I N S I D E YO U R
C h ro n i c l e
Killer quakes detected by
ring lasers.
Unniive
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Volume 36
•
No. 2
•
Thursday, February 15, 2001
University now more
open – retiring professor.
$30,000 worth of routers
gifted.
Poet takes up residence.
Recycling efforts
take another leap
Enrolment 2001
T
he University of Canterbury
is about to take another
leap for ward in its effort to
reduce waste and recycle more.
New recycling bins for the
collection of glass, plastic drink
bottles, aluminium and steel cans
are to be placed outside the James
Hight Cafe and at the Students’
Association building.
The bins are the result of cooperation between the University’s
Facilities Management
Department and the Kakariki
Student Environmental Group’s
Recycle Team to further reduce
waste on campus.
“The University generates large
amounts of waste, enough to fill
the entire Registry building in a
year. All of this is generated by
enough people to inhabit a small
city- roughly 20,000 people.”
This week’s enrolment has generally gone smoothly, with none of the student
loan problems experienced last year.Academic Services Director Bill Matthew
said yesterday that meaningful enrolment figures would not be available until
the end of the month. However, pre-enrolments were not significantly different
from last year’s and there had been a good number of people turning up who
had not pre-enrolled.
Below: Dean of Forestry Ron O’Reilly explains course requirements to an
enrolling student on Monday.
Photos by Duncan Shaw-Brown, External Relations
Environmental Projects CoOrdinator Jo O’Brien says it is vital
an organisation this large recycles
all it can.
Last year, the University
introduced a campus-wide paper
recycling scheme, complete with
large burgundy wheelie bins
stationed in every department.
This went a long way to stem the
steady stream of waste paper
destined for landfill, but the
problem of what to do with other
recyclable material remained.
“There are many more items in the
waste stream that are recyclable. If
you take a look in any outdoor
rubbish bins around campus, you’ll
see an assortment of plastic and
glass drink bottles and aluminium
p. 2
1
The retirement of Phil Martin at
the end of Januar y marked the
end of the line for Canterbur y
University’s inspectors of
reser ves.
At his retirement function, Mr
Martin said his job had been a very
interesting one. He had especially
enjoyed the access it had given him
to the South Island high country.
Endowment lands were a
significant asset for Canterbury
College and later Canterbury
University College. However, these
lands and the income from them
dwindled during the second half
of the 20th centur y and the task
of looking after them also
gradually decreased. Mr Martin’s
work will now be undertaken by
the Finance Department.
The Registrar, Alan Hayward, said
with Mr Martin’s retirement it was
the first time since 1913 the
institution had been without an
inspector of reserves.
Photo by Duncan Shaw-Brown, External Relations
Mr Martin was appointed
inspector of reser ves in 1976 by
former registrar Garth Turbott.
When he started, the University
had 85,000ha of land; on his
retirement that had dropped to
40,000ha.
Recycling efforts on campus - continued
p. 1
A measure of the importance of the
lands in the early years was given
by 1893 figures, which showed the
College made £7837 from rent on
endowment lands and spent £6205
on salaries and wages. Last year,
the University received $90,000 in
Murrey McCurdy left and Daniel Jolly working on the new recycling bins
rent but spent $70 million on
salaries and wages.
The two new facilities will be ready
cans, most of which can be
for use from February 19.
recycled,” she said.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor Bob Kirk said Mr
Ben Weston
Martin had done the University
Recycling advice
a great ser vice over 24 years.
brochures. If you really do need
We can all do our bit to keep the
it, try sharing with a friend.
University’s amount of waste to a
minimum. Here are some tips that
• When photocopying and
are always worth bearing in mind:
printing, ensure you copy only
necessary pages and reduce to
• Bring your own cup for hot
double-side where practical.
drinks to avoid those nasty
polystyrene and waxed paper
• Ask lecturers to double-side
cups that fill up most of the
lecture notes and use on-line
rubbish bins around campus.
notes if available.
Cafe 101 offers a reduced price
• Most of all make a racket about
for coffee if you bring your own
unnecessary use of resources.
cup.
Nothing will change if students
• Say “no thanks” to disposable
and staff don’t voice their
items such as plastic cutlery,
concerns.
plastic bags and unnecessary
Ann and Phil Martin at the retirement function on January 31.
UCSA Clubs Development Officer heads overseas
The bright lights of London
have proved irresistible to
University of Canterbur y
Students’ Association Clubs
Development Officer George
Seaton.
Photo by Duncan Shaw-Brown, External Relations
Next Issue: March 1, 2001
Mr Seaton is planning to go to
London after he finishes at the
University next Friday. He has held
the clubs development job since
February 1997.
The organiser of the association’s
highly successful Clubs Days at
Orientation, Mr Seaton says he will
miss working with students. A
highlight for him has been his
involvement in arts and cultural
University of Canterbury Chronicle
events, last year’s International
Festival and the annual sporting
Blues ceremony.
During the past year, Mr Seaton
has been Vice-President of
University Sport New Zealand.
Deadline:
February 23, 2001
Editor:
Paul Gorman
Ext 6260 or 364 2260
Deputy Editor:
Rachael Drummond
Ext 6910 or 364 2910
Artwork:
Marcus Thomas
E-mail:
chronicle@regy.canterbury.ac.nz
Fax:
Ext 6679 or 364 2679
Address:
External Relations Department,
University of Canterbury,
Private Bag 4800, Christchurch.
The Chronicle is typeset and printed by the
University Printery.
Photo by Duncan Shaw-Brown, External Relations
Last of the reserves inspectors
Senior staff conference postponed
T
he University’s two-day
Senior Staff Conference was
postponed at short notice last
week by the Vice-Chancellor
Executive Committee.
The conference, organised by the
Organisational Development Unit of
the Human Resources Department,
would have been the first of its kind
and was scheduled for February 8
and 9 at the Chateau on the Park. It
was aimed at heads of academic and
service departments, directors,
deans, the recently renamed ViceChancellor’s Office and members of
the University Council.
In an all-staff e-mail last Monday,
February 5, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor Bob Kirk said the
scheduling of the conference, close
to the start of enrolment week, had
made it difficult for many staff to
attend.
Other concerns about the
conference were also voiced
anonymously by academics in an
article in The Press.
Professor Kirk said the decision to
postpone to a date yet to be decided
had been made reluctantly in view of
the hard work that had gone into
planning the conference.
However, the Vice-Chancellor and
the Vice-Chancellor’s Office were
planning to hold a session in the
very near future to outline strategic
planning outcomes from the threeday executive retreat at Hanmer
Springs in December.
Skills development workshops
planned for the conference would
be held at other times, Professor
Kirk said.
He thanked the 55 registrants and
said a number of other staff had
expressed disappointment at not
being able to participate because of
the timing.
In The Press article on February 9,
anonymous sources voiced concerns
about the expense of the conference
and its venue off-campus.
Figures provided by the Human
Resources Department show final
costings were of the order of $200
per person for the two-day event. In
terms of the conference’s location,
HR Director Associate Professor
Bruce Jamieson said organisers
had tried unsuccessfully to secure a
suitable venue on campus.
(Also see “Le Grew’s View”, p.5)
“Statuemania” explored in lecture
Photo by Michael de Hamel
In the 19th century and early
20th centuries, there was a
worldwide craze for erecting
statues to the great and good. As
we know from Thomas Woolner’s
Godley statue of 1865 (a detail
pictured here) and others
besides, this strongly impacted
on Christchurch.
Ring lasers detect quake rotations
In his art history public lecture,
Benedict Read will explore the
strange condition that he calls
“Statuemania”.
Who, besides Queen Victoria, was
commemorated and why? Where,
when and why did the trend start?
Are these statues hideous or
beautiful? Did “Statuemania” ever
stop and has it started again? These
are some of the questions explored
in his well-illustrated lecture.
Benedict Read is Henry Moore
Lecturer in the history of sculpture
at the University of Leeds and is
the author of the classic account
Victoria Sculpture (1982) and PreRaphaelite Sculpture (1991). He
was recently keynote speaker at
the Australasian Victorian Studies
Association conference on
Victorian Monuments.
The rotations generated in the
Ear th’s cr ust by the recent
earthquakes in El Salvador and
India were detected by the laser
equipment in the Cashmere
Caverns (above).
This is the first time that such ring
laser measurements have been
reported from such distant sources,
Professor Geoff Stedman (Physics
and Astronomy) said.
“These Earth mantle waves have
come over a quarter of the way
around the Earth to reach us. The
rocking motion is very slow as well
as extremely small, with a typical
period of 22 seconds.”
“The plots show, in billionths of
radians per second, the rotations
of the Port Hills at Cashmere in
response to the two killer
quakes.
“Rotations of both the horizontal
(upper plots) and vertical ring
lasers (lower plots) were
detected.
“Any
reasonably
good
seismometer can detect linear toand-fro ground motions, and
from much smaller quakes.
However, ground rotations are
made harder to detect reliably,”
Professor Stedman said.
Timber industry celebrates MDF’s success
Twenty-five years of medium
density fibreboard production
was celebrated by a conference
at the University of
Canterbur y’s School of Forestr y
recently.
Director of the University’s Wood
Technology Centre Professor
Roger Keey said the conference
went down very well and
conference sessions were lively and
creative.
The conference, called MDF 2000,
organised by the Wood Technology
Research Centre, was attended by
members of the timber industry
from Australia and New Zealand,
representatives from the Ministry
of Agriculture and Forestry, resin
manufacturers and academics.
“I’d be surprised if it didn’t help
sharpen research in this area and
produce further contacts. It may
form the basis of the development
of a research programme. There
has been a lot of research into solid
wood and MDF research is the
direction we will be going into.”
MDF, which is a combination of
crushed wood fibre and resin, was
developed in the early 1970s mainly
for panels and furniture, although it
is increasingly used in joinery such
as skirting boards.
Highlights of the conference
included: a demonstration of the
new panels laboratory, an overview
of the New Zealand panels industry
in a world context, presented by
Kelvin Chapman, a senior teaching
fellow at Canterbury and
international consultant on MDF
production; and a large collection of
slides exploring the micro-world of
softwood, presented by Professor
Brian Butterfield from the
Department of Plant and Microbial
Sciences.
The success of local MDF producer
Canterbury Timber Products’
Sefton Plant (now Carter Holt
Harvey Panels), which was one of
the first in New Zealand, was
celebrated. During the conference
His lecture is in A4 on February
the ribbon was cut on the
20, from 5 - 6.30pm. Statuemaniacs University’s Panels Laboratory in
and sceptics alike are welcome.
the Department of Chemical and
Mark Stocker Process Engineering.
Maya Dannan
3
University more open now than in the mid–1960s
C
anterbur y University has
changed from a small
provincial university, run by a
group of men, into a democratic
and open institution during his
40-year career, retiring
Education Department
Emeritus Professor Graham
Nuthall says.
Professor Nuthall earned his BA
and MA degrees at the University
of Canterbury and then trained as a
primary school teacher and speechlanguage therapist at the former
Christchurch Teachers’ College.
He was first appointed to the
University of Canterbury as an
assistant lecturer in education in
1960. After three years, he went to
the University of Illinois on a
Fulbright Scholarship, where he
gained a PhD in education and
psychology in 1966.
He then returned to New Zealand
to work as a lecturer at Canterbury
University. Canterbury was going
through great changes at the time,
he said, and he soon got involved
with those trying to bring about a
transformation.
1985 to 1994, he was the University
representative on the Council of the
Christchurch College of Education,
and from 1979 to 1983, and 1985 to
1990, he was a member and
chairperson of the Christchurch
College of Education Appointments
Committee.
Professor Nuthall has served on
many committees and boards
throughout his years at
Canterbury, including holding the
chair of the Joint Board of Studies
in Education from 1981 to 1985 and
again from 1992 to 1996.
Professor Nuthall has also been
involved in preparing many policy
papers over the years, including an
invitation to work with the National
Planning Committee on Studies in
Teaching set up in 1974 to advise
the United States government on
the future of educational research.
He was one of only two nonAmericans to be invited to join this
committee.
“When I came back to Canterbury,
I found that the University was
growing extremely fast and had a
lot of problems as a consequence.
“A number of us got involved in
trying to reform the way the
University was run. The University
was largely run by a small group of
men and nobody knew how
important decisions were made. We
got involved in basic reforms,
opening up the promotion process,
enabling staff to find out what
information the vice-chancellor
used to make promotions – the sort In 1987, he worked with the
of things that are now taken for
Education and Science
granted.
Parliamentary Select Committee
on the investigation into effective
“They were difficult days. I was
teaching. In 1999 he worked on the
chair of the local branch of AUT,
teacher training evaluation
now the AUS, in the mid-1970s
conducted by the Education
when disputes reached the stage
where the staff passed a vote of ‘no Review Office.
confidence’ in the vice-chancellor.
Professor Nuthall has published
The University was growing
many papers including Reframing
enormously fast and the old models classroom research; a lesson from
no longer worked. It has become
the private world of children in
far more open now.”
1993, which has now been
Professor Nuthall was head of the
Education Department in 1976,
from 1980 to 1986, and again in
1996. From 1979 to 1983, and from
University of Canterbury Chronicle
republished in many different
books. Other papers have been
translated into several different
languages.
Professor Nuthall says he decided
to retire because he was becoming
increasingly frustrated at the
limited amount of time he was able
to put into his research – The
Project on Learning – which he
During the past 40 years, Professor expects to continue for a further
three years. He says this research
Nuthall has built up an
project is some of the best research
international reputation for his
of its kind in the world. “We’re
research, which has resulted in
looking at how to predict what
numerous invitations to
children will and won’t learn, what
international conferences.
kind of experience they need to
When he started at the University
learn and remember. We can do
of Canterbury he said the
that with considerable accuracy
expectations on lecturers were
now.”
quite different.
Getting the money to support his
“We were expected to teach
research has always been a
whatever was needed and one of
struggle.
the requirements of my first
position was that I had to lecture on “In the early days, no one believed
that social science research was
the history of education in New
real research. Once, when I
Zealand. I knew little about it and
hardly anything was written about applied for a grant from the
it. I had to do my own research and University Grants Committee
Research Committee, I was
search out original material. With
inter viewed by a member of the
three postgraduate students we
committee who had no idea what
went through old administrative
records which had been piled up in the research was about. We
ended up talking about the
a storeroom in the old Cranmer
problems his daughter was
School buildings – things like
having at school. Needless to say,
inspectors’ reports and old letter
I did not get the grant. After I got
books. We found a scrap of paper
my first grant from the
recording the names of the pupils
University, I was told that they
from the first class of Christ’s
had made an exception in this
College in L yttelton in 1850. It
had algebra problems on one side case and that I would be unlikely
and on the other side the official to ever get another grant.”
Professor Nuthall says it is now
roll of the students in class.
much easier to get research
Having to lecture in so many
grants but there is still a long
different areas was a great
way to go before research in
learning experience.”
education is funded at anything
Playing a significant role in
like the level that is needed.
establishing the degree course in
He is currently a member of the
judging panel for one of the top
American educational awards, the
Sylvia Scribner Award of the
American Educational Research
Association.
speech and language therapy is one “I gave up long ago encouraging
of the achievements that Professor students to get involved in
research on teaching unless they
Nuthall is most proud of.
were really committed to
“That was a long 10-year process.
spending endless hours
At the beginning it was a one-year
course at the teachers’ college and obser ving, recording,
transcribing and coding.”
now it’s an excellent four-year
undergraduate and master’s degree
course. I learnt a lot about
bureaucracy and the politics of
government departments along the
way.”
He is also proud to have played a
part in the Education Department
becoming the first department to
introduce a feminist studies course
and to establish the first bicultural
position within the University.
“Teaching has been my other
passion. I long ago became
aware that the accepted ways of
teaching in the University are so
familiar and expected that it’s
hard to be aware of what actually
happens to students.
“I was once running a two-hour
graduate seminar that seemed to
be going ver y well when, halfway
p. 5
through, a student stood up in
the corner, apologised for being
in the wrong class, and left the
room. There was a stunned
silence. It turned out he was a
first-year student who had been
sitting quietly in the corner, too
shy to move. In the heat of the
discussion, none of us had
noticed him. I learned to become
much more sensitive to what
each student was experiencing in
class after that.
“Some years later, I recall sitting
in the back of a lecture theatre
during an interdisciplinar y
course. I wanted to find out what
the other lecturers were saying
so I could co-ordinate my
lectures with theirs. I became
absorbed in looking at the notes
that the students around me were
writing. They were doing their
best to copy down the difficult
words the lecturer was using, but
what they wrote was mostly
garbled or nonsense. I suddenly
realised how many students must
conscientiously memorise their
notes for tests and exams without
ever realising that they were
memorising nonsense.
“Over the years I have tried many
alternative ways of teaching and
assessing in my courses, but it’s
always a struggle when the
facilities and expectations of staff
and students all assume that the
traditional ways are best.”
Professor Nuthall has no regrets
about his career at Canterbur y
and said he already felt as though
he had had about three or four
different careers while he’d been
here and would probably need
three more to fulfil all his ideas.
“I’ve always had so many ideas
for research and teaching that I
have thought if I had three lives I
probably wouldn’t get them all
done. I always seem to be
throwing ideas out that I haven’t
had time to finish. And I could
always have spent much more
time on things that I have been
involved in. You just learn to live
with that.”
On Professor Nuthall’s
retirement the University
conferred on him the title of
Emeritus Professor.
Le Grew’s View
There’s more
than a touch
of irony in my
welcoming
you back for
another year. I
know many of
you
are
already up to your ears in work
and that some have been that
way for weeks. For those of you
who have not managed much
of a break since before
Christmas, I hope you can find
time to take a breather soon.
In mid-December, members of the
executive had a three-day retreat
at Hanmer Springs. We discussed
specific major issues facing the
University, finalised reporting lines
for service departments and the
structure of the rejigged ViceChancellor’s Office, identified new
business oppor tunities and
developed a series of projects to
achieve the University’s strategic
goals. Those taking par t were
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor
Bob Kirk, Pro-Vice-Chancellor
(Academic) Dr Jan Cameron, ProVice-Chancellor (International)
Professor John Raine, Pro-ViceChancellor (Services) Professor
Phil Butler, Business and Finance
Director Tom Gregg, Human
Resources Director Associate
Professor Br uce Jamieson,
Registrar Alan Hayward and
myself.
The main element in the new
structure is the Vice-Chancellor’s
Office, composed of those listed
above, which has as a subset the
Vice-Chancellor
Executive
Committee of scholar-managers.
The aim of the structure, an
accommodation of forces, is to
ensure that each of the University’s
key strategic bases has an
executive member attached.
Our retreat proved to be a
productive few days. The team
charted the way ahead to the 2002
University plan with considerable
optimism and is looking forward to
engaging with staf f during the
course of the year as a strategicplanning time-frame is developed.
We will be communicating these
important new directions with the
University community as the
academic year commences. My
thoughts are to have a forum once
students have arrived back and there
will also be the chance for a series
of discussions involving faculties, the
Academic Board and ultimately the
University Council.
Last week’s postponed Senior Staff
Conference would have been a good
opportunity to discuss the VCO’s
deliberations but unfortunately only
about half of the people who wanted
to be there could make it. The
decision to postpone was not taken
lightly and in no way was a reflection
on the organising team and its
sterling work. I’m aware there were
concerns from some corners of the
University at the conference being
off-campus, but these events have to
be made as productive as possible
and for that reason it’s a good idea
to get away from e-mail, voicemail
and other interruptions.
Enrolment will be very much on
everyone’s mind this week. At the
end of last week things were looking
quite positive, but whatever happens
with final enrolment numbers it will
be vital that we continue to recruit
students throughout the year by
offering semesterised courses and a
comprehensive summer school
programme. Some detailed market
analysis needs to be carried out so
we will know our summer schools
for 2001-2002 are well-targeted and
will be well-attended.
To maintain the integrity of the
University’s budget for this year,
enrolment figures need to rise by
2.4%. In line with our commitment
to help depar tments that have
dif ficulties coping with the 3.6%
across-the-board budget cuts, Tom
Gregg has been working on the
details and the mechanics of the
central contingency fund. We have
an early indication of those
depar tments which will need
suppor t and this should be
manageable.
Work is now under way on the
Annual Repor t for 2000 and on
honing the planning and reporting
cycle for the University. Tom
Gregg is leading this project,
assisted by Quality Assurance
Facilitator John Jennings and Alan
Hayward. A team from the Finance
Depar tment
and
Exter nal
Relations will ensure the repor t
– containing a narrative section, the
statement of accounts and the
statement of service performance
– is produced for the University
Council and ultimately the
Gover nment in the time
required.
The fine-tuning of the repor ting
cycle will mean the VCO has to
meet as early as June each year
to discuss the institution’s
strategic direction. Out of such
discussions and decisions will
come the University’s objectives
to go into the Statement of
Objectives for the next
triennium. Once this pattern is in
place we need to ensure the
Annual Report drops out of the
Statement of Objectives as easily
as possible and that the budget
is then related back to the
objectives and plans.
At the start of the year there was
a lot of publicity about the
University investigating the
NZTET loans financing scheme.
The University and the Bank of
New Zealand are cur rently
seeking a binding ruling from the
Inland Revenue Depar tment
about it. There have been
criticisms that some of this has
been carried out behind closed
doors, but an unfor tunate
consequence of not being 100%
publicly funded is that, from time
to time, we may seek funding
from the private sector and those
parties may require a degree of
confidentiality. However, any
such dealings will ultimately be
put into the public domain and
repor ted through the normal
audit procedur es of the
University.
The Audit Of fice and the
Ministr y of Education have
cleared the TET scheme, saying
it is appropriate for the
University to be doing this kind
of thing. The Tertiar y Advisor y
Monitoring Unit (TAMU) has
also been very helpful, assisting
us with working through the
material, and even made the
introductions for us. We hope to
have the IRD ruling by mid-year.
5
Visiting Canterbury and Erskine Fellows
Professor Robert Jessop of the
University of Lancaster is a Visiting
Canterbury Fellow in the
Department of Sociology from
February 21 to April 30.
Professor Jean-Guy Beliveau of
the University of Vermont is a
Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Civil Engineering
from February 16 to June 15.
Professor Jessop is a specialist in
social and political theory,
comparative political economy and
theories of the state, globalisation
and urban change.
Professor Beliveau is a specialist in
structural dynamics and vibration
theory.
*
*
*
Associate Professor David
Round of the University of
Adelaide is a Visiting Erskine
Fellow in the Department of
Accountancy, Finance and
Information Systems from
February 2 to June 9.
Professor Round is a specialist in
competition law and policy,
industrial organisation and
telecommunications policy.
Professor Alan Mather of the
University of Alberta is a Visiting
Erskine Fellow in the Department
of Chemical and Process
Engineering from January 4 to
April 27.
Professor Mather is a specialist in
the thermodynamics of gas treating
and design.
Professor Johan
Blaauwendraad of the Delft
University of Technology is a
Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Civil Engineering
from January 22 to March 24.
Professor Blaauwendraad is a
specialist in non-linear mechanics
and finite element methods.
Dr Edward McBean of
Conestoga-Rovers & Associates is a
Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Civil Engineering
from February 19 to March 20.
Dr McBean is a specialist in
environmental engineering.
Professor Yoginder Vaid of the
University of British Columbia is a
Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Civil Engineering
from March 1 to May 31.
a Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering from
February 2 to April 10.
Professor Mathar is a specialist in
cellular radio networks.
Dr Kaiser is a specialist in clusters
in the gas phase and
nanostructures on surfaces.
Associate Professor Ronald
Dahl of the University of
Pittsburgh School of Medicine is a
Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Psychology from
Professor Seilacher is a specialist in February 15 to April 6.
Professor Dahl is a specialist in
invertebrate palaeontology,
developmental psychology,
sedimentation and Precambrian
developmental neuroscience and
life.
biological psychology.
Professor Jennifer Cheshire of
Professor Dr Adolf Seilacher of
the University of Tubingen is a
Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Geological Sciences
from February 12 to April 13.
Associate Professor Janet
Leonard of the University of
California at Santa Cruz is a
Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Professor Cheshire is a specialist in Department of Zoology from
March 1 to March 31.
sociolinguistics, code-switching,
syntax of dialects and linguistics in Professor Leonard is a specialist in
animal behaviour, neuroethology
education.
and behaviour modelling.
Professor Thomas Geers of the
the University of London is a
Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Linguistics from
January 22 to April 13.
University of Colorado is a Visiting
Erskine Fellow in the Department
of Mechanical Engineering from
January 14 to May 20.
Professor Vaid is a specialist in
geotechnical engineering.
Professor Geers is a specialist in
acoustics and numerical methods.
Professor Dr-Ing Bernd Page of
the University of Hamburg is a
Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Computer Science
from February 12 to March 27.
Professor Martin Kinsey Davies
of Oxford University is a Visiting
Erskine Fellow in the Department
of Philosophy and Religious Studies
from February 24 to March 25.
Professor Page is a specialist in
simulation modelling and
environmental informatics.
Professor Davies is a specialist in
the philosophy of psychology.
Professor Peter Kennedy of
Simon Fraser University is a Visiting
Erskine Fellow in the Department of
Economics from February 24 to
April 28.
Professor Terry Deshler of the
University of Wyoming is a Visiting
Erskine Fellow in the Department
of Physics and Astronomy from
December 15, 2000 to May 15,
2001.
Professor Kennedy is a specialist in
econometric theory and
applications.
Professor Deshler is a specialist in
atmospheric science, specifically
stratospheric aerosols.
Professor Pradipta Dash of the
Regional Engineering College, India,
is a Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
Department of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering.
Dr Joyce Guzik of Los Alamos
National Laboratory is a Visiting
Erskine Fellow in the Department
of Physics and Astronomy from
February 12 to April 7.
Professor Dash is a specialist in A1
applications in power, power
electronics applications to power
systems, and power system
protection.
Dr Guzik is a specialist in stellar
evolution and pulsation,
asteroseismology radiation
transport and nuclear reactions.
Dr Bernhard Kaiser of the
Professor Rudolf Mathar of
Institute for Physical Chemistry is
Aachen University of Technology is a Visiting Erskine Fellow in the
University of Canterbury Chronicle
Department of Physics and
Astronomy from January 29 to
April 8.
Routing equipment
gifted by Cisco
Cisco Systems New Zealand has
provided a further $30,000
worth of routing equipment for
the University’s e-commerce
and computer science
laboratories.
In August 2000 the Internet
network giant provided an initial
$30,000 worth of network routers to
establish a laboratory for
undergraduate and graduate
students.
Cisco’s support follows that of
Seattle-based Watchguard
Technologies, which donated
$70,000 worth of firewall equipment
last year for a specialised training
and research laboratory.
Computer Science Associate
Professor Ray Hunt says this
generous support from industry
over the past year means
Canterbury can cater to increasing
demand for Internet network and
security training.
“The generosity of companies like
CISCO and Watchguard is of
significant benefit to our teaching
and research programmes. There
would be few universities as well
equipped as we are.”
Poetry should be the “best” communication – James Brown
A
s this year’s Canterbury
University Writer-inResidence, Wellington poet
James Brown will embark on a
new challenge – a selection of
short stories.
While he says he prefers to explore
ideas and aestheticism than forever
pouring out his heart on the page,
Mr Brown maintains that the best
poetry occurs when these two
approaches are combined.
“Maurice Gee once said writers of
prose make bad poets, but poets
can readily write prose. So I’ll have
a crack at it while I’m here.”
“Poetry should be the best
communication there is. It should
be about feelings and emotions, as
well as delivering a clear message.
But I find that in New Zealand if
you write anything that’s slightly
cerebral, people won’t respond so
well. I feel out on a limb when I
write political poems.”
Although he admits short stories
don’t sell as well as novels, he
wants to explore the medium to
inject more “narrative” into his
writing.
“That sense of ‘what happens next’
is such an enjoyable part of
reading. I like narrative in poetry
Zealand poets because of his
and enjoy putting people in a story.” tendency to “fictionalise”.
Mr Brown, 34, has produced two
Curiously, he seems determined to
books of poetry – Go Round Power throw off that unyielding
Please (1995) and Lemon (1999).
introspection one expects of poets.
Another (yet to be titled) is also on “Generally I don’t write about my
the year’s ‘to do’ list at Canterbury. own life. I’m just a boring person
Other poems, and the odd short
from Palmerston North and it
story, have also appeared in various would make for some quite tedious
literary publications in New
reading. A lot of poets feel only
Zealand and Australia.
qualified to write about their own
Mr Brown says his poetry differs a
little from that of other New
experiences and that can be
limiting.”
PhD students at Pacific rim conference
Methodologies for the Design of
Dairy Processes; Blossom Hart, who
is studying for a PhD in feminist
studies on A qualitative analysis of
New Zealand women’s experiences of
chronic psycho-somatic disorder with
a focus on Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome; Paul Roughan, who is
The APRU conference had an
working on a PhD degree in plant
interdisciplinary theme, “Global
and microbial sciences studying
Pressures, Local Impacts –
Antibiotic resistance evolution and
Challenges for the Pacific Rim”.
differentials; Kate Hewson, who is
Students from 34 universities in
embarked on a PhD in forestry on
countries around the Pacific Ocean
The role of advanced growth in the
attended.
restoration of upland tropical
The conference looked at the
rainforest, Pohnpei, Federated States
challenges facing the Pacific rim
of Micronesia; Susanne Rose, who
and explored how the different
is researching for a PhD in
societies, environments, states and sociology on The role of
regions could be affected from the environmental policy frameworks in
perspectives of science, technology, achieving integration of
business and economics, social
environmental and social impact
sciences and humanities.
assessments; and Krishna Gautam,
who is enrolled for a PhD in
The students attending from
Canterbury were: Nohemi Quispe- forestry on the topic Indigenous
knowledge of multiple-product forest
Chavez, who is enrolled for a PhD
management and its contribution to
degree in chemical and process
silviculture for community forestry.
engineering on the topic
The University of Canterbur y
provided a grant of $1000 each
to assist six students attend the
Association of Pacific Rim
Universities Doctoral Student
Conference in Auckland from
Februar y 1 to 4.
Mr Brown graduated from
Massey University with a BA in
English in 1988. After working
for a brief period as a studio
operator at Radio New Zealand,
he completed honours at Victoria
University in 1991. This included
a course in creative writing run
by Bill Manhire, from which a
sizeable flock of New Zealand
writers have emerged in the past
12 years.
in Go Round Power Please tended
to hop around a bit – many were
the result of those exercises.”
Mr Brown says he entered the
course with very little in the way of
a writing background and, unlike
his classmates, didn’t start
submitting material to publishers
until he’d finished.
“I was quite lucky. I was accepted
by most places that I’d sent work.”
In addition to his ability to get
publishers to back his work in the
years that followed, he offered
input into a number of poetry
writing workshops up and down
the country.
“I like to demystify it, explain what
those vague waffly things we hear
about poetry actually mean.”
Later in the year he’s looking
forward to being “wheeled in” to
the English Department’s own
poetry writing course to offer
budding wordsmiths his opinion
and perhaps a few tips.
“I think it’s important to give
“The various weekly exercises
specific feedback - some good old
made you write about different
fashioned close-reading
things. I think that’s why my poems
assessment - because that’s one
thing I needed but didn’t get when
I was starting out.”
Chronicle mailing
list update
Feedback on the revised
Chronicle external mailing list
has been steady in the past
few weeks, with about 250
address forms and positive
comments returned so far.
Ben Weston
DISCOUNT PHOTOS
COLOUR FILM PROCESSING
Those readers beyond the
campus, in New Zealand and
overseas, who send back their
forms in the reply paid
envelopes by Wednesday,
Februar y 28, will be in a draw to
win a copy of Christchurch
Changing – An Illustrated History
by Dr Geoffrey Rice (History),
courtesy of Canterbur y
University Press.
Digital computer or
camera files (PowerPoint,
Photoshop etc.) to slide/
negative or print.
Marlborough appeal
Rohan Rudd, Discount Photos
Ltd.
phone 0508 379 419
E-mail: icard@caverock.net.nz.
The Campus branch of the Bank of
New Zealand is accepting donations
until February 23 for farmers in
Marlborough who recently lost
practically everything they
possessed in fires.
E-mail your files to us and we
will deliver next day by no
charge courier!
Fast, low cost slide processing
service also available.
Free samples and price/service schedule
will be sent immediately upon request.
7
Love, lies and girls dressed as guys in Dramasoc’s Twelfth Night
retaining its Shakespearean
credibility and audience appeal.
Following previous Orientation
successes of Ophelia Thinks Harder
(1998), A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (1999) and Much Ado About
Nothing (2000), Dramasoc will
continue its proven formula of
summer Shakespeare and campus
comedy with Twelfth Night, this
year’s Orientation Show. The play
will be performed on campus in the
Ngaio Marsh Theatre.
An ageless beauty, Twelfth Night is
a well-written comedy that ranges
from highbrow intellectual jousting
to song and dance; from mistaken
identity to farce and slapstick. This
year, Dramasoc will present it as a
visual, funky, energetic and direct
play that will appeal to all.
Photo by Duncan Shaw-Brown, External Relations
The University’s Dramasoc
presents a visual feast with
Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth
Night this Februar y, a genderbending tale of love, death and
disguise.
Mark Wheldon (Sir Andrew) and Melanie Camp (Viola) joust at rehearsals.
Experienced actor Erin Harrington
(Ghetto, The Crucible) directs the
play adding a postmodern slant,
while Dramasoc life member
Michael Fielding (Ophelia Thinks
Harder, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream) produces the show. Both
bring expertise and experience to
the play.
Adding to the show’s potential for
success is a cast of talented and
experienced actors who will make
the play multi-dimensional,
Costumes and set will create a
visual feast, with a dream-like and
surreal atmosphere which will lead
audiences to a disordered and alien
world. Original music, composed
by Harrington and Dramasoc
actor/comedian/composer Scott
Koorey, will be intertwined with
the play to add to the feeling of an
odd, misaligned and magical world.
Be entertained and amused by the
talent, humour and drama at the
Ngaio Marsh Theatre. The play is
on from February 16 to 24 (no
performance Monday 19) at 8pm.
Tickets cost $8 for adults or $5 for
students. Holders of Orientation
2001 season passes receive free
admission.
Book by phoning 364 2652, ext
3918. For further information,
check out www.dramasoc.or, or email thespoholic@hotmail.com.
Duncan Brown
UC Varsity Vikings take on earlybird challenge last month
It seemed the UC Varsity
Vikings were gunning for the
consistency award at their first
dragon boat challenge. At the
Earlybird Regatta at Lake Roto
Kohatu on Januar y 28, the 25strong team competed in four
heats, recording a time of 1.21
minutes in each of the first
three round robins and 1.20 in
the fourth.
The Vikings’ three best times
secured them a position in the ImPress Promotions Corporate
Runners-Up Final, where they went
head to head with teams
representing the Christchurch
prisons, Shelwyn, Deloitte Touche
Tohmatsu, Airways Corporation and
Compaq. Hoping to further improve
their time, the Vikings made yet
another 1.21, finishing in sixth
position.
Team Manager Toni Hodge was
“delighted with the results”
however, which placed the team
among the top of the novice crews
and about midway in the total
number of corporate crews.
“The Earlybird Regatta gave the
team their first taste of competition
and put all their training to the test
against other often more
experienced crews.
Photos by Duncan Shaw-Brown, External Relations
“More importantly, the
camaraderie, both within the team
and with other crews, added to
everyone’s enjoyment of the whole
day. We were very proud Vikings!”
The team’s more experienced
compatriots, “The Loose Links” of
Lincoln University, achieved third
place in the overall final and a time
of 1.16, while New Zealand Post’s
“Hikuna Matata” carried off the
victors’ spoils. The best time of the
day was 1.11minutes; the slowest,
1.31.
The Varsity Vikings are now back in
training for the South Island
Champs, to be held at Lake Roto
Kohatu on February 18, before
taking on teams from around the
country in the Vodafone National
Dragon Boat Festival on March 10
and 11.
Thanks to the tremendous
enthusiasm of those participating in
the fundraising quiz night on
February 1, they will undertake
these challenges bedecked in
stylish Varsity Viking team
uniforms. The quiz, which raised
$1900 for the team, was generously
sponsored by a number of local
businesses and well attended by
University staff and friends. The
winners of the evening carried off
$120 in prize money and a Varsity
Viking helmet trophy.
“It was fantastic to see such
enthusiastic support from all
corners of the University and wider
community,” Ms Hodge said. “This
has given the team a real boost.”
Chanel Hughes
Games village at
Ilam in 2002
The 2002 Oceania International
Track and Field
Championships’ games village
will be at the University’s halls
of residence.
Hugh Mobbs (left), Jacqui Creelman
(right) and the rest of the Varsity
Vikings paddle out to the starting line.
University of Canterbury Chronicle
The Varsity Vikings (front) are away!
Christchurch was successful in its
bid to host the games, which are
expected to attract more than 300
athletes from about 15 Pacific
countries. The championship will be
held from December 13 to 15, 2002.