Melbourne College Research Articles

A Transcultural Teacher’s Creative Ecologies: Poetry-ing the Entanglements of Institutional Privilege and Love’s Care in a Melbourne College

This article is a transcultural teacher’s critical autoethnography of entangled privilege and care in a university residential college. Using prose poetry as poetic inquiry, I write the entanglements of institutional privilege and love’s care in a college. I write my pedagogical subjectivity evocatively, where I am interdependent with my creative ecologies of humans and environment. In this article, I first discuss transculturality, creative ecologies, and pedagogical lived experience that inform a poetic inquiry method. I then offer a series of critical autoethnographic prose poems as inquiry into transcultural pedagogy in the college, evoking interconnected privilege and care in the college.

Kenneth Arthur Myers (1935-2021)

Kenneth Myers was born in Melbourne, Australia on February 14, 1935. His father was a printer and his mother a music teacher. He was awarded a scholarship to Scotch College in Melbourne, finishing at the age of 16 as best in mathematics.

The process of establishing Discovery College in Melbourne

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand and inform the development and implementation of a newly established Discovery College (a youth-focused Recovery College). It also aims to contribute to a broader understanding of the benefits and barriers to establishing Recovery Colleges.Design/methodology/approachThe overall study took a mixed-methods approach to the evaluation of Discovery College, including a qualitative process evaluation component as well as a mixed-methods outcomes evaluation. This paper reports on the findings of the process evaluation, which undertook key informant interviews with a range of stakeholders in the implementation process.FindingsA total of 16 themes emerged from the qualitative data, which were then clustered into four main areas: establishing Discovery College, organisational context, nature of Discovery College and service transformation. Implementation was reported as both feasible and effective. Initial tension between fidelity to the model and a pragmatic approach to action was negotiated during implementation and through an ability of staff to tolerate uncertainty, enabled by the efforts and support of senior service management and college staff.Originality/valueRecovery Colleges co-designed and implemented in youth mental health services are a recent development in the field of mental health care and very little has previously been published regarding the feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability of youth-focused Recovery Colleges. This paper is one of the first to assess the barriers and enablers to the implementation of Discovery College within a clinical youth mental health service.

Out of the Ordinary: Twelve Australian Methodist Biographies

Out of the Ordinary is an eminently useful and timely publication, providing brief overviews of the ministry of twelve lesser-known Methodist leaders in Australia in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Its availability in 2015 coincided with the bicentenary of the arrival of the first Methodist missionary in Australia (and the entire South Pacific) and it supplements two other significant publications of the same year: O'Brien and Carey's Methodism in Australia and Emilsen's An Informed Faith: The Uniting Church at the Beginning of the 21st Century.The twelve biographies in Out of the Ordinary include Methodist missionaries and missiologists, denominational leaders, university faculty, women of influence, indigenous leaders, preachers, and philanthropists. These studies flesh out the personalities and the details behind much of the macroscopic history provided in Methodism in Australia and, as such, it is essential reading for those who seek to understand Methodism's history over the past century.As part of my research I have been seeking to follow the evangelical-liberal debate that devastated the Australian Church in the last century. I found little reference to this topic in Methodism in Australia, while in contrast, I found the topic touched upon in many chapters in Out of the Ordinary. The biography of the conservative Arthur Jackson contrasted against the spectrum of liberal and semi-liberal theologians, Colin Williams and George Calvert Barber, was particularly helpful. The insights into indigenous missions in the Northern Territory, as provided in the biographies of Theodor Webb, Harold Shepherdson, and Lazarus Lamilami, similarly highlighted a topic about which too little has been provided in other publications.The development of an ecumenical agenda within Methodism and the process leading up to Church Union in 1977 is a helpful addition to Emilson's history of the Uniting Church. The emphasis on women's ministry in Australia (Mary O'Reilly and Alice Mofflin) and in the South Pacific (Dorothy Delbridge) revealed tensions and opportunities that are otherwise lost in the historical narrative. The influence of faithful financial supporters and the dominating presence of Queen's College in Melbourne are evident throughout this book.Apart from the biographical detail, Out of the Ordinary provides a sample of the work of current church historians, which is useful for a relative newcomer. The greatest strength of this book, however, is that it addresses a glaring need for detailed history of Methodism in Australia during its declining decades in the last century. I thoroughly recommend this book for those who have some of the general history of Methodism but seek more detail, or for those who simply enjoy reading the biographies of effective leaders who might otherwise remain lost in history.

The creation of Australia’s first ‘University of Specialisation’

In the Australian context, the Melbourne College of Divinity (MCD) – since 2012 the University of Divinity – is a unique and successful ecumenical endeavour. 1 With over 100 years as a leading provider of theological education and of service to its member churches, the MCD has also made history in progressing to become Australia’s first specialized university. This article traces the MCD’s historic transition to specialized university status.

The Foundation of the Melbourne College of Divinity

This article provides the first substantial account of the foundation of the Melbourne College of Divinity in 1910. It reveals the ecclesiastical, academic, and civic perceptions of theology in Australia in the first decade of the twentieth century. The article sets the establishment of the College against the background of the modernisation of higher education, especially secularism and the exclusion of the teaching of divinity at the University of Melbourne. It demonstrates the roles played by several churches in the formation of the College, and traces its origin to early Protestant interdenominational cooperation. Although the College's architects failed in their aim of having divinity accepted within the University of Melbourne, and thereby ensuring theology was in constant dialogue with the wider academy, they succeeded in establishing high academic standards in theological education and facilitating ministerial formation in an Australian context.

From Concept to Ceremony: Insights into the Design and Making Processes for Officers’ Robes of the University of Divinity, Melbourne

The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university awarding degrees exclusively in divinity and has ten constituent colleges from eight denominations. With the chancery and administration located in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne in the state of Victoria, the University of Divinity is the direct successor of the second oldest degree-granting authority in the State of Victoria, the Melbourne College of Divinity. [Excerpt].

Enhancing academic skills for first-year overseas business students

Purpose – This study reports on the academic support programs targeting first-year business students at La Trobe Melbourne. The at-risk students were offered both a general academic support class and a content-based program. This study was conducted to explore students' perception of the usefulness of these programs. The paper also aims to create a better intervention to attract more at-risk students by exploring the reasons behind the low rate of at-risk students making use of these services. Design/methodology/approach – The specific research uses a mixed method approach to explore a way to best address the academic needs of the first-year international business students, especially those identified as at-risk students in a college in Melbourne where both a general academic program and a discipline-based program were on offer. Findings – The findings indicate that although the content-based program was highly evaluated by students and also attracted more students than the general support module, many at-risk students did not use this service. The low level of English proficiency, the heavy workload, the passive and dependent learning style, the unclear information about the service and the desire to follow only teachers' guidance all prevented at-risk students from making use of the available services. These students need further help and guidance in this transitional period to recognise the assistance provided for them and to make use of these services to enhance their learning. Originality/value – Recently, various support activities have been designed to assist international students in enhancing their language and academic skills necessary for pursuing their study in Australia. These activities range from credit-based English for Academic Purposes courses, to optional general language and study programs, and more recently, discipline or content-based programs. There is also a tendency in several universities to move from offering general language and study programs to embedding disciplinary programs. Adopting disciplinary-based academic support activities seem to be the right direction in many universities as these activities are more likely to help increase the overall pass-rate and improve student learning outcomes. However, problems seem to remain when many at-risk international students do not seem to go for these services. This study has led some light on how to improve the future language and academic skills to support activities for first-year overseas business students.

‘I guess it scares us’ – Teachers discuss the teaching of poetry in Senior Secondary English

This article reports on a participant‐centred research project with English teachers in a senior secondary college in Melbourne, Australia. It builds on previous research (Weaven and Clark 2009, 2011), which showed a low take‐up of the opportunities to teach poetry in Victoria's senior secondary English curriculum. This study explores the reasons why teachers of English are unwilling to use poetry texts in their senior classes.The teachers who participated in this study discussed and documented their attitudes towards the teaching of poetry and explored with each other the pedagogical challenges associated with teaching poetry. Their discussions – an analysis of which forms the empirical core of this article – reveal a range of explanations for teachers' reservations about offering poetry to their students. Importantly, these teachers were able to use professional discussion as a means to consider what changes in teaching practice could be successfully developed to facilitate more time spent on the teaching of poetry in senior secondary classes.

The Word in the World: Then and Now

The celebration of the Centenary of the Melbourne College of Divinity generated an occasion for reflection on one of the reasons for the existence of Christianity: the restless and never-ending proclamation of, and response to, the Word in the world. In the “then” of the not-too-distant past the major Christian traditions of Catholicism and Protestantism faced this challenge with a renewed enthusiasm. The Catholic Tradition entered a new era with the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), and the Protestant Tradition was urged to rediscover Luther's overwhelming concern for the Word in the World, especially in and through the lives and work of Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann. Where are we “now”? This study suggests that both of these movements from the Twentieth Century have “run out of steam”. Reflection upon our new context, if the first decades of the Third Christian Millennium, requires new strategies and ever-deeper convictions to render the Word relevant in the contemporary world

The Guard Plume

The Guard Plume Marlene Marburg (bio) At Sherbrook forest, I found a feather. It wasprayer and plume, like frondless bracken.A male lyrebird feather, spellbinding as an icon. In dreams and lore,it is enhanced communication, and wasconsolation to my friend with whom we prayed for voice and life to burstloud and green from hurt and shame.And parrots and kookaburras joined us to open the thwarted throat, song strongand scaling to a sacred whisper.The guard plume had been trampled before time but she held the curve and curl, seeingthe whole and graceful bird dancingunguarded on the mound. [End Page 310] Marlene Marburg Marlene Marburg is currently engaged in doctoral research at the Institute of Christian Spirituality and Pastoral Formation (Melbourne College of Divinity) on the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. She is a poet, spiritual director and formator at Campion Centre of Ignatian Spirituality. marlene@marburgfc.com.au Copyright © 2010 The Johns Hopkins University Press

The Melbourne College of Divinity: A Selective Historical Overview

The Melbourne College of Divinity: A Selective Historical Overview

“Consider, Take Counsel, and Speak Out” (Judges 19:30): Contemplative, Dialogical and Prophetic Dimensions of Christian Ministry

This article proposes that the Objects of the College listed in the Act of Parliament are as pertinent for church and society today as they were in 1910 when the Melbourne College of Divinity was established. Economic, ecological, and fiducial failures of previously respected institutions confront contemporary humanity with a new urgency in responding to the reconstruction of relationships. The disintegrating situation of the Israelites in Judges 19 is analogous to that presently facing the human community. The mandate in following the appalling story of the dismembering of the concubine, to “consider, take counsel and speak out” offers an approach to Christian ministry that is contemplative in its foundations, dialogical in its processes and prophetic in its consequences.

Historical Perspectives

Bill Kitchen (Fig. 1) was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1926; went to school at Scotch College in Melbourne from 1938 to 1942; and received his medical education at the University of Melbourne, graduating in 1949 with First Class Honors in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He subsequently trained in pediatrics at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, obtaining both his MD and MRACP in 1954. After various positions, including a stint in private pediatric practice, Bill was appointed to the position of First Assistant in Neonatal Pediatrics at the Royal Women's Hospital and the University of Melbourne in 1965, replacing Kate Campbell, who had been the first ever pediatrician appointed to the Royal Women's Hospital. Prior to Kate Campbell's appointment in the 1940s, all pediatric care in the Royal Women's Hospital, from its founding in 1856, had been the responsibility of the obstetric staff. Figure 1. Dr Bill Kitchen in 2005. In late 1965, “neonatal intensive care” was introduced to the Royal Women's Hospital. Bill was concerned that any new treatments or changes in neonatal care needed to be evaluated thoroughly, including consideration of the health of any survivors long after they were discharged from the hospital. Consequently, he initiated a trial of “neonatal intensive care” in infants whose birthweights were 1,000 to 1,500 g (infants whose birthweights were <1,000 g were considered “previable” at that time; although a few did manage to survive, they were not included in the trial). (1)(2) Eligible infants admitted to the nursery were allocated to either intensive care or routine care. The first baby's treatment was decided by the toss of a coin, and subsequent babies were allocated alternately to either routine care or intensive care. Babies who had major malformations or hydrops fetalis, who required surgery, or who were not breathing regularly were excluded. …

Academic stress, self-efficacy, social support, and health behaviours in female Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) students

AbstractThis study examined academic stress in female Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) students in terms of somatic symptoms and mood disturbance before, during, and after the midyear examination period and also examined the role of self-efficacy, number of social supports, social support satisfaction, and health behaviours in mediating the effects of stress on symptoms and mood disturbance. It was hypothesised that (a) student would report increased somatic symptoms and mood disturbance during the examination period and that (b) self-efficacy, social support (number and satisfaction), and health behaviours would account for a significant proportion of variance for somatic symptoms and mood disturbance before, during, and after the exam period. The participants were 51 VCE students from a large Catholic girls’secondary college in Melbourne. Four weeks before the exam period, the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, Reported Health Behaviours Checklist, Short Form Social Support Questionnaire, Symptoms Checklist, and Profile of Mood States were administered.The Symptoms Checklist and Profile of Mood States were administered again during the exam week and four weeks after the exam period. Statistical analyses showed that the VCE examination period was associated with significantly increased self-reports of somatic symptoms and mood disturbances that were strongly indicative of high levels of stress. Self-efficacy was found to have a weak role in mediating the stress response during the exam week. Social support did not account for any of the variation in academic stress. Health behaviours accounted for a small but significant proportion of the variance in stress after the exam period. It was concluded that there is a need to study other factors that may attenuate the academic stress response in adolescent secondary school students. The perceptual and cognitive appraisal of academic stressors is suggested as an area that may be worthy of examination.The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the impact that academic stress may have on adolescents’ health during this critical period of development.

Melbourne College of Divinity: Research Reports 1998–1999

Melbourne College of Divinity: Research Reports 1998–1999

Melbourne College of Divinity: Research Reports 1997–1998

Melbourne College of Divinity: Research Reports 1997–1998

A conversation with Geoff Watson

Geoffrey Stuart Watson, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, celebrated his 75th birthday on December 3, 1996. A native Australian, his early education included Bendigo High School and Scotch College in Melbourne. After graduating with a B.A. (Hons.) from Melbourne University in December 1942, he spent the next few years, during and after World War II, doing research and teaching on applied mathematical topics. His wandering as a scholar began in 1947, when he became a graduate student in the Institute of Statistics in Raleigh, North Carolina. Leaving Raleigh after two years, he wrote his thesis while visiting the Department of Applied Economics in Cambridge University. Raleigh awarded him the Ph.D. degree in 1951. That same year, he returned to Australia, to a Senior Lectureship in Statistics at Melbourne University. He moved in 1954 to a Senior Fellowship at the Australian National University. Three years later, he left for England and North America. In 1959, he became Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Toronto. In 1962, he became Professor of Statistics at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Soon thereafter he was appointed department chairman. In 1970, he moved to Princeton University as Professor and Chairman of Statistics. He became Professor Emeritus at Princeton in 1992. He has published numerous research papers on a broad range of topics in statistics and applied probability. His best known contributions are the Durbin-Watson test for serial correlation, the Nadaraya-Watson estimator in nonparametric regression and fundamental methods for analyzing directional or axial data. He is the author of an important monograph, Statistics on Spheres. His professional honors include Membership in the International Statistical Institute and Fellowships of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In private life, he is an accomplished painter of watercolors, a few of which may be seen on his website (http://www.princeton.edu/gsw/) at Princeton University. He married Shirley Elwyn Jennings in 1952. Their four children, one son and three daughters, pursue careers in Japanese literature, health care in Uganda, singing opera, and administering opera and ballet.

An Expanding Theology: A Colloquium

In 1993 a group of theologians teaching within the Melbourne College of Divinity began to meet on an informal, ecumenical basis for the purpose of sharing their common interests in new areas of theological research and reflection. On one occasion the group met to discuss Tony Kelly's recent book An Expanding Theology. Two members of the group - Frank Rees and Margaret Jenkins — read papers and Tony Kelly offered a response to them. What follows here is a modified version of the conversation.

William Daniel SJ

On 23 October 1994, one of Australia's leading moral theologians died after a long struggle with cancer. Bill Daniel's death is a loss not only to Jesuit Theological College and the Melbourne College of Divinity, but also to the theological community in Australia and beyond. Pacifica publishes here an edited version of the minute of appreciation passed by the Catholic Moral Theology Association of Australia and New Zealand at their Annual General Meeting only weeks before his death.