Welcome back to UoN, it is going to be an exciting year with
new people, new courses and new events.
I know for many of you that it has been a challenging
summer, typical of our Australian summer, we have lurched from fire to ice, from
drought to flood (but apparently there is nothing wrong with our climate! ☹).
I know that many of our staff and students have been badly impacted by the
fires over summer, but even for those of us not directly affected, the
hour-by-hour media reports of lost homes, devastated environments, and burnt
animals can be gut-wrenching. It is important to find peace and optimism where
we can. However If anyone is finding it
difficult to settle into the year after such a tumultuous summer, please reach
out.
Through this year we will be welcoming some new staff into
our school, bringing in some new and interesting areas of expertise. Dr Myles
Young is coming to us in April from the UoN’s Priority Research Centre for
Physical Activity and Nutrition. His interests are in physical and mental
health, particularly weight loss programs for men, who are vastly
underrepresented in weight loss programs, despite the long term health problems
associated with being overweight.
Also starting in April is Dr Sharon Savage
who is a clinical neuropsychologist. Originally from Australia, she is
currently in Exeter, and her research focuses around ageing and dementia.
In
addition to Myles and Sharon, we will have an Indigenous scholar starting with
us in a few months – we have yet to appoint someone into this position, but I
am very proud of our school in acquiring this position to help us navigate
Indigenisation of teaching and conducting community-led research.
These changes reflect the enormous success that we have had
in increasing our student numbers, both in our individual courses, as well as
our programs. We have our inaugural BPsycSci(Adv) program starting this year
with 26 students, and we have new offerings with new modules in PSYC2800 and
3800 as well as a new 1st year elective PSYC1800 Sex, Drugs and
Serial Killers. Like PSYC2800 and 3800, this will be a fully online course in
which we take an informative and
revealing look at issues such as sexuality, gender identity, the evolution of
attraction, addiction, recovery, and the dark triad (tetrad?).
At some point this year we also plan a Staff vs. Students
charity event! There is still some discussion around what this should look like
– some of us are opting for a sport event of some sort, while others of us feel
that something like a trivia night might give us staff a better edge on the
students J
Any thoughts or suggests are very welcome.
So, as I said, many new things happening and I am looking
forward to sharing them with you. It is also the Chinese year of the rat, traditionally
a year of wealth, surplus and fertility. Make of that what you will J
Take care and have a wonderful 2020.
Kind regards
Kristen
