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

Children's Voices Centre jobs

 I have been having a wonderful time working with Holly Weal and Rebecca Dwyer from Division of People and Culture to prepare the following jobs for our new Children's Voices Centre

• Associate Director Children, Families and Communities: Children’s Voices Centre
• Associate Director Workforce and Policy: Children’s Voices Centre
• Research Manager: Children’s Voices Centre
• Senior Executive Support Officer: Children’s Voices Centre

Thank you Dr. Helen L. Blake

 What would I do without Helen Blake working with me. She is magnificent. Here are a few of the thinks she has accomplished this year. Wow!

1.    Conduct ethical, high-quality research through scholarship, publication and presentation:

• Co-author of Persian chapter and Australian English chapter of The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World
• Co-editor of Multilingual Matters book, initial communication with authors
• Co-author of journal articles/book chapters
• Co-author of Vietnamese English chapter in Linguistic Varieties in North America: A Primer for Speech and Language Practitioners
• Co-editor of Early Childhood Voices Conference Proceedings (ECV2024)

2.    Work closely with the Professorial Fellow to organise and take part in research initiatives, events, mentorship:

• Assisted with The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World as required – chapters (Slovenian, Hungarian), co-editing, QA of author submitted PowerPoints and video and audio recordings, and associated presentations
• Assisted with update of Multilingual Children’s Speech website https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/home
• Managing requests to translate the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) and Speech Participation and Activity Assessment of Children (SPAA-C) into other languages

3.    Identify and create opportunities for collaborative research projects:

• Participate in Rural Health Research Institute: Project 8

4.    Establish and maintain strategic relationships and networks:

• Preparation/presentation of conference presentations: ECV24, ASHA, IALP symposium, ICPLA, ISB15, ISMBS
• Member of scientific review committee for ECV24 and ICPLA25

5.    Provide leadership and manage small research teams:

• ECV2024 Multilingual Speech and Publications committee co-chairs, attend meetings
• PhD co-supervision – Sara Kablaoui