Staff Notices: 13 - 17 October 2008

Table of Contents

• Uni in the News
• General Information for Staff
• Events
• Training and Development Opportunities
• Information for Researchers

Uni in the News

Arid Recovery Project vies for Landcare award

Arid Recovery in SA's north has been named as a finalist in the National Landcare Awards. The project is a joint initiative between Friends of Arid Recovery, the University of Adelaide, BHP Billiton and the Department for Environment and Heritage. Over the past 11 years, Arid Recovery has created the nation's largest non-coastal enclosure to eradicate feral animals and reintroduce locally extinct animals and native plants. The Awards ceremony will be held in Canberra on Thursday 23 October.

Source: ABC News (6 October 2008)

Want more Uni news coverage? Sign up for latest relevant Google Alerts.

General Information for Staff

Draft Policies/Procedures - For Comment

The University's Policy Framework has been revised and the following documents are available for comment:

University Policy Framework
Stage One Proposal
How to Write a Policy
FAQs: Policy Framework
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/drafts/ [UA access only]

The consultation period ends on Monday 27 October.

New Research Centres and Research Institutes Framework

The Vice-Chancellor and President, on behalf of Council, has approved the new Research Centres and Research Institutes Framework:
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/984/

Delegations

The Delegations database lists the Vice-Chancellor and President's Delegations of Authority. The database may be viewed by either 'category' or 'position' and is available at:
www.adelaide.edu.au/governance/delegations/

Access to IT Services for Visitors and Postgraduate Research Students

ITS is committed to improving the quality of IT services for staff, students and visitors of the University. As part of a major IT upgrade currently underway, access to IT services is being customized to better suit the unique needs of a research intensive University.

What is changing?
From 11 October 2008, a new role for postgraduate research students has been introduced to allow for these students to have access to the IT services they require for the duration of their research association. In addition, new IT provisions for visitors to the University will be implemented, including online visitor access requests and a streamlined approval process. More targeted communication will be sent to people about the services they can access when their roles change.

How will people be affected?
Many users of the University's IT systems will not notice any change. People whose IT services are to be modified will be notified individually by the ITS Helpdesk prior to the change taking place.

Further information about these changes is available on the ITS website at: www.adelaide.edu.au/its/accounts/information/.

Improvements to payslip access

As part of the University's commitment to Service Excellence, Human Resources (HR) is embarking on a range of activities to streamline processes. In the lead up to the implementation of a new HR Information System, access to and the format of staff payslips will be changing.

Convenient access to online payslips
From Tuesday 14 October 2008, all staff will access their payslips at the Employee Services Online website at: https://eso.adelaide.edu.au/esoprd/signon.asp. At this secure website, staff may view and print any of their payslips from November 1999.

To log on to ESO, from Tuesday 14 October 2008, staff will need to enter a current University network username and password (as per their University email account). This differs to the current practice for logging on to ESO using a dedicated password for that system.

Staff who have not set a password for the University network are able to access instructions on how to do this on the ITS website at: www.adelaide.edu.au/its/accounts/password/.

Clearer payment and leave information
Also from Tuesday 14 October 2008, the payslip format will change slightly to more clearly show:

• Days worked, overtime, higher duties or allowances paid;
• Current leave entitlements; and,
• Long Service Leave balance only when staff are actually eligible to apply for this type of leave.

Further details on these changes are included in the Frequently Asked Questions on the ESO website at: www.adelaide.edu.au/hr/conditions/eso/faq_eso.html.

Questions or Assistance
Questions or requests for assistance to access online payslips should be directed to the HR Service Centre on 8313 1111 or via email at: hrservicecentre@adelaide.edu.au.

TRISH HUGHES
Director, Human Resources

Campus Coloured Maps

Campus Coloured Maps are due for their annual update.

Please check your organisational units listing on the relevant map: North Terrace, Waite or Roseworthy.
Organisational units WILL NOT be contacted individually.
Each office needs to designate one person to check the map and forward any changes.
Please advise in writing with a photocopy of the relevant portion of the map and index clearly marked in red as to the changes needed.

Please provide a contact Name and telephone number and forward the information to:

Andrew Trotter - Manager,
Facilities Records, Property Services
12th Floor, Schulz Building, North Terrace Campus
Email: facilities.records@adelaide.edu.au

The deadline for correction advice is Friday 14 November 2008.

Current maps are available online at: www.adelaide.edu.au/campuses/.

Have your say on Library services

The Library is undertaking a major survey of students, staff and other users from 13 October to 26 October.

The Library Client Survey is designed to give you an opportunity to tell us how well you think the Library performs on the things you think are important. Your feedback is valuable and will help us understand how we can work together to make your Library better for all concerned.

Complete the survey (via the News blog on Library homepage) and be in the draw to win one of two new 8Gb iPod Nano's. It will take about 10 minutes of your time to complete and all information and responses remain confidential.

Vacant Positions

www.adelaide.edu.au/jobs/

Events

ECIC Information Evenings

New programs 2009 are being offered in:

• Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Science and Technology Commercialisation
• Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Project Management: (Climate Change), (Defence), (Mining)

Adelaide Information Session
Date/Time: Tuesday 21 October 2008, 5:30pm-8:30pm (for a drink and chat with the Academic Directors)
Venue: Eclipse Room, Union House, Level 4

Download: Adelaide Information flyer.

Sydney Information Session
The University of Adelaide's Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre will be extending the range of programs available through the Sydney Campus in 2009. The introduction of these programs follows the success of the Project Management courses already offered at the Sydney campus.

Date/Time: Tuesday 28 October 2008, 5:00pm-8:00pm (for a drink and chat with the Academic Directors)
Venue: ECIC Offices, Suite 7001, Locomotive Workshop, Locomotive St
Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh NSW

Download: Sydney Information flyer.

FREE. Bookings essential by email: ecic@adelaide.edu.au.
Further information: www.ecic.adelaide.edu.au

What the Butler Saw

"I'm not mad. It only looks that way."
Dates: 18 October, Tuesday to Saturday 21-25 October & 28 October-1 November 2008, 7:30pm
Venue: Little Theatre, The Cloisters, University of Adelaide
Tickets: $25 Full Price; $20 Concession
Special Uni Tuesdays: $15 staff and students on Tuesday performances, 21 & 28 October, subject to availability.

Joe Orton's raucous sexual farce is just what the doctor ordered! A lying, philandering psychiatrist desperate to cover his tracks is the spark that ignites this classic feast of theatrical pandemonium.

Fast, furious and funny, What the Butler Saw combines madcap farce, ribald comedy, biting social commentary not to mention more than a little cross-dressing, undressing and sexual innuendo!

Come and see how Orton upends all the conventions of theatre in this gloriously witty dissection of normal notions of sanity and morality.

Bookings on 8303 5999 or online at: www.adelaide.edu.au/theatreguild.
Download flyer: What the Butler Saw.

Food and Drink on my Bookshelves - Monologue by Frank Caspers

Presented by Friends of Urrbrae House.
A collection of excerpts from novels, biographies, histories, memoirs, drama and the occasional poem on the preparation and consumption of food and drink.

Date/Time: Sunday 19 October, 3:00pm
Venue: Charles Hawker Conference Centre, Waite Campus. (Signposted from car park on Waite Road.)
Entry: $15 (including refreshments)

Bookings essential by email: Amanda Jackson or phone 8303 7497.

Classical Association 4th Centenary Public Lecture

The Fall of the Roman Empire: when and why
Speaker: Dr Ron Newbold, University of Adelaide
Date/Time: Monday 27 October 2008, 8:00pm
Venue: Hughes Lecture Theatre, Level 3
FREE.

A recently published book is entitled "Are We (i.e. the USA) Rome?" The why and when of the fall of Rome has always fascinated people, often people anxious to draw some moral that can be applied to the present. Was it "bad luck", an unfortunate combination of factors that crippled an organism that was very much alive and punching its weight? Or was it because Rome had truly become lazy, flabby, complacent, even, gasp, decadent?

Visit: www.hss.adelaide.edu.au/classics/association/

School of Mathematical Sciences Colloquium Series

Symmetry-breaking and the Origin of Species
Speaker: Toby Elmhirst
Date/Time: Friday 24 October, 3:10pm
Venue: G03, Napier Building, University of Adelaide
All welcome.

Abstract: The theory of partial differential equations can say much about generic bifurcations from spatially homogeneous steady states, but relatively little about generic bifurcations from unimodal steady states. In many applications, spatially homogeneous steady states correspond to low-energy physical states that are destabilized as energy is fed into the system, and in these cases standard PDE theory can yield some impressive and elegant results. However, for many macroscopic biological systems such results are less useful because low-energy states do not hold the same privileged position as they do in physical and chemical systems. For example, speciation -- the evolutionary process by which new species are formed -- can be seen as the destabilization of a unimodal density distribution over phenotype space. Given the diversity of species and environments, generic results are clearly needed, but cannot be gained from PDE theory. Indeed, such questions cannot even be adequately formulated in terms of PDEs. This talk will introduce "Pod Systems" which can provide an answer to the question: "What happens, generically, when a unimodal steady state loses stability?" In the pod system formalization, the answer involves elements of equivariant bifurcation theory and suggests that new species can arise as the result of broken symmetries.

Visit: www.maths.adelaide.edu.au/news/
Enquiries: Jonathan Tuke.

Training & Development Opportunities

Strategies for Recruitment and Retention of Talented Staff - 30 & 31 October - Executive Education Unit

If you are a middle to senior level manager or professional, you will understand the importance to attract and retain talented staff.

Strategies for Recruitment and Retention of Talented Staff will help you to select the people you need and create a culture of retention so that you can fully engage and utilise the talents of high performing staff in your faculty or division.

10% discount for University of Adelaide staff.
For further information, please contact: Mary Quinless, Executive Education Unit on 8303 3268.

Performance Excellence Implementation - Planning, Development and Review training

As part of the University of Adelaide's Performance Excellence project workshops are being held for managers and supervisors responsible for holding PDR conversations with staff.

Managers and supervisors are encouraged to attend one of the following training sessions. The sessions are designed to provide you with an overview of the changes to PDR, your responsibilities and preparing for PDR conversations.

Academic staff - managers and supervisors
Wednesday 15 October, 9:00am-1:00pm
Friday 17 October, 9:00am-1:00pm (Waite Campus)
Wednesday 29 October, 9:00am-1:00pm
Thursday 30 October, 9:00am-1:00pm

Professional staff - managers and supervisors
Friday 31 October, 9:00am-1:00pm

For more information and to enrol please email Janet Hart or phone 33130.

ALTC Competitive Grant Funding

Are you interested in the teaching of your discipline or just in teaching in general? Have you been planning to do some research related to innovative or more effective teaching? Teaching that enhances student learning?

The next round of Australian Learning and Teaching Council (formerly Carrick Institute) funding for Competitive Grants is now underway. Expressions of Interest and Full Proposals are due on 6 November. Funding for research to do with innovation in teaching ranges from $50,000 to $220,000 for grants that can run for up to two years. Further information is available from the ALTC website at: www.altc.edu.au/carrick/go/home/grants/pid/49.

Please note that for the best chance of success, grant applications should be endorsed by the University of Adelaide Committee for Learning and Teaching Awards, chaired by Professor Geoff Crisp, Director of the Centre for Learning and Professional Development. Endorsement includes support from a professional editor, Barbara Brougham, who is the Executive Officer of the Committee. If you would like more information about the ALTC grants and how you can be assisted, please contact Barbara Brougham or phone 8303 7421 or mobile: 0437 649 976.

Graduate Certificate in Higher Education: Apply now for 2009

Applications close: Monday 3 November 2008
For 2009, the full fees will be reduced for up to 15 University of Adelaide staff.
For application forms and further information visit the Grad. Cert. in Higher Education webpage.

Graduate Certificate in Online Learning: Apply now for 2009

Applications close: Monday 3 November 2008
For 2009, the full fees will be waived for up to 5 University of Adelaide staff.
For application forms and further information visit the Grad. Cert. in Online Learning webpage.

Academic Learning and Language Semester Seminars - Preparing for exams

Sessions to help students prepare for their end of semester exams are now being held.

If you would like to attend please bring: course outlines, information about the kind of exam you'll be sitting and past exam papers.

Preparing for exams
Wednesday 22 October, 1:10pm

Performing well in exams - multiple choice and short answer questions
Wednesday 29 October, 1:10pm

For the program flyer and further information visit the Academic Learning and Language website.

CLPD Staff Development Workshops

University Policy Management
Thursday 23 October, 10:00am-12:00noon

Further information and bookings: University Management Practices.

Professional & Continuing Education

Upcoming Professional Development Courses

Strategic Thinking and Planning
Wednesday 15 October

Practical Cross Cultural Communication
Thursday 16 October

Supervisor Development Program
Monday 20 & Tuesday 21 October

Increasing your Professional and Personal Effectiveness
Thursday 23 October

5% discount for University of Adelaide staff.

For further information or to enrol please email Jo Carrick or phone 8303 4777, or visit our website at: www.adelaide.edu.au/pce to view our extensive program offering.

Information for Researchers

Adelaide Research & Innovation

The latest commUNIcate RESEARCH news is available online.

Research Branch

See the Research Branch newsletter for the latest information on major grant rounds and information sessions, a selection of competitive grants and prizes now open for application and other research-related news.