From the Exec Dean - February

Hello everyone,

David Lamond (right) at the EFMD Deans
and Directors annual meeting with
Simon Mercado, Nottingham Trent University

Those of you who have followed my tweets will know that I have been a 'distant Dean' over the last couple of weeks, attending the  European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Deans and Directors annual meeting in Nottingham, UK, followed by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Deans meeting in New Orleans.

These are not only valuable for catching up on the latest international competitive intelligence, but also for establishing new relationships with business schools who share our commitment to quality and to internationalisation and, of course, working on existing relationships through meetings with various dean colleagues.

I’m pleased to say there was considerable interest in our programs and international activities, and I’ve made a series of references to colleagues in our Schools for follow up opportunities.

Although I’ve been distant, I’ve not been absent.  Rather, I’ve been keeping an eye on the action here in Melbourne, as we gear up to welcome our new and returning students to the 2012 academic year.  While our focus is on the students starting in our classes in 2012, I thought to share with you the following:

This story is about Victoria Law School law lecturer Charles Giacco’s daughter, who shows the kind of strength and determination to be part of our class of '32!

Let’s see if we can show the same kind of resilience through the coming year.

Best regards,

David

Spotlight on Online Family Dispute Resolution

Associate Professor Elisabeth Wilson-Evered has been invited to co-facilitate a session with Relationships Australia Queensland (RAQ) on the use of Online Family Dispute Resolution (OFDR) in international disputes for the Training in International Mediation (TIM) workshop in Brussels in April 2012.

The invite follows Dr Wilson-Evered's work on researching and developing OFDR system with Mark Thomson, Lawyer and Director of Virtual Services at RAQ. The pair will be demonstrating and sharing research evaluation of the OFDR System to professionals and organisations from across Europe, Asia and North America. Training participants have key policy or practice roles in mediating cross-border disputes, including cases that have been commenced under the Hague convention for resolving disputes related to international child abduction.

The opportunity to demonstrate the OFDR system to Permanent Bureau staff in the Hague in late 2011 provided an opportunity to showcase our OFDR research internationally. The 2012 workshops may also provide an opportunity to engage participants in the evaluative process used for mediators in Australia, and explore further research opportunities and collaborations.

We're contributing to The Conversation

The Conversation is an independent source of information, analysis and commentary from the university and research sector. It aims to provide a fact-based and editorially-independent forum, free of commercial or political bias. The Conversation has been widely reported in Australia and abroad, including articles in The Guardian, NYT, Harvard's Nieman Media Lab, Slashdot, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Times Higher Education Supplement. Read our staff contributions to The Conversation: Brian King and Martin Robertson (International Business), and Jamie Doughney (Centre for Strategic Economic Studies).

Professor Pauline Stanton in HR Monthly magazine

An interview with Professor Pauline Stanton appears in February’s edition of HR Monthly, the journal of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI), as part of a feature article on HR Practices in Multinational Enterprises. The article focuses on the publication of a research report 'A Profile of Human Resource Management in Multinational Enterprises Operating in Australia', which was launched late last year by AHRI National President, Peter Wilson. The report was carried out by researchers from the School of Management and Information Systems – Professor Pauline Stanton and PhD students Helen Russell and Gitika Sablok - along with researchers from La Trobe University, the University of Newcastle and the University of South Australia. The researchers are currently analysing the data to reveal trends for HR in Multi National Enterprises and some of the drivers behind these trends.

Publication news

Dr Leanne White (International Business), ‘Imagining the Nation: Signifiers of National Capital Status in Washington, DC and Canberra’ in Current Issues in Tourism (B-ranked journal).

The paper examines images of nationhood in the capital cities of the USA and Australia – Washington, DC  and Canberra respectively. The paper examines architectural signifiers of these two national capital cities by undertaking an analysis of significant landmarks and monuments in Washington and Canberra (and how these represent the nation and national identity). The paper uses a combination of observational research, secondary research and semiotic analysis to analyse the ways in which national identity has been communicated to tourists in these cities. Read a preview of the article.

David Parker (Victoria Law School) has contributed to two new books - Understanding Business Law, 5th edition (LexisNexis), and Business and Law in Australia (Thomson Reuters)

Kudos in February to...

Nada Kulen (Accounting & Finance), whose research paper 'Measuring Returns on Hong Kong Tourism Marketing Expenditure' was selected for the 2011 Thea Sinclair Award for Journal Article Excellence. The paper was a joint project with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's School of Hotel and Tourism Management. The award is named in honour of Professor Thea Sinclair for her work in the field of Tourism Economics.

Dr Colin Higgins (Management & Information Systems), along with Wendy Stubbs from Monash University, has been awarded a research grant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia. They will investigate the growing phenomenon of ‘Integrated Reporting’ as a way for organisations to demonstrate their approach and commitment to sustainable development.

Dr Colin Higgins (Management & Information Systems), Dr Romana Garma (International Business), and Dr Peter Demediuk (Accounting & Finance) have been awarded an International Teaching and Learning Grant to investigate how sustainability is taught in international MBA programs – with a view to identifying best practice and to drive changes in the MBA curriculum.

Meet Our People - Sue Marshall

SZCC Manager, Sue Marshall

The Sir Zelman Cowen Centre (SZCC) is celebrating its tenth year in 2012. Part of the Victoria Law School, the Centre delivers quality training, research and support to the judiciary, legal practitioners, court staff and other professionals associated with the legal sector. As part of an ongoing ‘meet our people’ series, we’d like to introduce the SZCC Centre manager, Sue Marshall.

Sue joined Victoria University in 2001 to teach in the Advanced Diploma of Legal Practice as a sessional, becoming full-time a year later.  In 2003, Sue won her first National Teaching and Learning Grant together with Lisa Curran to develop a program to train teachers in WebCT. Sue worked on tender writing for the School of Business before joining the Sir Zelman Centre (SZCC) as Business Manager in 2005. Together with her fabulous team, the centre has made many achievements including the development of a three year program to deliver elder abuse prevention professional education for government; providing legal compliance resources  for local government; family violence training for court staff; research grants for support and education programs for indigenous communities enabling them to independently identify and protect their cultural heritage; indigenous corporate governance training; and the diverse range of high quality courses in legal and business education for various of government and business organisations.