Alumni News April 2005

alumninews Faculty of Economics and Commerce April 2005

No 1 in Australia, world No 22 The University of Melbourne has been listed as No 1 in a ranking of Australia’s universities by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research in its study, The International Standing of Australian Universities.

The Melbourne Institute study released late last year was prepared by former Faculty of Economics and Commerce Dean, Professor Ross Williams and Dr Nina Van Dyke who took two approaches to ranking. CEOs of some of the world’s best universities and deans of Australian universities were surveyed for their perceptions of the international standing of Australian universities to produce a reputation index. These qualitative results were combined with quantitative data on current performance to produce an index of international standing.

President’s Report Welcome to the first Alumni News for 2005!

2004 was a fabulous year for the society.

An extremely successful alumni function was held on the 11th October 2004 with The Hon John Brumby, the Treasurer of the State of Victoria, speaking to alumni and final year students. Mr Brumby spoke about his vision for Victoria, and the skills and attributes he sees as being important in the future. The event was catered for and sponsored by Deloitte and held in their premises at 505 Bourke St. A full house of 80 people attended and were inspired by Mr Brumby’s talk. A full report on this successful event is on page 6.

A barbecue for final year commerce students was also held late in the university semester. The barbecue introduces students that are about to leave the university to the Alumni Society, and is a means for them to maintain contact with students, the Faculty and the university.

The annual lunch reunion for commerce alumni who graduated more than 45 years ago continues to be a success. The lunch was held in University House and those attending also had the chance to hear about recent changes in the faculty and the university.

In this issue

The rankings looked at six attributes of international standing – quality/international standing of staff, quality of graduate programs, quality of undergraduate entry, quality of undergraduate programs, resource levels and the survey of educationists.

All survey respondents were asked what weights they would put on these categories and those weights were used to combine the ratings for each category into a single rating.

The end result for the top eight institutions was Melbourne and ANU sharing top honours followed by Sydney, Queensland and New South Wales, with Monash and Western Australia sharing sixth place and Adelaide in eighth place.

For the full report on the rankings go to http://www.melbourneinstitute.com/austuniv/austuniv.html

The Alumni Society and Faculty can also assist if you would like to arrange a reunion for your own Commerce year.

On behalf of the committee, I would also like to give our condolences to the family of Bill Ingram, who passed away in late 2004. Bill was a member of the committee in the 1990s, and his contribution is noted and appreciated.

Two issues of the Alumni News newsletter are produced each year.

If you would like to be on the distribution list, please contact Emily Nugent on telephone +61 3 8344 1815 or e-mail commercealumni@unimelb. edu.au (if you have already done so, there is no need to contact again). Also, if you would like to contribute articles, photographs, ideas or anything at all to the newsletter or UMCAS, you can respond to Emily on the same phone/e-mail or post to the Alumni Society at the Faculty of Economics & Commerce, Alan Gilbert Building, Level 4, 161 Barry Street, University of Melbourne Vic 3010.

Further events are outlined in this newsletter. For the most recent up to date information on events, please see the www.ecom.unimelb. edu.au/business/alumni.html web site. We hope you will be able to make it to some of these future functions, and look forward to meeting you there.

Steven Zigomanis, President, UMCAS

Dean’s Update

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John Brumby Presentation

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Award Winning Students

Upcoming Alumni Events

3

Poverty Index

6

Nobel Laureates

Glyn Davis – New VC

4

Financial Studies Collaboration 7

Interaction Design CRC

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Careers Information

5

Outstanding Teaching

Events Calendar

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Dean’s Update In writing this message for the first Alumni Newsletter of 2005 it is difficult not to reflect on the achievements of the Faculty in 2004.

By far the most challenging task during 2004 was to build on our strengths while at the same time ensuring that our Faculty was well positioned to respond to the Nelson reforms. Now that the first semester of 2005 has commenced I am pleased to report that the demand for our programs continues to grow.

Despite concern in the press that the number of government funded places is decreasing, our Faculty increased the number of offers for these places (now called Commonwealth subsidised places). We also significantly increased our offer of places to students who have suffered some disadvantage in their secondary school education. Our commitment to access and equity enables the Faculty to attract the very best students from a wide cross section of the population. The Nelson reforms enabled us to also increase our offers of domestic fee places and to ensure that international and domestic fee students have equal opportunity to study in our Faculty.

One of the highlights of 2004 was the appointment to the Faculty of two Nobel Laureates, Professor Sir Clive Granger from the University of California (San Diego) and Professor Sir James Mirrlees from Cambridge. Both scholars will be part of a new initiative and present a lecture to our very best students in first year microeconomics. From all accounts, Professor Mirrlees’s lecture was a great success when he presented to the students several weeks ago. The Faculty is also organising other functions that will enable alumni to meet our Nobel Laureates.

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Being able to offer this type of experience to our students, academic staff and business community more broadly, is one of the differentiating features of the Faculty.

One of the major challenges for the Faculty is to build our reputation domestically and internationally. It is vital for the Faculty not only to maintain our position of leadership in Australia but also to become a significant global player. How else will we attract the best staff and students in the world?

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To stand out on a world stage is a big challenge for us all.

It will require planning, resourcefulness and a great deal of support.

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Support from a wide variety of people and in many forms. In 2004 the Faculty decided to embark on a major initiative to build this support base. From 2005, this initiative will be a major focus for us and will be a University priority with the full backing of our new Vice Chancellor.

We intend to build much closer ties with industry and particularly with our alumni, both at home and overseas.

In 2005 we will communicate our vision and build the case for three strategic programs we regard as vital to our future: – To build a major endowed scholarships program to attract top students from around the world (at present, the Faculty has only a limited scholarships program compared to those offered by leading institutions overseas); – To fund a major endowed chairs program to attract scholars of international renown to Melbourne (at present the Faculty has no perpetual endowment for funding chairs); – To make a significant capital contribution to the new $90 million Faculty building project (due to open in 2007), enabling the establishment of a world class facility that goes beyond traditional classrooms, encouraging dialogue between business and academia, and providing a learning environment to inspire future business leaders.

I look forward to meeting you at one of the Alumni functions that we have organised for this year and discussing developments in the Faculty with you.

Professor Margaret A. Abernethy Dean

Commerce Alumni Dinner – July 28 Former Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce, and current member of the Commonwealth Grants Commission, Professor Ross Williams will be the guest speaker at the Alumni Dinner in July.

Ross Williams was educated at the University of Melbourne and the London School of Economics. He was Professor of Econometrics at the University of Melbourne from 1975 to 2002, Head of the Department of Economics (1985-88), and Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce from 1994 to 2002. He has also held positions at Monash University, ANU and the World Bank. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 1987.

Professor Williams’ research publications are in areas as diverse as demand and saving, time-use studies, federal-state finance, the cost of civil litigation, and the economics of education.

He has undertaken work for the Commonwealth department of education including commissioned studies for the Relative Funding Model and the West Review.

In addition to being a member of the Commonwealth Grants Commission Professor Williams is also Professorial Fellow in the Melbourne Institute and Principal Fellow of Queen’s College.

The Commonwealth Grants Commission occupies a key place in the architecture of federal-state financial relations. Its role, operating within terms of reference, is to make recommendations on the distribution of GST revenue to the States.

Revenue from the GST forms an increasing share of total State revenue. This has occasioned increased public evaluation of the methods used by the Grants Commission. Professor Williams will explain the principles used by the Grants Commission in making its recommendations and discuss recent developments.

All alumni and friends are invited to attend.

Commerce Alumni Dinner July 28 6.30pm – 9.00pm Woodward Centre, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton Cost: $50 RSVP: Ms Emily Nugent, 03 8344 1815, commerce-alumni@unimelb.edu.au

Commerce Alumni Society Annual General Meeting Prior to the Alumni Dinner interested members can also attend the Annual General Meeting commencing at 6pm.

Please also contact Emily Nugent if you are interested in attending this event.

Young Alumni: May 10 –

an invitation Simon Hammond, SEE Communications For more than two decades, Simon Hammond has pushed through the boundaries of traditional thinking to provoke creative change within Australian business.

From his early career as an investigative journalist to today, as the driving force behind the SEE group of communication companies, Hammond has consistently defined the real drivers of social change and consumer behaviour.

In recent years Hammond’s social insights, or ‘SINS’ as he calls them, have made him a sought-after social commentator and motivational speaker, while also becoming the driving force behind the rejuvenation of many of Australia’s best known brands.

Hammond’s telling observations of mainstream behaviour challenge many accepted conventions and throw new light on the most powerful connections in society and business today.

A former newspaper, radio and magazine reporter, Simon Hammond has created and run three of Australia’s most talked about creative agencies – dare, The Edge and now SEE. SEE remains Hammond’s most ambitious project. A broad based creative communications agency, SEE boasts its own ‘inspiration destination’ – a purpose built licensed café and creative gallery space in Nott Street, Port Melbourne, complete with public meeting rooms, creative event space and a ‘thinking gallery’.

SEE continues to drive change through Australian business with both its unique insight processes and its award winning creative executions in advertising, online, design, events and promotions.

As testament to its recent successes, SEE was recently awarded Australia’s prestigious Emerging Agency of the Year award with the judges hailing its “unique way of connecting business to customers”. They went as far as to suggest SEE may be the 21st century model in ad agencies.

Balancing his time between his role as Executive Creative Director for SEE and his demanding schedule of public speaking engagements, Hammond continues to write and direct key creative projects including major events, TV commercials and films.

Simon Hammond will be the guest speaker at the year’s first young alumni function hosted by KPMG. All alumni and friends are invited to attend.

KPMG House, 161 Collins Street Melbourne, Tuesday May 10 2005, 6.00 – 8.00pm Cost: Free but RSVP is essential RSVP to Dennis Lee on: dennis.steven.lee@gmail.com

Alumni News 3

Public policy expert leads University of Melbourne An expert in public policy and governance, Professor Glyn Davis became Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Melbourne on 10 January 2005.

As Vice-Chancellor Professor Davis is chief executive officer of the University exercising general superintendence over the educational and administrative affairs of the University.

Previously Vice-Chancellor of Griffith University in Queensland, he has also served as the most senior Queensland public servant.

With a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in political science from the University of New South Wales, he was awarded his Doctorate of Philosophy from the Australian National University for a thesis entitled ‘The Political Independence of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’.

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He lectured politics and public policy at Griffith University but the award of a prestigious Harkness Fellowship provided an opportunity to work at the University of California, Berkeley, the Brookings Institution in Washington and the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard, during 1987 and 1988.

Subsequently, as an Australian Research Council QE II Research Fellow at Griffith, Professor Davis published a series of articles and books on policy coordination and public sector change. He was appointed a Professor in 1998.

Secondments to the Queensland Government included appointments as Commissioner for Public Sector Equity in the Queensland Public Sector Management Commission (1990-1993), as Director General of the Office of the Cabinet (1995-1996), and Director General of the Queensland Department of the Premier and Cabinet (1998-2002).

Professor Davis has written widely on policy and governance. His most recent publications are a third edition of The Australian Policy Handbook (with Peter Bridgman, 2004), The Future of Australian Governance: Policy Choices (coedited with Michael Keating, 2000) and Are You Being Served? State, Citizens and Governance (coedited with Patrick Weller, 2001).

Professor Davis is Chair of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) which is headquartered at the University of Melbourne. He is also a Director of Australia 21 and a member of the Sesquicentenary Committee for Queensland.

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and a Companion in the Order of Australia.

Speeches in late 2004 and 2005 by Professor Davis are available at: http://www.unimelb.edu.au/speeches/

Careers fairs help students to connect with employers More than 90 private and government sector employers met University of Melbourne students during two 2005 Careers and Employment Graduate Careers fairs held in Wilson Hall recently.

The employers targeted students from a wide range of disciplines including Arts, Economics and Commerce, Law, Engineering, IT, Land and Food Resources, Town Planning, Science and Veterinary Science.

Around 2500 students attended the Business, Arts and Law Careers Fair on 8 March and 2000 visited the Engineering, Science and It Careers Fair on 9 March.

Postgraduate Information Sessions The Faculty of Economics and Commerce offers a wide range of postgraduate degrees and diplomas, catering to a diverse set of needs. Some degrees are designed to meet the needs of practitioners; others are more research-oriented. Some are designed to provide an in-depth understanding of a particular business discipline; others are designed to suit those students wanting to gain a broad overview of a variety of disciplines.

There are several events in the next month or so to allow prospective students the opportunity to find out more information about the range of courses available. Registration is not necessary but enquiries are welcome. For more information please visit: http://www.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/future/pgrad/welcome.html or call Amanda Hamilton on 1800 227 117.

Thursday May 5, 6pm – Information Lecture Overview of all course options and opportunity to ask staff any questions or run through application procedures.

Lecture Theatre 1, Alan Gilbert Building, 161 Barry Street, The University of Melbourne.

Thursday May 26, 12-7pm - Downtown Expo Melbourne Town Hall, cnr Swanston and Collins Streets, Melbourne.

Thursday June 9, 6pm – Information Evening Program Directors provide an overview of all courses available.

Alan Gilbert Building, 161 Barry Street, The University of Melbourne.

Shown above, Careers and Employment Guide and fourth-year Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Commerce student, Ms Katya Andreyeva (right), introduces (from left) second year Bachelor of Biomedical Science student Ms Rugini Kie and third-year Bachelor of Commerce student Ms Ju Wei Lau, to VicRoads recruiting staff, Ms Galang Trieu, Mr Tim Mottau and Ms Ysra Elhouli.

Careers Management Consultant With the number of students increasing 68% over 3 years the Faculty of Economics and Commerce welcomes Ms Agnes Banyesz to the newly created position of Careers Management Consultant for postgraduate students.

Agnes commenced in the Faculty at the beginning of 2005.

Agnes will develop and manage a range of services, resources and employment opportunities for the growing number of postgraduate students enrolled in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce.

Her professional background spans language teaching, interpreting/translating, careers counselling and communication coaching, converging in her main interest area of inter-cultural communication practices, particularly in educational and employment contexts.

Prior to her appointment to the Faculty of Economics and Commerce, Agnes worked as Educational/Academic Counsellor at La Trobe University Language Centre and in private careers practice. She has extensive experience in working with local and international clients in one to one career advising as well as in career skills group-training.

Agnes can be contacted on 03 8344 1856 or email careers-ecompg@unimelb.edu.au

Alumni News 5

Victoria – A Centre for Innovation & Growth Summary of Presentation by The Hon John Brumby MP, Treasurer of Victoria University of Melbourne Young Alumni Function, Monday, 11 October 2004

Many Australians receiving government welfare benefits are living below the poverty line, according to the latest issue of Poverty Lines: Australia, published by the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research.

In early October, the Hon John Brumby MP, Treasurer of Victoria was the guest speaker at a Young Alumni function sponsored by Deloittes. The Treasurer’s provided an interesting walk through the evolution of the Australian economy since the early 70s, highlighting the importance of innovation and creativity if Australia is to continue to be successful in the world economy.

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The Treasurer drew upon Professor Richard Florida’s book, “Rise of the Creative Class” in which Professor Richard Florida argues that the three T’s: Technology; Talent; and Tolerance are the real engine drivers of economic growth.

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The Treasurer then drew upon parallels between Melbourne in the late 19th century in which it was, at the time, one of the world’s leading creative cities. For example, Melbourne had more tall buildings than any other city in Europe, six times the railway mileage per capita compared to England, France or Germany and the world’s most advanced agricultural and mining machinery.

The major thrust of the Treasurer’s proposal was that Melbourne is well positioned to relaunch Victoria as an innovative state and the Victorian government is committed to building a culture of innovation as part of its $1 billion investment in infrastructure (eg: $206 Synchrotron project, $110m Film Studio project etc.). The Treasurer briefly

Welfare recipients live below poverty line

referenced the $25m Vic Start program which has been designed to encourage greater levels of investment in R&D and access to finance and public research. The Treasurer also highlighted the government’s strategy to maximise opportunities in China and to focus upon regional engagements and exports.

Additionally, the Treasurer advised that Victoria needs to focus upon the “strategic industries of the future such as healthcare, education, professional services, advanced manufacturing, TDL, tourism, environmental technologies, biotechnology and ICT”. He advised that the government is committed to an “open and competitive economy” and to ensuring that regulatory barriers are removed.

Finally, in summation, the Treasurer urged the UMCAS members present, as future business leaders, to play an active role themselves in building up creative capital and to capitalise upon the opportunities that lay ahead of them.

The next Young Alumni Function will be held on 10 May. See article on page 3.

Figures in the September 2004 quarter show that single adults on unemployment benefits fare worst, receiving approximately $75.31 less than the poverty line per week.

Unemployed couples without children live on approximately $28.67 per week less than the poverty line and couples with children are receiving between $16.55 and $34.63 less than the poverty line on a weekly basis.

Singles and couples on pensions, as well as single parents with children, are the only welfare recipients to rise above the poverty line.

The analysis accounts for the maximum amount payable by Centrelink but the figures do not take into account non-cash benefits to which many recipients are entitled, including concessions for health and welfare, housing, transport, education and other goods and services.

Poverty Lines is the longest running poverty index in Australia, having been produced since 1973. It is available on the Melbourne Institute website at: www.melbourneinstitute.com

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Uni in new financial studies collaboration A new centre to provide world class collaborative financial and investment research, training and information exchanges will be established by the University of Melbourne, Monash University and RMIT University in conjunction with the Victorian Government.

The Melbourne Centre for Financial Studies will be located in Melbourne’s CBD and will initiate Professor Rob Brown and coordinate research programs in the areas of banking and financial services, the Australian and AsiaPacific markets, funds management and derivatives and tradeable markets.

University of Melbourne Department of Finance Head, Professor Rob Brown, says the consortium will continue the University of Melbourne’s commitment to high quality financial research.

“The Centre is a collaborative effort between the University of Melbourne, Monash University and RMIT and will enable us to combine our financial research and training expertise with the interests and skills of the financial sector,” he says.

“It will also enable us to work collaboratively with government and the business sector to ensure that Melbourne’s position as a leader in financial research is firmly established.”

The Centre will facilitate research, attract leading finance researchers from around the world, disseminate research to academia, industry and government, foster links between leading finance researchers and the finance industry and provide relevant training in finance for industry and for doctoral candidates.

It will develop and implement a range of programs including extensive research, an annual conference, briefing sessions for industry and government, doctoral-level training course sponsorships, and publication of research papers.

“Support from the State Government and the private sector plus the combined resources of the three universities will provide a great opportunity for the whole of Melbourne’s financial community,” says Professor Brown.

Fudan CEO Leadership Workshop The Faculty of Economics and Commerce hosted the Fudan CEO Leadership workshop on March 16. Nineteen senior business people from China participated in full day of lectures involving varied and concentrated content on leadership and international business practice.

Presenting at the workshop were Dr Ying Zhu, Dr Stephen Morgan and Professor David Merrett, all from the Department of Management. The delegation took part in the workshop as part of a professional tour organised through ICRO (International Culture Resource Organisation).

Feedback from delegates was extremely positive and there is keen interest in an ongoing program of such events in the Faculty calendar.

Alumni News 7

Staff recognised for outstanding teaching Several outstanding Economics and Commerce academic staff were among those publicly acknowledged and awarded $25,000 grants to further develop good teaching practices at the recent 2004 University of Melbourne’s Vice-Chancellor’s Colloquium on Teaching and Learning.

Organised by the University’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education, the Colloquium saw awards presented for Excellence in Teaching, and Support and Service, and recognised the achievements of the University’s nominees for the 2004 Australian Universities Teaching Committee Awards.

The Colloquium featured the ViceChancellor’s Annual Teaching and Learning Lecture, delivered by Professor Richard Johnstone, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) at the University of Technology, Sydney and Deputy Chair of the Australian Universities Teaching Committee.

Associate Professor Carol Johnston (left) and Dr Lea Waters (right) receive their awards from Dr Brendan Nelson, MP.

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The new Norman Curry Support and Service Award was made jointly to two programs that demonstrated innovation and excellence in the support of University teaching and learning – one being the Economics and Commerce Teaching and Learning Unit led by Associate Professor Carol Johnston.

Dr Waters also won the ‘Management Educator of the Year’ award by the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Society in 2004 and also won a Best Paper Prize at the American Academy of Management Annual Conference in 2004 for her research into voluntary and involuntary job redundancy.

Dr Lea Waters from the Department of Management won the Edward Brown Award for excellence in teaching at the University of Melbourne. This was Dr Waters ninth award for her teaching efforts across the university, which has included the prestigious Universitas 21 Teaching Fellowship. The Edward Brown Award is given to one academic from across the following disciplines: architecture, engineering, economics, commerce and business. It was awarded to Dr Waters based on her innovative teaching approaches and use of on-line technologies.

Dr Waters, Associate Professor Johnston and the Faculty Teaching and Learning Unit were also nominated by the University of Melbourne for the Australian University Teaching Awards.

Dr Waters was one of only four finalists from universities across Australia in her category ‘Economics, Business, Law and Related studies’. Associate Professor Johnston and the Faculty Teaching and Learning Unit was one of only three finalists in their category “Provision of support services that assist student learning”. Finalist certificates were presented by Dr Brendan Nelson, MP, in Canberra last November.

Top students receive Melbourne awards Two Bachelor of Commerce students are among ten outstanding young Victorians who have been awarded the 2005 Melbourne National Scholarships.

Daniel Snyder pictured with Steve Zigomanis and Professor Margaret Abernethy

Scholarship winner off to see the world The 2004 Commerce Alumni Scholarship winner, Daniel Snyder, graduated at the end of last year with an LLB (1st class Hons) and a BCom. He has taken the opportunity to see a bit of the world before settling down next year.

“I enjoyed my time immensely at university, having been involved with student groups, university competitions, sports and tutoring. Before commencing work as a lawyer in 2006, I am taking the opportunity to see the world. I am currently volunteering at an NGO in Hyderabad, India called ‘Lok Satta’, which is dedicated to improving the Indian political process and reducing corruption. After this, I will be teaching at a Cambodian University, then backpacking for several months after that (if all goes to plan!)”

Thanking those who donated towards the scholarship, Daniel says the support has greatly assisted him.

“The Commerce Alumni scholarship has provided invaluable assistance for my volunteering efforts, and would once again like to thank all of those who have contributed to this support.”

The prestigious awards have a total value in excess of half a million dollars in exempted fees and allowances for the duration of a five-year degree course (or six years for a Medicine course).

The 2005 National Scholars studying Commerce are Dakshinee Kodituwakku (Commerce/Law) and Fiona Borrelli (Commerce/Law).

Melbourne National Scholarships exempt recipients from tuition fees for up to five years of an undergraduate course (except Medicine) plus provide a $5000 a year allowance for up to five years.

University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis congratulated the National Scholars on their success. “These high-achieving young people have won these scholarships on merit,” he said.

“I would also like to congratulate the 200 recipients of the Melbourne Access Scholarships which have been awarded for the first time this year. These scholarship winners applied to the University through Access Melbourne, a new program addressing the academic, social, and financial barriers faced by students who previously would have found it difficult to take up places at Melbourne.”

“The University is delighted to be able to give all these outstanding students the opportunity to study in a challenging academic environment. Their presence at Melbourne can only enrich our academic community.”

The Faculty of Economics and Commerce awarded 27 Melbourne Access Scholarships.

At Melbourne, the Scholars will join an academic community of around 3000 undergraduate and postgraduate scholarship winners studying under the Melbourne Scholarships Program, the largest and most comprehensive in Australia.

Adapted from an article by Rebecca Trott, UniNews, 3 March 2005

The Commerce Alumni Scholarship is valued at $2000 and is wholly funded by the donations of alumni. Members who wish to make a donation can complete the donation form enclosed with their newsletter. Others wishing to donate can contact Emily Nugent on 8344-1815 or visit the website at http://www.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/faculty/ business/alumni.html The 2005 winner was being determined at time of printing.

Alumni News 9

Two Nobel Laureates join the Faculty The University of Melbourne has achieved its goal of four Nobel Laureates on staff by 2007 with two Nobel Prize winners joining the Faculty of Economics and Commerce as visiting Eminent Scholars.

The appointment of Professor Sir James Mirrlees, Nobel Laureate in Economic Science in 1996 was reported in the September edition of Alumni News. Professor Sir Clive Granger, the 2003 Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, also joins Professor Sir James Mirrlees and Nobel Laureates Professor Peter Doherty, and Professor Bert Sakmann who have been Eminent Scholars in the University’s Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences since 1999.

Professor Mirrlees and Professor Granger will spend at least two months each year undertaking teaching and research in the University’s Faculty of Economics and Commerce.

Their appointments are for three years commencing in 2005. Professor Mirrlees is presently visiting the Faculty until April and returning for two months later in 2005.

He has also accepted a Visiting Research Fellowship at Trinity College for this period.

Professor Granger will visit in April and September.

Welcoming the appointments, Professor Margaret Abernethy, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce, says the Faculty is most fortunate to have attracted two such distinguished international scholars in economics to the University of Melbourne.

“Professor Mirrlees and Professor Granger have made a significant contribution to their areas of economics,” she said.

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Our undergraduate and postgraduate students will benefit enormously from the opportunity to interact with and learn from the Eminent Scholars.

Academic staff within the Faculty are also very enthusiastic about the potential for research collaborations with both our Nobel Laureates.

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Professor Mirrlees retired as Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge last year but has continued as Distinguished Professor-at-large at the Chinese University in Hong Kong. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in the field of information economics.

In a series of seminal papers he developed theoretical approaches that have allowed economists to study situations where parties involved in, for example, trading some goods or service, have different information about a critical aspect of the trade – such as where a seller of goods has superior information to potential buyers about their quality.

The capacity to formally analyse situations where information asymmetry exists between participants in an economy has meant significant advances in the scope of economic theory.

These advances have had major influences on the design of public policy as well as on contracting and personnel management within organisations.

Professor of Economics at the University of California San Diego since 1974, Clive Granger was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contributions to development of empirical methods for studying time-series data about the economy such as stock prices, unemployment, and national income.

Pictured top: Professor Sir James Mirrlees.

Pictured above: Professor Sir Clive Granger

Professor Granger’s work has shown how understanding the long-run patterns in individual time-series variables has fundamental implications for interpreting relationships between those variables.

His work has been at the core of significant developments in testing macroeconomic theories, and in forecasting of macroeconomic outcomes.

It is envisaged that a number of events will be held to give alumni an opportunity to hear from the Nobel Laureates.

Adapted from an article in UniNews, 14 October 2004

Australia Day Honours AM: Member of the Order of Australia Mr Rupert Hordern Myer (BCom (Hons) 1980) For service to the arts, to support for museums and galleries, and to the community through a range of philanthropic and service organisations.

Mr Peter Snowden Wilson (BCom (Hons) 1973, MA 1978) For service to business and industry, particularly through the development of workplace reforms in the areas of safety, rehabilitation and compensation, and to the community.

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Core Partner in CRC for Interaction Design It is estimated that more than $500,000 will flow to a University of Melbourne management research team for being a core partner in a CRC for interaction design.

The funding is part of a supplementary $1.6 million over three years allocated recently by the Federal Government to the Australian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID), in which the University of Melbourne is a core partner.

ACID was established in 2003 with initial seven-year funding totalling $14.5 million.

The CRC supports collaborative research and development into tools and methods that enhance the way people participate in the digital world. ACID’s core business is R&D and commercialisation of content and technologies for creative industries.

Based at Queensland University of Technology, the University of Melbourne and Murdoch University, ACID has wide industry involvement. Its supporting partners include major television networks such as American Broadcasting Co, British Sky Broadcasting, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Seven Network Australia, and Turner Broadcasting.

Heading the CRC research team at Melbourne are Associate Professor Milé Terziovski (Chief Investigator and Research Program Leader) and Professor Danny Samson (Co-Investigator).

Associate Professor Terziovski says the Faculty of Economics and Commerce will contribute $150,000 over three years to research in the CRC at Melbourne. “The total amount expected to flow back into the University of Melbourne is $506,000, which does not include the Faculty’s contribution,” he says.

The CRC’s University of Melbourne base is in the EACC Centre for Global Innovation Management.

“We will work to define an innovation process for creative industries companies and work closely with the existing ACID network on designing a rapid prototyping platform to assist creative industries companies in new product development and commercialisation,” says Associate Professor Terziovski.

Above: left – Professor Danny Samson, right – Associate Professor Milé Terziovski

“The Australian Bureau of Statistics has identified approximately 7000 businesses in the creative industries employing more than 76,000 people and generating $2100 million per annum.

“Far greater growth rates are possible for these firms from increasing their innovation capability through gains in speed and lower costs in development and production.

“Reduced development costs and improved international networks will provide better access to international markets for these industries,” he says.

Uni ranks well The University of Melbourne has performed strongly in a range of discipline rankings, released by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) in February 2005.

The Faculty played a key role in Melbourne being ranked the top Australian – and 12th in the world – university in the social sciences, ahead of the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales and University of Sydney.

Melbourne has performed consistently well in international and national rankings over the past 12 months.

Late last year, the University was listed as No 1 in a ranking of Australia’s universities by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (see article page 1).

This followed a worldwide ranking at No 22 by the Times Higher Education Supplement, where Melbourne came in ahead of Cornell University, Johns Hopkins, University College London, the University of California Los Angeles and San Diego.

For more information visit: http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/

Alumni News 11

Upcomingevents Young Alumni Event hosted by KPMG Guest speaker Simon Hammond, SEE Communications Tuesday May 10 2005, 6-8pm KPMG House, 161 Collins Street Melbourne RSVP to Dennis Lee on dennis.steven.lee@gmail.com Telephone enquiries: Ms Emily Nugent 03 8344-1815

Postgraduate Study Thursday May 5, 6pm – Information Lecture – Overview of all course options and opportunity to ask staff any questions or run through application procedures.

Lecture Theatre 1, Alan Gilbert Building, 161 Barry Street, The University of Melbourne.

Commerce Alumni Dinner

Thursday May 26, 12-7pm – Downtown Expo, Melbourne Town Hall, cnr Swanston and Collins Streets, Melbourne.

Guest speaker Professor Ross Williams, Commonwealth Grants Commission July 28 6.30pm – 9.00pm Woodward Centre, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton Cost: $50 RSVP: Ms Emily Nugent, 03 8344-1815, commerce-alumni@unimelb.edu.au

Thursday June 9, 6pm – Information Evening – Program Directors provide an overview of all courses available.

Alan Gilbert Building, 161 Barry Street, The University of Melbourne. Enquiries: Ms Amanda Hamilton on 03 8344-1670 or email commerce-postgrad@unimelb.edu.au

Commerce Alumni Society Annual General Meeting July 28 6.00pm- 6.30pm, Woodward Centre, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton RSVP Ms Emily Nugent, 03 8344-1815, commerce-alumni@unimelb.edu.au

Contact details Did you know?

Faculty of Economics and Commerce Level 4, Alan Gilbert Building The University of Melbourne Vic 3010 Tel: 03 8344-1815 Fax: 03 9348-1674 Email: commerce-alumni@unimelb.edu.au Web: http://www.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/ faculty/business/alumni.html Edited by Susan McPharlin, Executive Officer (Development) Alumni News, April 2005 Alumni News is a publication of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce Authorised by the General Manager Disclaimer The information in this publication was correct at the time of printing. The University reserves the right to make changes as appropriate.

12 Faculty of Economics and Commerce

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