Meet our People: Paul Whitelaw

Paul, a VU veteran, shares his 'original staff photo'

Paul Whitelaw is a Senior Lecturer, School of International Business at Victoria University and the Centre for Tourism and Services Research, where he lectures in quantitative and computer based hospitality management systems on under graduate and post graduate programs. Prior to this appointment, Paul was Foundation Executive Director of VU's Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research.  Before joining academe in 1991, Paul enjoyed nearly 15 years experience in various line and executive positions in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry.  As well, he spent his childhood actively exposed to his family’s hotel, restaurant and motel business interests.

Currently, Paul is on sabbatical, and is working on three major funded projects:

• investigating best practice processes and systems in developing “academic integrity” in first year students,
• leading a project team that is working with major tourism industry stakeholders and conservation agencies to investigate the feasibility of various funding mechanisms for tourism businesses, especially indigenous tourism businesses, in protected areas, and 
• investigating the attitudes and values of s86 committees of management volunteers on crown land.

In 2001 Paul received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence at Victoria University.  In 2002 he co-chair the University’s Attrition and Transition Taskforce.  In 2005 he received a $25,000 grant from the Victorian State Government to develop a suite of on-line learning resources for recently arrived Asian graduate business students and in 2006 he chaired the review of the University’s Graduate Capabilities Policy.  More recently, in 2009 he received an $80,000 grant from the Australian Government to develop a suite of academic resources to help international students, especially those from China, deal with the challenges of studying in university in Australia.  He was a member of the project team that recently finished a major review of hospitality and tourism education in Australia for the OLT.  Paul is also a senior member of an international syndicate that is undertaking a project for the UNWTO to assist emerging tourism destinations in the developing world to decarbonise their tourism industry.

His PhD studied the factors that drive career progression and success in the hospitality industry.

Meet our People: Leonie Lockstone-Binney

Leonie Lockstone-Binney

Leonie has a long association with Victoria University, having commenced her undergraduate degree in Tourism Management here in the early 1990’s. Since that time, she has gone on to complete all of her qualifications at VU, including most recently the Graduate Certificate of Tertiary Teaching.

Leonie joined the former School of Hospitality, Tourism and Marketing full-time in January 2006, after completing a one-year contract at Edith Cowan University, WA, as an Associate Lecturer in Tourism. Since this time, she was been predominately teaching and researching in the emerging field of event management.

Leonie says, on her pull to VU - "As an undergraduate, VU’s Tourism program had the leading reputation in the State, if not the whole of Australia. I was taught by academics that were internationally recognised in the field, including amongst them Brian King, Marg Deery and Leo Jago. I was fortunate enough to have these people involved in my undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD studies. Later, they continued as colleagues to guide my progress as an early career academic."

Leonie’s PhD examined the role of volunteers in cultural tourism settings. Volunteering continues to be the main focus of her post-doctoral research program. Leonie has several publications in top-tier journals, as well as research grants related to volunteer participation.

After seven years employment at VU, Leonie continues to enjoy working with colleagues in the School of International Business and the wider Faculty, particularly her event management colleagues Olga Junek, Martin Robertson, Colin Drake and Brianna Newland, to grow and support VU’s award winning event management program.

On a personal level, Leonie also has VU to thank for introducing her to her husband, Wayne Binney, former Faculty MBA Director, now at Deakin University.

Meet our People: Scott Murray

Scott in action at LSAP 

Scott Murray, the Faculty’s Student Recruitment Officer, started at Victoria University in December 2010. Originally from Western Australia, Scott completed an arts/law degree 2008 and worked full time at a law firm from November of that year until October 2010, when he moved to Melbourne to work at VU.

Scott has enhanced and expanded the Faculty’s Schools Engagement Program to a new level, building on the success of the IPAB and ABW competitions, creating from scratch the LSAP competition, and successfully engaging more and more students from a diverse range of schools across Melbourne. As a result, the Faculty enjoys a vastly enhanced profile amongst secondary school students and teachers throughout Victoria, with secondary school students lobbying their teachers to be involved with our program of competitions and events in the future!

Run for its second consecutive year from the City Flinders campus, ABW 2012 saw five teams competing in various challenges - some business simulation exercises, and others needing a more diverse set of skills - all requiring students to work effectively together, despite starting the competition as complete strangers. Students created creative trade displays and TV ads, and worked hard to build their sporting goods manufacturing businesses into great successes.

The iPAB Awards Night, held at City Flinders campus in August, saw VU alumni Jason Cunningham and Natalie Davies present prizes to students who’d created some fantastic business plans – including restaurants, retail stores, puppy day care and an innovative solution to shopping centre car park gridlock.

Scott also responds enthusiastically to invitations from schools to present law and business oriented workshops to students. These visits (to schools such as The Peninsula School, Mount Eliza, Marian College, Sunshine West and Genazzano FCJ College, Kew) have allowed Scott to promote our courses whilst engaging students in discussions about study options for careers in business and law. Given his own background and experience, Scott is also able to shed light on the day-to-day problems and challenges of working in the law.

Participants getting into the spirit of the inaugural LSAP competition

Perhaps Scott’s most significant contribution to the Faculty’s schools engagement program was the creation of LSAP – the Legal Studies and Australian Politics competition. Over 4 Saturdays in July and August, Victoria Law School hosted over 100 Year 10 and 11 students from well over 30 schools in Melbourne (and 1 in Bendigo!). Scott created this brand new competition, which tested students’ abilities in debating, mock trial, filmmaking, as well as encouraging them to develop their teamwork, leadership and communication skills. Participants in the 12 teams (each assigned a swag of coloured team T-shirts on their first day) competed in a wide range of different activities, and were mentored by VLS students. The Hon. Frank Vincent AO QC presented medals and trophies on the final day. With so many students participating and giving great feedback, Scott hopes the competition can run again in 2013.

Meet our People: Dr. Leanne White

Dr. Leanne White

Dr Leanne White is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing the School of International Business. Leanne began her association with the VU 30 years ago when she was undertook a Bachelor of Arts degree at Footscray Institute of Technology (FIT). Leanne was also given the honour of being awarded FIT’s inaugural Student of the Year. Her father (Ron White) also taught in some of the same buildings in the 1940s – as Footscray Technical School. Like many who enjoy a long-standing relationship with VU, Leanne has witnessed a few changes in the organisation, seen some faces come and go, and enjoyed a solid working relationship with many outstanding staff across the University.

After her BA, Leanne completed a Graduate Diploma in Education and a Bachelor of Education at La Trobe University. She later returned to Victoria University of Technology (VUT) to complete a Master of Arts degree and teach part-time. Her PhD was undertaken at Monash University and examined official and commercial nationalism at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Prior to rejoining VU and the Faculty of Business and Law in 2004, Leanne was the foundation coordinator of the Communications and Media Studies major at Monash University. During her nine years at Monash, she was responsible for establishing what became the Faculty’s flagship program at the Berwick, Clayton and Caulfield campuses. Leanne also shared her experiences of teleteaching along with other early forms of flexible learning at seminars, conferences and in publications. She was responsible for securing a significant grant which resulted in establishing the University’s online lecture system. Leanne also played a key role in negotiating the establishment of the Monash Centre in Prato, Italy.

Leanne’s research interests include: national identity, Australian popular culture, advertising, commercial nationalism, destination branding, commemorative events, and heritage tourism. She is the author of more than 30 book chapters and refereed journal articles. Her extensive expert commentary and media coverage includes: Radio Australia, The Australian, The Age, Herald Sun, The West Australian, and Campus Review.

Leanne is the co-editor of Tourism and National Identities: An International Perspective (2011), and is currently working with colleague Dr Elspeth Frew on the forthcoming edited volume: Dark Tourism and Place Identity: Marketing, Managing and Interpreting Dark Places (2013), and with co-editors Dr Matt Harvey and Dr Warwick Frost on Wine and Identity: Heritage, Branding and Terroir (2014). All three books are Routledge publications.

In her spare time Leanne enjoys spending time with family and friends, gardening, photography, reading and travel. Find out more about Leanne’s publications at the Victoria University Institutional Repository.

Meet our People - Brianna Newland

Brianna Newland

Brianna Newland is a lecturer in Event Management in the School of International Business. She started with VU in July 2011. Prior to starting at VU, Brianna was a lecturer in Sport Management in the Department of Kinesiology and Health at the University of Texas in Austin. Brianna has a doctorate in Sport Management, and a master’s degree in Exercise Physiology and Nutritional Sciences.

Brianna’s research interests focus on the study of sport development in various capacities. From a broad perspective, these areas include: how sport organisations sustain their future by attracting and nurturing participation –both elite and mass participation; what fosters/hinders adult participation in sport and how our sport delivery systems might be modified to foster growth; how key stakeholders impact the development and delivery of sport’; and how sport events can be leveraged to develop sport and community, especially at the grassroots level. My work explores the overlap between sport policy, the future patterns of sport delivery, and development of sport.Brianna and a group of her students recently volunteered for the inaugural Ironman Melbourne, and says of the event, 'It was a great opportunity to work with them in the field and to expose them to an event they had yet to experience'

Brianna is proud of finally following her heart and taken a job abroad. 'Melbourne provides an excellent environment for my research interests. I’m excited to work with industry and explore my many unasked questions!'

Currently, Brianna is exploring the meaning of sport in the lives of adult sport participants, and how that fosters and/or hinders involvement in sport throughout the lifespan. She is also examining what drives athletes to partake in destination races; what is driving intentions to race and travel great distances – is it the event features or the destination attributes?

Lastly, Brianna is exploring the impact of key stakeholders on the development and delivery of triathlon in the US and Australia.

In her ‘spare’ time, Brianna trains for triathlon. She completed her first Ironman distance triathlon in November 2010, but she enjoys all the distances. ‘I’m looking forward to my next Ironman next year. I also love to travel and look forward to exploring this side of the hemisphere!’

Meet Our People - Helen Yang

Helen Yang

Helen Yang joined Victoria University in early 2007. Helen has brought to her role as an accounting academic, as an additional advantage, her knowledge of China, including: business and culture; education system; and language. Apart from her formal qualifications in accounting, Helen holds qualifications in education at master’s level. Helen has completed her CPA program with outstanding results for which she has received a number of awards. She is currently undertaking a PhD in accounting in which she is making strong progress.

Helen’s range of teaching experiences; teaching accounting in Australia and at Australian off-shore partner institutions in Asian-Pacific countries; as well as her previous teaching experience in China in cross cultural communication are relevant to her teaching and research activities. Helen teaches in the area of financial accounting. She consistently achieves positive overall student satisfaction ratings. As the Faculty's Offshore Program Coordinator in the Victoria University – Liaoning degree program since mid 2008, Helen has been further exposed to the issues of teaching and learning at offshore Chinese campuses. Helen’s teaching practice in delivering financial accounting to offshore Chinese students has been formally recognised by Victoria University as an exemplar in teaching and learning.

Helen’s research is focused on international accounting and corporate environmental reporting by Chinese companies, and transnational accounting education; an area which she has a number of international publications, and has been successful in a number external and internal research grants.

Read more about Helen’s recent publication, ‘Western concepts, Chinese context: A note on teaching accounting offshore’.

Meet Our People - Donna Buttigieg

Donna Buttigieg

Donna Buttigieg (PhD) is a Professor at Victoria University. She joined Victoria University in August 2011. Prior to this, she was an Associate Professor at Monash University. For a number of years at Monash she was the Director of Research at the School of Business and Economics (Gippsland) and the Acting Director of the Family and Small Business Research Unit. She has also been a bureaucrat for Industrial Relations Victoria where she worked in a think tank that fed into policy, writing and managing research there. She has also worked at Oxford University as a Research Associate and the University of Melbourne in various capacities but concluding as a Research Fellow.
Donna Buttigieg undertook her undergraduate degrees at University of Queensland and the University of Melbourne. She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2003. She has undertaken a Graduate Certificate course in teaching at Monash University and a Diploma of Project Management at Chisholm.

She has a number of top tier journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management Studies and the British Journal of Industrial Relations. She was an Associate Editor of Labour and Industry. Further, she has presented at a number of international and national conferences. Her current research interests include trade unions (strategy, commitment, participation, mobilization and turnover), OHS (bullying, safety climate), vulnerable workers (women, older workers, homeworkers, low paid) and strategic HRM (high involvement work systems, absenteeism, turnover and commitment). She is currently working on major projects examining union effectiveness and union citizenship behavior.
Donna loves to cook and entertain, read, travel and spend time with her 7 year old daughter

Meet Our People - Lily Wong

Lily began her connection with VU as a student, completing a Bachelor of Business before returning as a tutor. She later a completed a Master of Business, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer on the basis of her teaching achievements. Lily also has varied industry experience, having worked in administrative and accounting roles in the private sector. At VU, Lily has taught in a range of subjects from first year through to post-graduate, and until recently she co-ordinated VU’s largest accounting subject – Accounting for Decision Making.  Lily still co-ordinates the overseas delivery of this core subject and combines her love of travel with teaching in Hong Kong, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru.

Lily Wong

Lily is passionate about teaching, and aims to provide her students a learning experience which is educational, enjoyable and enduring. Her empathetic understanding of students, and her ability to motivate and inspire them has culminated in a number of awards recognising her considerable skills in this area. These include being a finalist in the prestigious Australian Awards for University Teaching, and being awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning; Faculty of Business and Law Staff Award for Teaching Excellence; and the Vice-Chancellor’s Peak Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Lily has embarked on a PhD in e-learning and its impact on student learning outcomes. She has presented her findings at conferences nationally, as well as in the US and Europe. Her research has been published in international peer-reviewed journals.

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.