Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) Dr Adam Graycar will be guest speaker at a University of Queensland graduation ceremony on Wednesday, August 5.
Dr Graycar, who was appointed Adjunct Professor in Social Policy at the University in 1997, will address Arts and Social and Behavioural Sciences Faculty students graduating at the ceremony in Mayne Hall, St Lucia at 6pm.
The AIC is a Federal Government agency set up to provide quality information and conduct policy-oriented research to inform government decisions contributing to the promotion of justice and the prevention of crime. Dr Graycar has had long experience in policy making, management and research at the most senior levels in Australia.
Graduates of interest include the following:
o Student valedictorian Dr Stephen Cox gained his PhD in the School of Psychology where he researched various aspects of homosexuality. He looked at the reasons for homophobia, how gay men responded and how in turn heterosexuals regarded the effectiveness of those responses. While gay men had a wide range of responses, most felt homophobia was a product of ignorance and that therefore education was the answer. Dr Cox's contact telephone number is 07 3875 7356.
o Dr Souneth Phothisane is believed to be the first Laotian historian to obtain a doctorate from an Australian university. He will receive his PhD for his annotated translation and analysis of Nothan Khun Borom, the mythical ancestor of all Laotian and Thai peoples. Dr Phothisane's thesis recounts the mythical origins of the Laotian race, early migrations of Laotian and Thai peoples into present-day Laos and Thailand and appends it to a Chronicle of the Kings of Laos. Dr Phothisane collected more than 30 versions of the Chronicles to complete the thesis. His work is annotated to provide information on events, people and places and is followed by an analysis of aspects of early Laotian history such as the nature of kingship, the role of the army, how the bureaucracy was organised and functioned and the evolution of Laotian society. Completing his PhD with the assistance of an AusAid scholarship, Dr Phothisane has since been appointed chief historian in the Laos Ministry of Information and Culture with responsibility for writing an official history of the early Laotian kingdom of Lan Xang. He has also been appointed to the committee established by UNESCO to oversee world heritage preservation of Luang Phrabang. For more information, contact Dr Martin Stuart-Fox (telephone 07 3365 6800).
o Concern over the disappearance of old tin and timber homes in Coorparoo led to Judy Rechner completing a master of arts by research through the History Department. She will receive her degree at tonight's ceremony. For her thesis, Ms Rechner analysed the many changes in styles of 872 homes known as "workers dwellings" built between 1910 and 1940 in the Coorparoo area. She stressed that these dwellings were not rows and rows of identical houses, each one was architecturally designed and individually different. The innovative Workers Dwellings Branch designs for these elevated tin and timber homes greatly influenced Queensland's domestic architecture and Queensland was the first state in Australia to introduce state housing. A book based on the thesis, published by the Brisbane History Group and hopefully available by Christmas, will help owners interpret, date and preserve what are commonly called character houses. Mrs Rechner, who is available to do historical research on a consultancy basis, said very little research had been completed on Queensland's unique vernacular housing. "I was horrified to see these beautiful homes full of character and atmosphere being demolished to make way for units or being renovated beyond recognition. This thesis will widen understanding of their heritage value," she said. She can be contacted on telephone 07 3395 3066 or email rechners@powerup.com.au
o Dr Terri Field has followed an unusual path to her PhD and the immediate road ahead looks equally unconventional. Dr Field left school at 15 and worked for five years before resuming her studies. Now 33, she continued to mix work and study over the next few years as she completed her bachelor of arts at UQ and an honours degree in women's studies at La Trobe University, Victoria. For her PhD from the Philosophy Department she chose to examine tensions within eco-feminism, that area which brings together environmental and feminist issues. However, Dr Field says she has no plans to pursue an academic career and instead intends teaching yoga. She has been practising yoga for three and a half years, including some months recently spent in India, and now aims to take classes in Brisbane. Dr Field may be contacted on telephone 07 3870 4335.
o Dr Sandy Yates will receive her PhD in Russian studies. To complete her degree Dr Yates juggled a busy family life and studying as a distance education/external studies student living in Townsville. She can be contacted on telephone 0746 303 586.
For more information, contact Graduations Officer Karen Welsh (telephone 07 3365 2898).
