April 16, 2014

Accommodation team honoured at Australasian conference

Accommodation Services staff at UOW have been recognised for their significant contributions at a recent Australasian industry conference.

The accommodation team was attending the Australasian Association of College and University Housing Officers (AACUHO) held in Melbourne.

AACUHO is the premier professional organisation for all who work in post secondary education accommodation in any capacity in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.

The Assistant Minister for Education, Sussan Ley, opened the conference and in her opening address she recognised and acknowledged the innovative work being done at UOW’s Kooloobong Village and its implementation of positive psychology as being a world first.

The Deputy Student Residence Manager at Kooloobong Village, Fiore Costa, received the Fran O’Brien Award for an AACUHO member who has worked in student housing or associated areas for a period of less than four years consecutively at the time of nomination.

The recipient “should have contributed a significant and quantifiable achievement and/or success in, or the introduction of, an innovative or outstanding work practice or outstanding service to students/staff in their residence/college with definable benefits”.

Fiore was recognised for his work having a significant impact across multiple areas of the division.

The Marketing and Occupancy Manager, Edwina Ellicott, also accepted a second term as AACUHO President.

Edwina will represent AACUHO at the ACUHO-I International Symposium and ACUHO-I conference in Washington DC in June this year.

Edwina and the Student Residence Manager at Marketview, Mary Sparks, were also successful in having their paper, ‘From Hotel to Student Residence and Back Again’ selected to be presented at the ACUHO-I Conference in June. The selection process is highly competitive.

The ACUHO-I (Association of College & University Housing Officers - International) Conference is an annual conference held in the USA and is attended by more than1,000 delegates from around the world. AACUHO and ACUHO-I have a collaborative agreement.

The Student Residence Manager at Kooloobong Village, Alison Hemsley, the IT Manager, Alex Seng, and the Deputy Head of Campus East, Rob Fembock, all delivered papers at the ACCUHO Conference.

The core purpose of AACUHO is to support and facilitate quality standards of service delivery in student housing, facilitate sustainability of student housing as an industry and advocate for the economic and pedagogical benefits as a result of standards in student housing services.