QUT News: Poet, mathematician and educator win Fulbrights

QUT News (22 March 2009) carried the following news story. The 3 Fulbright scholars across such varied disciplines reflect the divsersity of programs offered at QUT.


Poet, mathematician and educator win Fulbrights
QUT has accounted for half of the six Fulbright scholarships awarded to Queenslanders this year.
A total of 25 Australian scholars were named at the Fulbright's 60th anniversary presentation dinner in Melbourne on March 18.
•Sarah Holland-Batt, a poet, critic and QUT lecturer in creative writing and literary studies, will use her two-year scholarship to study for a Master of Fine Arts in poetry at New York University ...
•QUT PhD mathematics student Craig Costello will spend 12 months at the University of California undertaking research into maths-based security techniques for computers and other telecommunication devices ...
•Dr Hilary Hughes, a lecturer with QUT's Faculty of Education, will spend four months as a scholar-in-residence at the University of Colorado, Denver, developing an inclusive approach to online learning for students from varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds ...

Dr Hughes, of Upper Kedron on Brisbane's northside, said her Fulbright scholarship had sprung from her PhD research into how international students at QUT and another Queensland university use online information to learn. She had concluded that rather than the university catering for different cultural groups separately, an inclusive approach would benefit all students, domestic and international.
She said international students often felt disoriented on arriving at a new university but many domestic students felt exactly the same way. "We need to recognise all their different needs and provide enough varied responses so that people's needs will be met, and in a way that people won't be embarrassed to go and ask for help," Dr Hughes said. She said her research at QUT, which boasts 210 nationalities, had found, for example, that some overseas students were reluctant to borrow library books because they thought the sign "loans" meant they had to go into debt to do so. She said Denver also had a lot of international students, as well as a large Latino population and many disadvantaged students. "In Denver I will be working with academics and librarians to develop innovative curriculum, teaching methods and learning resources," Dr Hughes said. Dr Hughes, who has previous experience as an accredited Spanish-English translator, will also teach in the university's ethnic studies program.


For longer Fulbright scholar profiles go to: www.fulbright.com.au
Media contact: QUT media officer Elizabeth Allen on 07 3138 4494 or e1.allen@qut.edu.au
Content sourced from QUT News Web Service.