Bulletin

In this Issue
La Trobe University in association with the Gould League of Australia has launched an appeal for funds for its Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary. full story

Vice-Chancellor praises staff in fire crisis
La Trobe University's regional campuses were in the thick of the recent bushfire crisis - with the Beechworth campus serving as key operational centre for the Multi-Agency Response Team fighting the fires in north east Victoria. full story

Backing Australia
La Trobe in $11.5m national 'Centre of Excellence'
Research at La Trobe University to help build highly sophisticated computer models and software will play a key role in one of eight new Centres of Excellence designed to boost Australia's international competitiveness. full story

Research partnership for better Aboriginal health
La Trobe is one of five universities and a group of other organisations to bid successfully for research funds to improve the health of indigenous Australians. full story

Teaching, research to expand in Mildura
La Trobe University, with help from a $1.9 million Commonwealth government grant, is boosting its information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure as part of a major development of its Mildura campus this year. full story

ICT boost for education in northern Victoria
Extensive involvement in northern Victoria - with campuses in Albury-Wodonga, Beechworth, Bendigo, Mildura, Mt Buller and Shepparton - are a feature of La Trobe University's educational mission. full story

Academic research libraries go 'on line'
La Trobe University early this year awarded a contract to provide software for Australia's new Academic and Research Library Network to Ex Libris Australia, following intensive evaluation through a tender process. full story

Call to arrest 'decay of diversity' in higher education
The 'insidious drift towards the functional university' was jeopardising the deeper and broader role of scholarship, La Trobe University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Osborne, told a recent international gathering on the nature and role of universities. full story

Melbourne Water sponsors Wildlife Sanctuary
Melbourne Water has provided $50,000 to La Trobe University's Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary for training programs to relating to the treatment of storm-water run off. full story

When parents separate: A new approach to protect children
Counsellors and mediators advising separating couples around Australia are being encouraged to take a radically different approach to safeguarding the welfare of children in dispute. full story

There's gold in them regions!
New historical research focusing on four key gold mining centres, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maldon and Creswick, will attempt to reconstruct domestic and neighbourhood life between the 1850s and 1930s. full story

What drives global tourism choice?
La Trobe University recently hosted an international symposium of more than 40 leading scholars in the consumer psychology of tourism, hospitality and leisure held at its Melbourne City campus. full story

Older, wiser & safer on the road
A comprehensive three-year research project is seeking to pinpoint why a minority of older drivers are involved in road accidents - giving others in their age group a reputation they don't deserve. full story

Australia Day honours
La Trobe University Deputy Chancellor, Mrs Sylvia Walton, was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) in this year's Australia Day Honours list. full story

Graduate designs 'wireless' computer connection
The tangle of wires from your PC to your keyboard, mouse, printer and joystick may become a thing of the past. full story

Truth or phiction?
The cliche 'One picture is worth a thousand words' begs to be questioned. full story

Laugh and not all the world laughs with you
The old axiom 'Laugh and the world laughs with you' is not entirely true. full story

Research with a delicious outcome
Next time you enjoy the sensuous taste of chocolate, spare a thought for those working to ensure that the world supply of chocolate is maintained. full story

For 50 and over strong muscles mean better health
La Trobe University physiotherapists are trying to persuade more people aged 50 years and over to safeguard their health by developing their muscle strength. full story

Joint research for a smarter web
La Trobe University is emerging as a leader in a new a new field of computer science known as computer-based semantics. full story

Cheap super computer for your desk?
If personal computers of the future can be made cheaper and 'smarter' - as 'smart' as today's multi-million dollar super computers - more people will be able to solve problems involving mathematical modelling and complex mathematics. full story

Keeping tabs on Tongans
Tongans living outside their home islands in Western Polynesia may number about 100,000 - as many as remain in Tonga. Most have moved to Australia, New Zealand and the USA. full story