First Combined Supper for 2010

The New College Village places a high priority on community activities, pastoral care and academic support. One of our many activities is a regular combined supper every Monday night at 9.00pm. These are hosted by the Senior Residents on each floor. Every month we have a combined supper in the Main Common Room or the Central Courtyard.

Last we held our first combined supper for 2010. This was a great chance for the residents to meet the new live-in Dean and his wife. Dr John Quinn and Dr Premilla Quinn moved into the building on the 1st January 2010. Carmen and Trevor moved out of the building just before Christmas. Trevor has gone back to being the Master (CEO) of New College and the NCV. Trevor will still be involved at the NCV (and helped to cook the pancakes last night). Carmen will also attend as many events as she can.

Above: John & Premilla at supper last night at the NCV

Dr Quinn comes with an interesting background. He is a graduate of UNSW and lived in New College for 8 years (1995-2002), including periods as a Senior Resident, Assistant Dean and Acting Dean. He completed his PhD in 2002 through the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design at UNSW. After he left UNSW he was appointed as a Research Fellow at Melbourne University in the Dept of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (2003-2007). From 2007 to the present he has been working as Technical Assistant & Trade Marks Attorney at Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys. John is married to Premilla who is an anaesthetist by profession and is also expecting their first child in the next few months.

Above: NCV Residents enjoying the pancakes

First Combined Supper for 2010

Why I'm going to Live at the NCV in 2009

Above: My wife Carmen (left) with me and the Governor of our State (NSW) Dame Marie Bashir, at a New College dinner

This is a brief post to introduce myself as Master and the Dean of the NCV in 2009. I am Master of New College and will responsible for both the old 'New College' and the new NCV. But in 2009 I intend to act as Dean of the NCV as well. My wife Carmen and I will be moving into the Dean's Apartment within the building in late January. We're excited about being part of this new community.
Below: Carmen reading to our grandaughter Elsie
Carmen and I have been maried for 37 years in January. We have two daughters (both married) and 5 grandchildren. There's a good chance you'll see my grandchildren at some stage around the NCV. They are aged 2 months to 6 years, and needless to say, I think they're wonderful. Carmen was trained as a teacher and spent almost 30 years teaching infants and primary-aged children. In more recent years she spent 5 years in a pastoral care role within our church; a role in which she gave care and support to people with varied needs and of varied ages. She 'retired' from full-time paid work about 7 years ago and now spends a lot of time in voluntary work, doing things in our church and caring for our daughters, grandchildren and me!

I started life as a teacher too and became fascinated by the way children learn, especially the way they learn language. I then moved to University education where I spent over 20 years as a professor and senior University manager before moving to New College in 2002. My last role before coming to New College was as Pro Vice-chancellor (Research) at another university where I was responsible for the university's research and postgraduate studies. At UNSW I have an adjunct appointment as Professor within the faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and am still active as a researcher and a scholar (in my spare time!) and supervise doctoral students at UNSW (you can check out my work at my personal website here).

Carmen and I are both keen to live in the NCV because we both want to be involved in forming what will be a wonderful community (see my earlier post on this here). I will do a post soon on some of the activities we have planned for in 2009. We look forward to meeting all of our residents in January to March. If you haven't applied yet, could I encourage you to do so as son as possible (online applications here).

Above: With Samuel (one of my grandsons who is aged 3 years) at a local wildlife park getting up close to a Koala

Why I'm going to Live at the NCV in 2009