Alice Springs activities 

 
 

Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) Alice Springs Campus hosted Taste of Uni on 24 August, with over 30 Indigenous students attending from local schools. Most of the students were year’s 9 and 10 which is an important stage in ‘planting’ the seed to tertiary education.

The students particularly liked the sessions that were ‘hands on’ and activity based. The feedback was fantastic with students commenting that they felt very welcome and at ease; many are considering further study with CDU.

Croc Festival

Indigenous liaison officer, Lorraine St Clair, spent a busy couple of days at the annual Croc Festival, which took place in Alice Springs from 1-3 August. The event was attended by both primary and secondary school-aged Indigenous children from the Central and Barkly region.

The School of Science and Primary Industries’ display on tick’s left most staff members feeling decidedly uncomfortable! School of Arts pottery demonstrations were a hit with students, and the School of Education (childcare studies) and School of Health Sciences also contributed demonstrations and practical activities to the event.

Henry Smith wins rave reviews

The Centralian Advocate Art Awards are held each year; this year there were some exceptional paintings on show. In 2006 the awards were divided into three categories, People, Places and Stories. Henry Smith, CDU VET art lecturer, took out the Places award with his watercolour of a Todd River Red Gum.

Community engagement activities

In a recent Northern Territory Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association newsletter (June/July 2006) contributor Deidre White paid tribute to CDU’s responsiveness to students, with particular praise for Sharon Spencer, lecturer in community education based Alice Springs. In her article, Deidre described Sharon as knowledgeable, approachable, helpful and extremely easy to contact. The flexibility in course delivery was also a selling point.

Sharon explains that she tries to provide flexibility in her course delivery—given that many people are either home schooling children or already working full time, and weekday courses don’t always work: “… weekend workshops are a viable option and provide the networking opportunities that people in the field often need. It is important to provide flexibility to students.”

A suicide awareness session, coordinated by Lifeline, in conjunction with CDU and congress on 15 July, was well attended. Follow up sessions are planned for September and are being supported by the Campus.

Staff news

Alice Springs Campus farewelled former head of school, Trades, Steve Versteegh at the Desert Lantern restaurant on 25 July. The event was well attended by staff members both past and present, with Lyle Mellors, Mark Gooley and John Mason providing some interesting anecdotes about Steve over the last few years. The Alice Springs Campus wishes Steve all the very best in his new role with the NT Australian Apprentice Centre.

The Campus also farewelled Shay Coulthard, administrative assistant with the School of Tourism and Hospitality, on 4 August. Shay will be missed by Alice Springs staff.

Terry Clark, academic coordinator with Teaching and Learning Division presented ‘ITT @ CDU’, which was attended by nine staff members who have now completed their induction.

Peter Burkhard, VET project officer with Academic Quality, Planning and VET, recently visited the Campus to undertake audits with VET lecturers.

Diana Jarvis, manager External Relations, and Monica Turvey, director International, presented certificates of appreciation to sponsors of education at Alice Springs Campus on a recent visit. Among these was Tony Connole from Centralian Motors, who together with the Ford Motor Company donated a vehicle for use by automotive students.

Scott Snyder, director Corporate Services, and employment services consultant, Warren Martin, visited in early August to outline the changes to the enterprise bargaining agreement.

New staff recently joined the Campus: Alan Caust has commenced as VET lecturer with the School of Health Sciences; Biddy O’Laughlin has commenced as administrative assistant with the School of Tourism and Hospitality.

Visit the Alice Springs Campus website.