Staff and Facilities, page 1
Staff and Facilities
The University of Canberra (previously the Canberra College of Advanced Education)
has been offering undergraduate and graduate courses in Information Technology
since 1971.
The School of Information Sciences and Engineering in its present form was created
as of 1 January 2003. It is part of the Division of Business, Law and Information
Sciences. The School is organized into four major discipline areas:
 Information Systems,
 Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence,
 Network Engineering, and
 Mathematics and Statistics,
with a senior academic appointed as the head of each discipline.
Staff
Academic Staff
Head of School and Associate Professor in Information Systems
Dharmendra Sharma, PhD ANU MACS FSPCS
Deputy Head of School and Senior Lecturer in Information Systems
Penny A. Collings, BA Melb, GradDipEd, MEd Canberra CAE, FACS
Professor of Computing
Michael Wagner, Dipl-Phys Munich, PhD ANU, FIEAust, SMIEEE,
MASSTA, MISCA
Associate Professor in Electronics Engineering and Applied Physics
John P. Rayner, MSc, PhD ANU
Associate Professor in Information Systems
Craig McDonald, BA ANU, MSc. Soc, PhD UNSW, MACS
Associate Professor in Information Systems
John Campbell, BAdmin, BCom(Hons), PhD Griffith, MACS
Senior Lecturers
Jo L. Baskett, BSc N'cle, NSW, MEd Canberra
Peter J. Brown, BSc Syd, PhD UNSW
David I. Clark, BSc, Dip Ed, Dip Auto Computing Qld, Grad Dip Op Res
Canberra CAE, MMath Wat, PhD ANU, MACS
Ric L. Jentzsch, BSc Weber State, MSc Colorado State, PhD, UNSW, MACM,
MACS, IRMA
Dale Kleeman, BSc (Hons) ANU, Grad Dip Op Res Canberra CAE, AIAA
Shuangzhe Liu, BSc JiLinU, MSc North Eastern U, PhD Amsterdam
Trevor Lund, MA Oxf, PhD Monash, FAIP, FIREE, FIEAust, SMIEEE
Masoud Mohammadian, BSc Flin., MSc, PhD CQld, MACS, MIEEE
Sajal K. Palit, BSc, BEd, MSc. PhD IISC, Bangalore, MIEEE, MIEAust,
CPEng.
Charles Pfohl, Dipl.Ing Timisoara, MACS
Peter J. Vassiliou, BSc, PhD Syd
Huang Xu, ME Huazhong, PhD UNSW
Staff and Facilities, page 2
Lecturers
Judith Ascione, BSc (Hons) Adel, Grad Dip Stats Canberra, PhD ANU
Bala M. Balachandran, BSc (Hons) USL, DipDesign Comp, PhD Syd,
MIEAust, MACS
Chris Chlap, Dipl.Ing Karlsruhe, VDE
Robert Cox, MInfTech Canberra
David Davies, BSc, MSc ANU
Mary O. Hewett, BSc, Dip Met Melb, MSc St UNE, MAustMS
Kirn T. Le, BE Vietnam Nat Inst Tech, ME N'cle NSW, PhD Syd
lan Lisle, BSc Griffith, MSc St Qld, PhD UBC
Neil Lynch, MA Canberra CAE MInf Tech Canberra MACS
Wanli Ma, BSc Nanjing, MSc U Sci Tech China, PhD ANU
Avon Richards-Smith, NM, BA CompSc Canberra CAE, MBA (Tech Mgt)
Deakin
Alice M. Richardson, BA Well, MStats, PhD ANU, GStat
Dat T. Tran, BSc, MSc, Vietnam HCM Uni, GradDip Info Sci, PhD Canberra
Mohammad Yamin, MSc Alig, PhD ANU
Adrian P.R. Whichello, BSc UNSW, MSc Macq, PhD UNSW, MIEEE
Associate Lecturer
Lubna Sheikh, B InfTech, M InfTech Canberra
Detailed CVs for each staff member are attached. The majority of staff members in
the Information Systems, Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence and
Network Computing areas are eligible for ACS membership. The following are ACS
members:
Associate Professor Dharmendra Sharma, Member, 1070160 (Head of School)
Penny Collings, Fellow, 1025614, (Deputy Head of School)
Associate Professor Craig McDonald, Member, 1016643
Associate Professor John Campbell, Member, 1082281
Dr.Bala Balachandran, Member, 1064442
Dr David Clark, Member 1074905
Dr Ric Jentzsch, Member 1030400
Neil Lynch, Member, 1256172
Adjunct Appointments
Adjunct staff play an important role in the functioning of the school. All have
extensive professional experience and many of the adjuncts occupy important
positions in government and industry. Adjuncts provide formal and informal input on
course design and content issues, assist in various aspects of teaching and research,
including guest lectures and tutoring, attendance at and participation in seminars,
research colloquia and research projects. The current adjunct staff are as follows.
Adjunct Professor
Brian O’Keeffe, BE(Elec) Qld, Hon LLD Monash, FIEAust, FAIN, AO, Fans
Plans Pty Ltd
Clive Summerfield. BSc (Hons), Dip Industrial Studies Loughborough,
PhD Sydney, Three S Holdings Pty Ltd (3SH)
Peter Taylor, BSc (Adel), PhD (Adel), FACE, CMath, FIMA, FTICA,
Executive Director, Australian Mathematics Trust
Staff and Facilities, page 3
John Growder, BA Qld, BEc ANU, formerly First Assistant Commissioner
for the Astralian Taxation Office’s ICT
Jonathan Palmer, BA Comp Stud CCAE, CIO and First Assistant
Statistician, Technology Services Division, Australian Bureau of
Statistics, Convenor, Federal Govt CIO Committee Information
Interoperability Working Group, Australian Representative on
Governing Council of Statistical Institute Asia Pacific (UN-ESCAP)
Robin Eckermann, BA Adel, Grad Dip Comp. Studies Canberra,
formerly Principal, Eckermann & Associates, Federal Region
Manager, Techway Limited, Chief Architect, TransACT
Communications Pty. Limited
Adjunct Associate Professor
Paul Ledington, BA Open U, MA, PhD Lancaster, Academic Affairs
Manager, International Learning Management Australia
Adjunct Professional Associate
Robert Brookes, MACS, Bob Brookes & Associates Pty Ltd
Graham French, BE(Hons), PhD NSW, Consultant with Centre for Advanced
Telecommunications and Quantum Electronics Research.
David Walker, BE (Civil), BSc, PhD Melbourne, MACS, Computing
Consultant
Terry Webb, BA Lond, PhD CNAA, MA Essex, MACS, Defence Science and
Technology Organisation
Adjunct Research Associate
Colin Cochran, HND (Elec Eng), PG endorsements Heriot Watt
Peter Lynam, BSc(Hons) Birmingham, PhD Southhampton, MInstP, CPhys,
FAIP
Ken Noble
David Pederson, BSc(Hons) Adel, PhD ANU, Statistical Consultant
Andrei Storozhev, MSc, PhD Moscow, Australian Mathematics Trust
Leoni Warne, BA CCAE, Grad Dip Lib CCAE, Grad Dip Info Sys UC,
PhD UNSW, MACS, AIS, Senior Research Scientist, Defence
Systems Analysis Division, Defence Science and Technology
Organisation
Phillip Williams, BSc (Hons) MSc(Hons) Macquarie, MSc(Hons) ANU, Grad
DipApplied Economics UC and ANU,
Facilities and Services
Accommodation
The University has a full complement of teaching facilities, from large lecture theatres
equipped with video and computer projection facilities to tutorial and seminar rooms
and laboratories, adequate for current teaching needs.
Staff offices are fully furnished with networked computing facilities.
Staff and Facilities, page 4
Computing Facilities
A copy of the IT strategic plan for the School of Information Sciences and
Engineering is attached. This outlines current and planned future computing facilities
in the school.
Students have access to 8 laboratories with a total of 150 machines in the Information
Sciences and Engineering building, plus additional laboratories in the University
Computer Centre.
The ISE laboratories are as follows:
 3 labs of 20 PCs open 24 hours, 7 days
 2 labs of 20 PCs open 6am - 9pm
 2 labs of 15 PCs for third year IT Project students
 1 lab of 20 Unix machines.
A list of the software is available in the PC laboratories is given in section 3.2 of the
attached strategic plan.
All teaching, research and administrative staff have access to computing facilities in
their offices and special research labs. A list of available software is given in section
3.3 of the attached strategic plan.
In addition to the student laboratories, the Computer Centre has a special projects
laboratory containing state of the art scanning, video editing and multimedia
development tools, with a full time staff member to train staff and assist them in their
use.
The IT infrastructure in the school and the University as a whole is continuously
upgraded to meet ongoing needs.
IT Support Services
The University employs IT support staff with a range of responsibilities.
ISE support staff are responsible for:
 Setting up and maintaining software in the ISE laboratories, including a
standard software image for student use across the ISE network, development
tools (.including the .NET environment, C# and Sourcesafe) for student
projects, and a specialised research network.
 Maintaining on-line help and documentation
 Setting up Web folders and collaborative software to support student project
groups and provision of Web sites for on-line teaching.
 Develops specialised software for teaching and research.
The BLIS (divisional) IT unit are responsible for:
 Purchase and maintenance of computer hardware for the laboratories and for
staff offices.
 Network maintenance.
 Applying overnight updates and patches to software.
 Conduct of an on-line help desk.
Staff and Facilities, page 5

Maintenance of the divisional Web site.
The University Computer Centre provides:
 Student and staff (special projects) laboratories.
 Campus-wide keycard access and security.
 Common university-wide login, e-mail, anti-spam and ant-virus services.
 A help desk to assist in remote access to UC resources.
Library Facilities
Staff and students have access to the University of Canberra library. This has an
extensive and up to date book collection, and subscriptions to a wide range of
journals. Many of these journals are now taken in digital form. These include the
ACM and IEEE digital libraries.
The library catalogue can be accessed at http://library.canberra.edu.au/index.htm
A list of available databases can be found at
http://www.canberra.edu.au/library/research-gateway/databases
A search facility to locate electronic journals can be found at
http://www.canberra.edu.au/library/research-gateway/e-journals
Teaching Methods and Assessment
All units have a unit convenor who is a full time member of the academic staff. Most
of the lecturing and some of the tutoring is also done by full time academic staff, the
remainder by tutors who have extensive industry experience or by research students.
We use flexible teaching and learning methods, including lectures, tutorials,
workshops and laboratory sessions and these are all supported by online materials.
Assessment methods are always under review at UC. These include class
presentations, written papers, poster development, group projects, laboratory work,
etc both as formative and summative assessment, and reflections and examinations as
summative assessment. Students normally have some choice in assessment work to
match their interests. Students are assessed both individually and in groups and they
have a variety of ways in which to illustrate their learning.
Teaching Support Services
Within the School of Information Sciences and Engineering, students have access to a
Student Resource Centre which provides areas for study and group discussion and
tutorial assistance in computing, mathematics and statistics. The SRC offers weekly
sessions to support every first year unit. See for example,
http://www.ise.canberra.edu.au/src/Update/FurtherUpdate/Timetable.htm . This
includes Information Systems in Organisations. The support includes writing skills
and other interpersonal communication skills sessions and workshops – many of these
are already on offer. The University Academic Skills Program provides students with
assistance in developing appropriate study skills. See
http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/welcome.html for full details. All students are
invited to attend on a regular or ad hoc basis.
Staff and Facilities, page 6
The Curriculum Resources Centre supplies facilities for colour copying, making
transparencies, laminating and binding to assist students in preparing professional
presentations.
The audio-visual section of the Computer Centre provides equipment to support PCbased presentations in tutorial rooms, data projection facilities and video tape playing
in lecture theatres.
The Centre for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Scholarship (CELTS)
provides a range of services including:
 courses and workshops on various aspects of teaching, including award
courses for new staff;
 evaluation and feedback on teaching;
 assistance in the design, development and delivery of materials to be used in
flexible delivery programs (e.g. through the Web, print, audio, video and CD),
and provision of facilities to support delivery of these programs (e.g. WebCT).
Research
The University of Canberra has a well-developed research program with identified
areas of research strength, of which the School of Information Sciences and
Engineering is one, and research infrastructure, including research laboratories with
appropriate equipment. The Centre for Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and
Scholarship (CELTS) runs a structured program and workshops for the training of
research supervisors.
Quality Management
Each unit has a moderator who is a full time member of the academic staff and is
actively involved in the development of the unit outline, assessment items and the
examination, and in the determination of final grades, in collaboration with the unit
convenor and the other teaching staff for the unit.
The School of Information Sciences and Engineering has a number of committees
through which academic staff can manage and coordinate the work of the school.
These include:
 The Teaching and Learning Committee, develops and monitors a teaching and
learning plan for the school and provides input to the Divisional Education
Committee on policy issues, e.g. assessment, articulation.
 The IT Committee, which oversees the strategic direction of IT developments
for the school, and monitors the semester by semester provision of IT services
to ensure that they meet teaching and research needs.
 The Course Examiners Committee, which works with the Teaching and
Learning Committee, meeting frequently during the examination period to
decide on issues such as school warnings and the award of prizes, and to
identify and resolve any problems with the results in specific units.
 The School Board provides a venue for all staff of the school to raise and
discuss issues.
Staff and Facilities, page 7
The University has a well-developed set of policies on a range of key issues,
including areas such as introduction and accreditation of new courses, assessment,
institutional responsibilities to students, academic progress and review of subject
results. A full set of policies can be found at
http://www.canberra.edu.au/uc/policies/index.html
Practitioner input and advice are obtained in two main ways:
 By creation of advisory panels on specific issues. These panels typically
include people from government and industry, usually at about CIO level.
Recent panels have included ones providing input to the design of the
Bachelor of Business Informatics, to the development of the internship
program for the BBI, to the review of masters programs and to the overall
restructure of the IT courses (the last two of these leading to the courses
submitted for accreditation in this application).
 By involvement of the adjunct staff in course development, teaching and
research projects.
This is in addition to the normal informal contact between staff members and
practitioners in the community and through consulting work carried out by academic
staff.
Internal accreditation of new and revised courses involves preparation of a proposal in
a specified format, and approval by the Divisional Education Committee and then by
Academic Board. The course outlines provided in this submission are in this format
and have been approved in this way.
Projected Enrolments
To come
External and Offshore Campuses
The University of Canberra Brisbane campus is the only external campus teaching
courses relevant to this submission. This campus will close at the end of 2005.
The unit Information Systems in Organisations is taught through franchised campuses
in Hong Kong and Singapore as part of courses not part of this application.
Negotiations are in progress to teach the Bachelor of Business Informatics in
Singapore. If this happens, a separate application will be made for ACS accreditation
of that offering.