Farewell Lorraine

We are very sad to farewell Lorraine Bennett who has been the inaugural Senior Administration Officer for the Children's Voices Centre. She has been an amazing support as we have established the Centre and The Treehouse. We wish her well and will miss her very much. Thank you Lorraine.

 

Kathy Cologon, Carolyn Gregoric, Tamara Cumming, Lorraine Bennett

Tamara, Sharynne and Lorraine

Thank you Lorraine

Lorraine gave me permission to include her "heartfelt words" in my blog:

Subject: A Fond Farewell from Lorraine

Hello CVC Team,
As I sign off today for the final time as Senior Administration Officer with the Children’s Voices Centre, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you.

It has been an absolute privilege to be part of the CVC journey and to work alongside such passionate, thoughtful, and committed people. Being involved in a centre so deeply focused on research “with, for and about children”  — and ensuring that children’s voices are gen  heard, valued, and respected — has been incredibly meaningful to me.

I am so proud of what has been built: from the vision and values that guide the Centre, to the people who bring it to life every day, and the spaces (especially the Treehouse) that welcome children, families, researchers, and community. Watching CVC grow and flourish during 2025 has been such a wonderful experience.

I look forward  to following  your achievements and successes into the future, and will welcome any invitation to share in your successes and homecoming soup celebrations.

Always grateful for this experience 😊

Lorraine Bennett

Farewell to Dr Graham Daniel

This morning we had a farewell to Dr Graham Daniel. He was my office next-door-neighbour for 20 years. Over this time I was his PhD supervisor, colleague, and research collaborator. We co-supervised honours and PhD students and wrote research together. He was the Associate Head of School. His contributions will be missed but his legacy will continue. Thanks Graham.

Here are some of our joint publications:

• Barr, J., McLeod, S., & Daniel, G. (2008). Siblings of children with speech impairment: Cavalry on the hill. Language, Speech, and Hearing Service in Schools, 39(1), 21–32. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2008/003)
• Daniel, G., & McLeod, S. (2011). ‘I can’t say words much’: Listening to school-aged children’s experiences of speech impairment. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 195–202). J&R Press. http://www.jr-press.co.uk/communication-needs.html
• McLeod, S., Daniel, G., & Barr, J. (2013). “When he's around his brothers … he's not so quiet”: The private and public worlds of school-aged children with speech sound disorder. Journal of Communication Disorders, 46(1), 70–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2012.08.006
•  Daniel, G. R., & McLeod, S. (2017). Children with speech sound disorders at school: Challenges for children, parents and teachers. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 42(2), 81–101. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2017v42n2.6

Thank you Dr Tamara Cumming

Last week I had the chance to formally thank Dr Tamara Cumming for her incredible contribution to early childhood reserach at Charles Sturt University. Here is what I sent to my colleagues at the time she moved from CSU to commence working at Macquarie University: 

Since we are not together to farewell Tamara, I wanted to echo our Head of School's “tribute to Tamara’s many contributions to the life of our School, Faculty and university, and her many achievements”. I agree that “She’s had a stellar run here at CSU.” 

Many of you will know of Tamara’s efforts in keeping us connected through our regular morning teas (her annual goal on her EDRS). I hope that someone is able to take on this important role. However, not everyone will know of Tamara’s significant leadership of early childhood research across the university. 

A number of years ago Tamara initiated the development of the Early Childhood Research Group as a result of her strong personal research in the field and also her significant mentoring and connections throughout the university and world. At the time, the rules were that she was not allowed to lead the group because she was not a professor. I was honoured that she asked me to walk alongside her in this role as well as during resulting exciting opportunities (including the Early Childhood Voices 2020 conference, Sturt Scheme success etc.). Tamara also has competently nurtured many new researchers as HDR coordinator for the School. She has been “professorial” in her many leadership roles over the past 8 years. I certainly will miss her, but know that her legacy will continue. Thank you Tamara and best wishes for your exciting future. We look forward to ongoing collaborations and connections.

Farewell to Lisa McLean

 Lisa McLean is leaving CSU after 16 years. She has been such an important colleague at CSU over so many years. She has been an essential person on my PhD students' journeys (especially the flourish of your big stamp when they submitted their PhDs), a wonderful business manager for RIPPLE, and a superb colleague within the Faculty of Arts and Education. I will miss seeing her around CSU - and wish her all the best in your new and exciting role in Melbourne. Here are some blogposts featuring Lisa: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/search?q=Lisa+McLean

Here is her farewell card from CSU: https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/LNQUzSYC

https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/LNQUzSYC?rid=04d54f26#view

School of Teacher Education Farewell Morning Tea

With the restructuring of the university, the School of Teacher Education has merged with the School of Education, and is now known as the School of Education. Today we had a farewell morning tea for SOTE (virtually due to COVID lockdowns) and to thank special people who were an important part of our school including: 

• Carol Burgess - Head, SOTE 
• Libbey Murray - Associate Head, SOTE
• Graham Daniel - Associate Head, SOTE
• Donna Bateup - Admin, SOTE
• Tamara Cumming - organiser of SOTE morning teas (and MANY other roles)

  

  CSU School of Teacher Education
  

Carol Burgess, SOTE Head of School

Donna Bateup

Dr Graham Daniel

Dr Libbey Murray

Dr Tamara Cumming