Old news from Armidale and New England

Thursday 5 August 1954, The Sydney Morning Herald

Invitation To U.S. Professor

ARMIDALE, Wednesday. – The University of New England will invite Professor T. H. Roberts, of Iowa, U.S., to become its first Director of External Studies.

Professor Roberts, 48, a graduate of the Universities of Western Australia and Oxford, is Professor of Education at Iowa State University.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of New England, Dr. R. B. Madgwick, said today: “This is a most significant appointment, not only for the university itself, but for the whole State of New South Wales.

“The development of a Department of External Studies, to provide correspondence teaching at university level, is a new departure in New South Wales, and will bring university education within the reach of large numbers of people who, for one reason or another, are unable to attend a university as internal students.”

Professor Roberts was Director of Adult Education in the University of Western Australia from 1938 to 1940, when he was appointed Associate Professor of Education at Iowa University, becoming Professor of Education last year.

In 1942, Professor Roberts was Acting Director of Education in the British Information Services in New York city.

He left this appointment in 1943 to join the United States 5th Army Air Force, serving as a pilot in the Pacific area in 1943 and 1944.

He transferred to the A.I.F. in 1944, and served in the Directorate of Research, and later with the Army Education Service in Australia and New Guinea.

After the war, Professor Roberts returned to Iowa and resumed his work in adult education.

He has wide experience in educational broadcasting, on both radio and television.