "Putting the Blind in Touch with Computers". The project will adapt a commercially available device called the Optacon which has a small hand-held camera used to scan magazine pictures and text. What the camera "sees" in terms of edges and areas of dark and light is delivered to a 100-point array of pins that vibrate against a finger tip. This device will be reconfigured and programmed so that what the finger tip feels is what is on a PC screen (an Internet page for example) with zoom and other enhanced features to aid learning. This exciting research project was featured in an article in The Age Education Section on Monday 13 February and we wish the team well with its progress.
- The collection of 2005 DEST publications data is now complete, thank you to all staff for submitting the detailed paperwork. Provisional figures show that SAMSS DEST output has increased from 23 points last year to over 80 DEST points in the current collection. This is an exceptional result. I would like to thank Louise Bye for her work in bringing this vast amount of material together, it is a major exercise and one that is very important to the School's research position.
- Finally, the 2006 SAMSS research seminars will begin on Thursday 9 March 2-3pm, running every second Thursday throughout the teaching semester. Thanks to Vaughan Higgins who has done a terrific job putting the program together. We hope to see as many people there as possible next Thursday for the first seminar.
Jenny Hocking
SAMSS
Research Director