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ANU staff shared in $25,000 in prize money at the latest staff awards. On Campus profiles a winner in each category, and lists all those celebrated at the event.
Award for Community Outreach
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The BluePages team celebrate: (from left) Michelle Banfield, Kylie Brittliffe, Anthony Bennett, Alison Neil, Kathy Griffiths and Louise Farrer. |
When a public appeal was launched to secure ongoing funding for the depression treatment website BluePages, one user offered to sell her car and donate the profits. Associate Professor Kathy Griffiths from the Centre for Mental Health Research said this was a testament to how people have embraced the resource.
“People have described it as their lifeline, something that allows them to talk to people who understand, but also allows them to help other people, which is empowering in and of itself.”
The team behind BluePages – Associate Professor Griffiths, Michelle Banfield, Anthony Bennett, Kylie Brittliffe, Louise Farrer, and Alison Neil – won an award for community outreach at the staff awards.
“We’ve shown through trials that our site does reduce depression – it can be effective,” Associate Professor Griffiths said. “To my knowledge, we’re one of the few mental health treatment websites that have been demonstrated to work in a clinical setting.”
Up to 80,000 people have accessed BluePages from around the world over the last year. The site has also been translated into Norwegian thanks to a collaboration with Tromsk University. There are also plans to translate the site into other languages.
Prizes for community outreach also went to:
• Dr Kevin White, School of Social Sciences, for his work with the Cancer Council Australia and as president of the board of the Cancer Council ACT.
• Dr Tim Wetherell, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, for using his science and arts backgrounds to benefit ANU.
• Steve and Robin Teding van Berkhout, Kioloa Coastal Campus, for creating and managing a world-standard research destination.
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Career Achievement Award
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Trevor Allen says he loves seeing other people achieve their potential. |
Trevor Allen loves going to graduation ceremonies to see the dozens of people he’s helped. As Manager of the Disability Services Unit, he leads a small team making a big impact for students with disabilities.
“I get a great deal of satisfaction out of contributing to the independence and achievements of people with disabilities,” Mr Allen said. “Most of the hard work is done by the person themselves, but to be able to contribute to that is immensely satisfying.”
Mr Allen said the key to effective disability support is to consider all levels of access – not just the physical. He said ANU was the first university in Australia to ensure that assistance technology such as text-to-voice software was available at all information commons across campus. It’s his leadership in initiatives such as this that earned Mr Allen a career achievement award.
“A ramp up to a building isn’t just for people in wheel chairs – it also helps delivery people and many others. Things like building design and teaching styles can be adapted to allow universal and inclusive access for everyone.”
Prizes for career achievement were also awarded to:
• Julie Dalco, Computer Unit, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, for consistently outstanding work performance.
• Maxine Danaro, Manager of Business Services, Finance and Business Services Division, for her leadership in major changes at ANU, such as the implementation of the GST.
• Dr Robert Gingold, ANU Supercomputer Facility, for leadership in advanced computation and for mentoring staff and students in computational modelling.
• Phil Greaves, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, for dedication in providing technical support to staff and students.
• Anthony Wynack, ANU College of Business and Economics, for his contribution to the restructuring of the then Faculty of Economics and Commerce.
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Innovation and Excellence in Service Quality Award
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Lyn North starts her working days bright and early. |
When the cook fails to turn up for a large wedding reception, the event organiser might understandably suffer a nervous breakdown. Not so for Lyn North, who describes just such a scenario as one of the worst experiences in her 17 years as Functions Manager at University House. It was a picnic-style reception, she explains, so she and a colleague simply rolled up their sleeves and prepared the food.
Such dedication to her job won Ms North a prize for service quality at the staff awards, which was just one of the 25 events she was co-ordinating at University House that day. Her hectic schedule means she’s usually at work around 7am, and doesn’t leave until well after hours. “You couldn’t do this job if you had a family,” she said.
But she said there are rewards to compensate for the fast pace and heavy workload, such as meeting famous guests like Nelson Mandela. “He was lovely,” she said. “He had this warmth about him. When he walked through the doors, people crowded about to shake his hand. He made an effort to reach over to all the people, even the quiet ones like me who were standing back.”
Prizes for service quality were also awarded to:
• Wendy Butler, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, for her professionalism, her efficient service and her unflagging dedication.
• Therese Douglass, Faculty of Arts, for her ability to provide the best advice on rules, policies and procedures to staff and students.
• Counselling Centre team (Carol Beynon, Josef Gorny, Sam Ingham, Michelle Linmore, Heather Mcleod, Susan Todd, Anna Weatherly, and Dr Roslyn Woodward) for services to the mental health and well being of staff and students at ANU.
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Prize for Innovative IT Application On Campus
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Darryl Bennet lists former PM Ben Chifley as one of his heroes in the ADB. |
The prospect of proof reading eight million words of text would be enough to make the most diligent editor blanch. But such was the accomplishment of the team behind the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB), who have spent the last three years making the publication’s content available online.
A staff award for innovative IT application went to ADB Online Project Manager Darryl Bennet for overseeing this massive digitisation project. Mr Bennet, who is also the dictionary’s deputy general editor at the Research School of Social Sciences, said the prize was an honour for the entire ADB team at ANU and at Melbourne University Press.
“It certainly was a big project. Getting the text wasn’t too bad, as the publisher had created CD ROMs and electronic versions of the editions since the 1990s. But the proof reading proved to be a really big job – only two people to check eight million words of text. We also had to include the field data so that it was all searchable, which also took a lot of time.
“Once you start something like this, you never really finish it. The technology is changing so fast, and websites are designed for continual enhancement. The work we’re doing is very new, so we’re feeling the way. It’s exciting and daunting.”
• The prize for innovative IT application was also awarded to Allan Seiper and Professor Cathy Owen from the Medical School for developing MedOnline, a curriculum management tool for health students.
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Twenty-Five Year Service Medallion
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Professor Helen O'Neill started at ANU as a PhD candidate. |
Helen O’Neill first came to ANU as a PhD candidate in 1977 at the John Curtin School of Medical Research. More than 30 years later, she is now a Professor heading up a lab at the School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In her lengthy career, which includes several stints at Stanford University in the US, she has worked to understand different aspects of the human immune system.
“At present I am doing some of the most exciting research I have ever done, which has the potential to make stem call transplants a viable option. It can be very frustrating in the short term because some of the most novel things are the hardest to crack.”
Frustrations aside, Professor O’Neill’s perseverance and passion were recognised when she was honoured for serving at ANU for more than 25 years. In that time she has guided the projects of 23 PhD students, winning the VC’s award for supervision in 2004.
“I really enjoy working with PhD students. I find them refreshingly intuitive, and they also share the things they are thinking about.”
Prizes for 25 years of service at ANU were also awarded to:
• Dr Geoffrey Bicknell
• Professor Roderick Boswell
• Jeanette Davey
• Geoffrey Deeble
• Dr Tezer Esat
• Dr John Fitzgerald
• Ian Forgie
• Paul Gugger
• Shirley Johns
• Associate Professor John Luxton
• Richard McIntyre
• John Reid
• Virginia Riddle
• Neil Ross
• Elisha Wong
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