Issue 23 of the University of Otago Magazine
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UNIVERSITY OF MAGAZINEOtago ISSUE 23: JUNE 2009 LOOKING AFTER NZ FAMILIES COMPUTER SCIENCE’S EXTRAORDINARY SUCCESS CILLA MCQUEEN’S LOVE OF LANGUAGE THE GEOLOGY MUSEUM EXECUTIVE EDUCATION The truly wise never cease to learn, adapt & evolve … UPCOMING EXECUTIVE EDUCATION COURSES: • Competitive Strategy – July 2009 • Finance for Non-Financial Managers – August 2009 • Project Management – September 2009 • Corporate Sustainability – October 2009 All course fees include tuition, materials • Labour Negotiations – October 2009 and 5 nights accommodation at the University of Otago Executive Residence. • International Business Week 2009 – November 2009 • Marketing Management – November 2009 www.otago.ac.nz/execeducation 2 CONTENTS MAGAZINEUNIVERSITY OF OTAGO 5 28 Vice-Chancellor’s comment Opinion Professor Andrew Bradstock on 6 theology and public issues Family unit 6 Otago’s new Centre for Research 30 on Children and Families InBrief Academic highlights 10 25 years of Computer Science 10 36 A time of enormous change and UniNews extraordinary success 37 17 UniClippings Developing research Building health research capacity 17 39 in the developing world Hocken legacy 20 40 A voice of one’s own Books Otago poet and alumna Cilla McQueen 20 42 22 Alumni news True calling Reverend Dr Peter Norris celebrates 20 years at St Margaret’s 49 Whatever happened to … 25 22 The Geology Museum To the ends of the earth Dr Eric Monasterio’s trek to raise awareness of bipolar disorder 28 ISSU23E NUMBER 3 TOTALLY WIRED The Intelligent Choice for the Quality Conscious University of Otago Magazine A magazine for alumni and friends of the University of Otago Issue 23 ~ June 2009 the well tempered turntable ISSN - 1175-8147 Whether you’re already a vinyl enthusiast or joining the revival, you’ll find a wide range of EDITOR Karen Hogg turntable options at Totally Wired. From the DESIGNER Peter Scott European made Project and Thorens models starting at under $600 to the Well Tempered CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Simon Ancell ‘Amadeus’ – an exquisite example of lateral Andrew Bradstock thinking and precision engineering. Elizabeth Lukeman Grant McIvor Michael Metzger Nicola Mutch networks Rose Newburn Ainslie Talbot The new Tivoli NetWorks Global radio brings you Rebecca Tansley over 20,000 crystal-clear stations and podcasts Mark Wright from anywhere in the world. All it needs is a Nigel Zega broadband connection, which can be wireless. It’s also the best sounding FM radio and you can PHOTOGRAPHY Ross Coombes connect your iPod as well. NetWorks is capable Alan Dove of streaming sound around the house and has a Ken George second speaker option for stereo. Being the size Bill Nichol of a bookshelf speaker the sound is wonderfully Graham Warman rich. The remote controlled menus are easy to use COVER Replica of the jaws of the extinct and NetWorks looks gorgeous in Walnut, Cherry dolphin Waipatia maerewhenua, found or Wenge finishes, $995. in limestone in North Otago, and on display at the University’s Geology Museum. The original is on loan to the Otago Museum. perreaux Photo: Bill Nichol Perreaux are New Zealand’s most famous and ADVERTISING Ryan Helliwell long established audio company. Now based in Dunedin, they design and build some of the most PRINTING APN Print advanced and powerful audio amplifiers in the CIRCULATION Office of Development and Alumni world. From the ultra compact and affordable Relations Sillhouette series through to the brand new éloquence integrated amplifiers, there will be a model that suits you perfectly. To update or change delivery address Telephone 0800 80 80 98 Email [email protected] www.totallywired.co.nz Web www.otago.ac.nz/alumni/changedetails Editorial contact details VISIT Totally Wired in Dunedin’s historic Stuart Street Terrace Houses. University of Otago Magazine EXPLORE our web site. CALL or email us for information. Marketing and Communications PO Box 56 Dunedin John Ransley BSc (Hons) Otago and Sharon Guytonbeck BA Otago. New Zealand Totally Wired Ltd. Telephone 64 3 479 8679 The Terrace Houses Fax 64 3 479 5417 217 Stuart Street, DUNEDIN email [email protected] Email [email protected] www.totallywired.co.nz Web www.otago.ac.nz/otagomagazine Phone (+64) 3 479 0444 NZ Toll Free 0800 909 101 Totally Wired support the World Wide Fund for Nature. Choices made today will determine the future. Copyright Become design conscious, consume less and help protect the environment. Photo courtesy of Will Rayment© You are welcome to reproduce material from the magazine after gaining permission from the editor. All reproduced material must be appropriately acknowledged. The University of Otago Magazine is published by the Marketing and Communications Division of the University. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University. 4 VICE-CHANCELLOR’S COMMENT For nearly three years, Dunedin has been torn apart after Melbourne’s Telstra stadium, the second largest in by controversy about whether to replace Carisbrook with the southern hemisphere. a multi-purpose covered stadium next to the University The University will be a key partner in this campus on Anzac Avenue. While some people with long development, constructing its own buildings as part of memories feel an atavistic sense of loyalty for Carisbrook, the stadium complex. The buildings will open on to an anyone who has used the place recently knows that it urban space to be known as the University Plaza. Our has become embarrassingly outdated. Even to retain buildings will provide the campus centre for student the present low level of use would have required an fitness, health and recreation, as well as educational and upgrade costing ratepayers tens of millions of dollars. research facilities. This plan replaces an earlier proposal The proposed new stadium offers many exciting for a large multi-purpose building to be squeezed into opportunities, but the Dunedin City Council and the the existing campus, to provide accommodation urgently Otago Regional Council first had to decide whether such needed under our Critical Space Plan. a community facility was affordable. The new buildings and the public plaza should form That decision has now been taken, and excavations a busy and attractive campus hub. The decision to build have started to prepare for construction of a stadium that the stadium, however, carries far greater significance should be ready before the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The than any enhancements to our Dunedin campus. stadium will have many uses beyond rugby, or even other Successful research universities are virtually always based sporting events. Consider, for example, the opportunity in, or near to, vibrant cities with strong economic activity. for large concerts in a fully enclosed venue that will In the face of determined and vitriolic opposition, our take New Zealand’s fickle weather out of the equation – political leaders have confirmed their ambition for the with over 20,000 young people living nearby. This new future of Dunedin as a vibrant university city. campus stadium will be unique in New Zealand and, Professor David Skegg Vice-Chancellor – University of Otago 5 FEATURE Family unit TH E NE W CE ntR E foR R E SE A Rch on Chi L DRE N and FA M I L I E S continuE S OtaGO’S coMM itME nt to chi L D DE V ELOPME nt and thE WELL-BEinG of faMILIES in this countRY. A fivE-YEAR-OLD boy spills some milk. His parents family unit to be under threat and, especially, where they yell at him, tell him not to do it again. The parents argue see themselves as having caused the conflict.” loudly. Sometime later he repeats the mistake, spills milk Harold adds that not quarrelling is not always the once more. His parents scold him. Then they announce they solution: parents giving each other the silent treatment can are breaking up. be just as bad. “Children generally know there’s something This was the tale that unfolded during a family interview, wrong. It’s the emotional resources required to deal with part of a research project conducted at Iowa State University the situation that is taxing to the child. Not speaking can in the 1990s and being observed by then graduate student have negative effects for some children in the same way that Gordon Harold. In the mind of a troubled little boy, one frequent and intense shouting can have for other children.” event had led to the other. His clumsiness had caused his The priority Otago has long placed on studies in family to fall apart. children’s well-being saw the establishment of the Children’s While Harold’s heart melted, his scientific mind planned Issues Centre in 1995. Led by Professor Anne Smith until action. What effect, he wanted to know, does parents’ she retired in 2006, the centre developed an international arguing have on children? Or rather, how does adults’ reputation for research, ranging from children’s experiences management of conflict in their personal relationships of the Family Court to the quality of early childhood affect children’s developing brains and, in particular, education in New Zealand. how do these experiences affect children’s long-term Now, the newly-established Centre for Research on development? It’s a research theme that’s stayed with him, Children and Families has become the University’s latest in one form or another, for the rest of his career. commitment to understanding ingredients of a happy Now, as the newly-appointed Alexander McMillan childhood and also positive family life. Led by the chair, a Professor of Childhood Studies and Director of Otago’s position created through the Leading Thinkers Initiative Centre for Research on Children and Families, Harold and a $1.4 million donation from the Alexander McMillan explains it’s not the arguing, it’s how we’re arguing that Trust, the centre is directed toward “conducting world-class matters.