Griffith’s focus on graduate employability is again to the fore with the launch of Australia’s first university-operated recruitment service.
Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Ian O’Connor, formally opened Unitemps Griffith on Monday and Tuesday at the Nathan and Gold Coast campuses respectively.
More than 250 students and recent graduates have filled a broad range of vacancies through Unitemps Griffith since the initiative went live last July.
Businesses from sectors including digital technology, finance, education, health, tourism and transport have used Unitemps to source students from all university study areas for temporary roles.
“A common challenge for businesses is not knowing how to connect with students who would be valuable assets to their organisation,” Jenny O’Neill, branch manager of Unitemps Griffith, said.
“Employers associate students with being up to the minute in terms of social media, technology, marketing and entrepreneurship. In looking to university students, they’re also chasing fresh ideas combined with initiative, personal spark plus a
Category: Griffith University Feed
Compassion the key for teaching student
Compassion is the driving force behind Griffith University first-year education student Anja van Aswegen’s desire to teach.
The former Coomera Anglican College school captain, who graduated in 2016 with an OP3, says she tossed up a few different career options and decided on teaching because she wants to instil compassion in others.
Quoting British philosopher Betrand Russell, she says knowledge without love is not enough, you need to have a life inspired by love but guided by knowledge.
Impressed by Griffith’s new education degree with its foundation first year enabling students to decide at the end of that year whether they will go into primary or secondary, Anja who is based the Gold Coast campus, says she is definitely leaning towards primary teaching.
“I’m interested in teaching early childhood as it’s easier to influence young minds and teach them about the importance of compassion,’’ she said.
The Griffith Honours College student also won a Sir Samuel Griffith Scholarship to help with
Kathleen Baird: A champion against domestic and family violence
Increased reporting. Heightened campaigns. A commitment by the state government to combat the problem, domestic violence specialist courts, domestic violence death and homicide review board, and integrated response strategies from the key agencies involved.
These are just some of the ways that Queensland is leading the country in the fight against domestic violence. And with International Women’s Day this week, there is one woman proactively leading the changes. Dr Kathleen Baird.
A midwife by profession, Dr Baird from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland is passionate about improving identification of the issue and developing strategies to better support women experiencing domestic family violence (DFV) and raising awareness of the seriousness of the crime.
Dr Baird, also the Director of Education for Midwifery and Nursing, Women’s and Newborn Services, at the Gold Coast University Hospital, was appointed in 2015 by the Attorney-General and the Premier, to the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Implementation Council (QLD
New study puts price on ice use for mental health sector
The cost of Australia’s ice epidemic to the country’s mental health sector is ‘conservatively’ estimated at $193 million a year, a new Griffith Business School study has found.
Thomas Massey, who graduated with an honours degree in economics, also established a profile for people most at risk of taking up ice.
He analysed the demographic variables of people who use methamphetamine, using statistics from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (AIHW).
“The most at-risk audience is aged 25-35 years old, single, living either alone or with flatmates, relatively uneducated and residing in major cities or rural areas,” he said.
“Those living in outer suburbs are less likely than those living in the city to take up methamphetamine. Furthermore, people living in outer regional and remote parts of Australia are significantly more likely to take up the drug.”
Who uses methamphetamine?
The economic study, which compared demographic data from 2013 with data from 2004, also found females
Nobel Laureate to present Griffith Lecture
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Professor Muhammad Yunus will present the 2017 Griffith Lecture at the Queensland Conservatorium on Tuesday, April 11.
In his address, Professor Yunus will outline his famous Three Zeros theory which aims to inspire us to create a sustainable future and achieve the vision of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The theory encapsulates the goal of zero poverty, zero unemployment and zero net carbon emissions.
“What will be the use of population if there is not enough food and the earth is polluted,” the Nobel Laureate has famously said.
Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus will present the Griffith Lecture
One of only seven individuals to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom and the US Congressional Gold Medal, Professor Yunus will examine the crucial nexus between business thinking in a rapidly growing technological age and positive social outcomes.
New models must be found
The anti-poverty crusader, who in 1983 opened
Elizabeth is breaking barriers in Lebanon
It should come as no surprise that Elizabeth Kassab Sfeir, pictured, is forging such an impressive career in tertiary education.
That the Griffith University alumnus is doing so while negotiating the challenges of living in a patriarchal society in the Middle East, makes her efforts all the more admirable.
As Associate Dean and Head of Department (Management) in the Faculty of Business Administration at Université Antonine in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, an important part of Elizabeth’s teaching is defined by her own example.
“I’ve always wanted to make a difference wherever my career might lead, although it’s certainly more demanding in a society so steeped in the patriarchal tradition,” says Elizabeth, adding that her connection to Griffith University has been an asset in breaking through institutional and societal barriers.
A former President and Vice-President of the Student Guild on the Gold Coast, Elizabeth graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) in 1996.
In acknowledgment
Five minutes with…Keith Townsend
An undergraduate degree focusing on industrial relations (IR), public policy and politics, coupled with previous management and [IR] practitioner experience combined to reveal for Associate Professor Keith Townsend, just how complicated working life can be. Spending his life talking to others about their workplace complications has set him on a path; and the destination is still yet unknown! We spent five minutes with Keith to learn a little more about his journey…
In what area/s does your research interests lie?
My PhD was really about teams… – commonly…a HR [human resources] topic, but I embedded my research within an industrial sociology literature while working within an [academic] industrial relations department. So right from the start of my research career I had a bit of a scatter gun, but multi-disciplinary, approach to do research on things I thought were interesting. (Probably not the best advice to give to an early career researcher but
Global exchange nets student the job of a lifetime… and a fiancee
Griffith University alumnus Hugh Hurst is proof that a global exchange can change your life.
His initial exchange to the United States was only supposed to last six months. Then it turned into a year. And then, thanks to Hugh’s proactiveness and hard work, it turned into an internship with State Farm, one of the US’s most prolific financial institutions.
But that’s not where it ended. After months of hard work, and tenacity, and more than a few meetings with different supervisors, Hugh was able to turn his internship into a full-time job offer.
“About two months into my internship I was really enjoying what I was doing in the company I was working for, and I set up a meeting with my direct supervisor and I said, ‘Look, I want to work for State Farm and I want to work for the bank because I really enjoy what I am
Self harm on the increase in young people
Self harm among young Australians is on the increase, and more needs to be done to understand and address the problem.
This is the call from Garry King, a researcher from Griffith’s Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention.
He says that although the statistics on self harm (also known as non-suicidal self injury) provide differing figures, there is a strong perception of a significant increase over the past two decades, with most of the research indicating a figure of 10%-20% of young people self-injuring at some stage.
Speaking at Griffith University’s Mount Gravatt campus last week, Mr King referred to current prevalence rates of 17% among females aged 15-18 and 12% among males of the same age.
“One of the difficulties of obtaining figures for this issue is that young people can often be quite secretive about what they’re doing, with up to a third potentially not telling anybody,” says Mr King. “Figures for
Is it time to tidy up your social media?
By Dr Kylie Burns, Griffith Law School
All over Australia law students are returning to class. For some, it is their first time at law school.
But if a potential employer searched their name or image on the internet today what would they see? Have they got privacy settings on their social media accounts? Have they ever posted comments or photos on social media they would not feel comfortable having a potential employer, a law firm or a Judge see? Do they realise their ‘private’ social media profile is also their ‘professional’ social media profile?
Employers will track down your social media history
The vast majority of law students and many legal professionals are now extensive users of social media. Many students (and lawyers) believe that their social media activity is ‘personal’ and ‘private’ and does not concern or reflect on them as legal professionals. However, this is a very misguided belief.
Employers now frequently