In Aeternum, July 2009 Download PDF - Queen's College ...

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In Aeternum - July 2009
Queen’s donors help provide a new pathway
to Arts for Indigenous students
BA Extended students from the 2009 intake with Prof Marcia Langton
and Prof Ian Anderson at the end of the second row. Queen’s
student Gemma Naylon is sixth from the left, second row.
The fi rst students enrolled in the
new Bachelor of Arts Extended
programme.
Gemma Naylon, a new student at
Queen’s was roused from her bed at
the crack of dawn on the fi rst day of
Orientation Week, and, with her fellow
fi rst-years, ran laps around the University.
That night, she won fi rst prize in the
dress-up-as-a-transvestite competition.
This is part of the normal O-Week
celebrations, but what is remarkable
about it is that Gemma is one of the fi rst
students attending the University as
part of the Bachelor of Arts (Extended)
program, which has been introduced
specifi cally for Indigenous students.
This program is the fi rst of its kind in
Australia, and involves an extra year
of foundation studies before students
commence the Bachelor of Arts. It
is mandatory that the students live
on-campus in the colleges, to develop
their own community and to fully
experience life at the University.
The new students come from places as
diverse as Brunswick and Bendigo, and
from further afi eld Broome and Perth.
“It’s a diverse group, with different
qualities,” Michelle Earthy, Project
Offi cer/Coordinator for the Bachelor
Queen’s College The Wyvern Society Newsletter
Arts Extended, Centre for Indigenous
Education, explains. The group of
13 comprises eight women and fi ve
men and includes an ex-army cadet, a
mature-age student from Cape York,
and a former corrections offi cer All were
chosen for their potential, their “likelihood
to succeed”.
“We are about academic excellence –
we don’t apologise for that,” Provost
Peter McPhee said at the launch of the
program on 24 February this year.
These students will be helped to achieve
that excellence, taking bridging subjects
for their fi rst year of learning, with small
classes and specialised teaching to prepare
them for the whirlpool that is fi rst year in
the mainstream Bachelor of Arts cohort.
The Bachelor of Arts (Extended) is about
more than just academic achievement
– these students will take what they
have learned back to their communities
to be future leaders. “And we’re talking
government, parliament,” Michelle says.
The program for the foundation year
will include subjects such as ‘Academic
Literacy’ and ‘Ideas and Society’, which
will expose students to the ideas of
the 21st century – postmodernism and
feminism, and the theories of Foucault
and Derrida.
Students will also study a compulsory pulsory
Arts mainstream unit in both seme semesters
during their fi rst year, to get t a bet better feel
for what the mainstream Bachelor Bach of Arts
is like.
However, the Bachelor of Arts
(Extended) is about more ore than study;
it’s about building good d networks n and
opportunities. These networks, ne it is
hoped, will increase the he University’s
opportunities to recruit it Indigenous
students for the program am in 2010, as well
as helping the students s to grow their
personal networks and to
become the
leaders the University knows kno they can be.
“The students have been n cchosen
based on their potential to succeed.” su
says Michelle. With the education uca
and experiences they will have ve aat
Melbourne, they will leave the Uni University
of Melbourne not only with a Bachelor chelo
of Arts degree, but also with leadership rship
skills, personal networks, and ideas that at
will help them to become tomorrow’s
leaders.
Queen’s is extremely grateful to those
donors who support the Annual Giving
Indigenous Scholarship Fund.