Four CQUniversity Mackay academic staff members will graduate this Friday, April 27 during their campus graduation ceremony at the Mackay Entertainment Centre.  

Senior lecturer at the CQ Conservatorium of Music Judith Brown will graduate with a Doctor of Education.
Kim Kirkman will be awarded a Masters of Learning Management this Friday during the Mackay Graduation ceremony. Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music (CQCM) senior lecturer Judith Brown will graduate with a Doctor of Education. The title of her thesis was ‘Flow in the Collaborative Music Performance: An autoethnographic study of the phenomenon of flow for piano accompanist'.

Judith explained how the thesis, which took eight years of part-time study to complete, examined the phenomenon of flow in collaborative music performance as a piano accompanist.

"Flow is a state of optimal experience that occurs when one is engaged in a challenging activity requiring highly focused attention and this study considered the factors that contribute to flow for a piano accompanist."

Judith said the challenge was finding quality time to devote to the research, reading and thesis preparation. She looks forward to continuing her work with post-graduate students in the field of creative and performing arts to assist them in their research.

Fellow CQCM lecturer Kim Kirkman will be awarded with a Master of Learning Management for his work this year.

Nursing lecturer Sandra McLellan undertook a Masters of Clinical Practice (Nursing) to improve her qualifications.
Adjunct Researcher Arthur Pinkney will receive a Doctor of Philosophy at Friday's graduation in Mackay. Nursing lecturer Sandra McLellan graduated with distinction for her Masters of Clinical Practice (Nursing). Sandra began her studies two years ago when she was in a teaching role at QHealth, where she wanted to be kept up to date on current research and practice.

"Working full-time and studying was stressful, especially around the times that assessment pieces were due, with many late nights, early mornings and not much of a social life."

"However I felt the time was right for me to improve my own qualifications."

Adjunct Researcher Arthur Pinkney will graduate with a Doctor of Philosophy for his work on cane railway scheduling.

His project took eight years formally to complete, where he conducted research in his spare time while also taking on heavy teaching workloads.

"I'm working towards grants to convert my project into a system that will be used throughout the sugar industry."