Springfield welcomes visiting academic

Jim Braden

USQ recently welcomed visiting academic Jim Braden to its Springfield campus.

Mr Braden is the second academic to teach at the University as part of the partnership created between USQ and the Seattle-based City University (CityU).

Based at USQ Springfield until mid June, Mr Braden will be teaching within the Faculty of Business’ Bachelor of Accounting and Sustainable Business (BASB) program for undergraduate students.

Mr Braden will teach two courses during his stay – Ethics and Leadership and Critical Thinking and said students should suspend their judgement when they enter his classroom.

'As an educator, I am not always politically correct and ask students to keep themselves open to entertaining new ways of thinking.

'When they leave the lecture room they can spend some time thinking about what they have heard and consider its merit, then embrace or discard the information as they see fit.

'That is what university study is about – expanding your way of thinking, when you are finished you are supposed to be changed.'

Mr Braden hasn’t always worked in academia, having spent more than 25 years working in the recruitment industry where he has had many experiences he can now apply to his teaching.

Keen to see as much of Australia as he can while in he is here, Mr Braden hopes to travel through north Queensland and New South Wales when his teaching period concludes.

'My father was in the Air Force during WWII and was based in Port Moresby in New Guinea and spent his R&R time in Brisbane.

'He always told me how much he loved Australia and I had hoped to travel here with him before he passed away, but I think he wanted to keep his memories intact and we never made the trip.

'I am looking forward to finding out more about why he enjoyed the country so much as I experience it for myself. I am particularly looking forward to visiting the Barossa Valley as I grew up a rural area in the U.S.A. which has now become a wine growing area.'

After a four-year collaboration between the two universities, USQ students who have satisfactorily completed the Bachelor of Accounting and Sustainable Business degree will have the option of applying to gain an integrated credit guarantee towards the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from City University, thereby receiving ‘dual degrees’.

Contact Details:
Jo-Ann Sparrow, USQ Media, +61 7 3470 4119 or 0438 309 096