University Advancement Office Alumni and Friends

Annick Cable (BA(Hons) 2007, DipML(German) 2007) is working in her chosen field of international affairs. Since graduating, she has worked with a global company providing environmental solutions to airports; done voluntary work at the Australian Institute of International Affairs; and added Spanish and Dutch to her growing list of languages. She plans to do her Masters in Belgium and work in journalism or consulting within the European Union.

Mark Cicchiello (MB BS 2007) is an orthopaedics intern at the Western Hospital in Footscray and is about to become involved in a study of deep vein thrombosis prevention in post surgical patients.

Dr Julie Clarke (PGDipArts(ArtHist&CinSt) 1994, MA 1998, PhD Arts 2005) works as a freelance writer and is an Honorary Fellow in Screen Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her articles on eugenics, body modification and commodification, the human/not human divide, prosthetics and medical technologies have been published by MIT Press, University of Toronto Press and Tate Publications in the United Kingdom.

Warwick Dean (MEdPolicy(Int) 2006) is still chasing the dream of sailing in the Whitsundays and skiing Aspen (or Japan) without having to pay for it. He has accepted an appointment as headmaster of The Hutchins School in Sandy Bay, Tasmania. Hutchins is an Anglican day and boarding school of 1000 boys from kindergarten to year 12, with an international perspective and exchanges with European, North American and Asian countries.

Daniel Dorall (BArch 2005) is a sculptor currently represented by Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Fitzroy and is preparing for his major solo exhibition there in September, as well as an international exhibition in Christchurch, New Zealand in May 2008. Daniel has recently been accepted into the Master of Fine Arts degree at Monash University majoring in sculpture.

Andrea Ebsworth (GDipEd 1991, MArtsMgt 2007) is the inaugural Cultural Planner with the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council. Her role includes refocusing and rewriting the Arts and Culture Strategy, re-establishing Peninsula networks in arts and culture and working on arts-based community development plans as a conduit to building community.

Venansia Ekawati (BSc 2002, DipML(Japanese) 2002) is currently residing and working in Los Angeles, USA after two years in Shanghai, China. She enjoys helping individuals and companies with comprehensive financial planning and is working as a financial advisor at Waddell & Reed, Inc. She recently became engaged to her design engineer boyfriend, and is now trying to balance her time between her financial advisory practice, family and friends, as well as planning for her wedding.

Sally Eshuys (GCertUniMgt 2007) has moved to Canada and is hoping to get work at the University of Victoria, British Columbia.

Michelle Fadelli (MPub&IntLaw 2004) recently started her own business, Naked Truth, importing handbags and jewellery that have been manufactured by landmine and polio survivors, men and women living in poverty and those experiencing social inequality. Since graduating she has worked for the Australian Red Cross in tracing, international humanitarian law and public affairs; in Switzerland for the International Committee of the Red Cross as a project officer on the Biological Weapons Convention; in marketing in the Northern Territory, tracing missing persons in Victoria and at the Cancer Institute in New South Wales. 

Lisa Farrance (MA 2007) is currently a provisional PhD candidate and is studying proletarian public spheres and labour movement organisation.

Emily Kennedy (BComm/BPPM 2002) has moved on from the Australian Embassy in Washington DC and is now working in Beijing. She is on a 12-month assignment with a Chinese NGO until September 2008 as part of AusAID's Youth Ambassabors program.

Ben Keogh (BAppSc(NatResMgt) 2001) runs his own consultancy specialising in trading and creating greenhouse gas emission offset projects. He designed the Landcare CarbonSMART carbon pool and now undertakes project management for carbon sequestration projects across Australia. In a previous role with the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority, he coordinated the Commonwealth Games tree planting project to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from the Games.

Stefanus Lawuyan (MPH 2000) is Chief Operating Officer of the Husada Utama private hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia. He previously served for four years as Executive Secretary of the Surabaya City Planning Bureau and for three years as Director of Tambakrejo Hospital.

Ali Lemer (MA 2006) is working as a guidebook editor at Lonely Planet, after having written three guidebooks (to Bali and Hawaii) last year for Thomas Cook.

Nikorn (Tony) Nikornphan (MEnvEng 2005) has joined worldwide environmental consulting firm ERM and is getting married on 8/8/2008 to a girl he met in Melbourne.

Dr Petra Nolan (PhD Arts 2004) works as a Research Manager in the School of Letters, Art and Media at the University of Sydney. Since her appointment to this role in 2004, she has overseen a range of research proposals and projects in English, Linguistics, Art History, Film, Performance Studies, Media and Communications.

Andrea Nour (née Burgess) (BA/LLB 2000) is Deputy Legal Counsel at the International Energy Agency in Paris, France. She previously worked with the American Red Cross, where she was awarded a Certificate of Recognition from the Californian Senate for her contribution to the community in the recruitment of volunteers. This extremely enriching experience was a sharp change from nearly two years as a lawyer with Shearman & Sterling in New York.

Caitlin O’Brien (BA(Media&Comm) 2006) is working in public relations for multinational consultancy Burson-Marsteller in the area of health care. Caitlin started in June 2007 and since then has worked on a range of health care issues via government lobbying, media liaison, and event creation.

Melissa O’Brien (BA 2004) has returned to Melbourne to work at the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Melissa spent the past three years in Canberra, completing a graduate program at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and then taking on a position in the Transnational Education area of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Melissa is enjoying being home and begins a Master of International Studies in 2008.

Paul O’Loughlin (GDipEd 2006) teaches in a high school in Nanjing, China. The school has a relationship with a Melbourne private school and is administering a VCE program offshore. Paul originally trained as a teacher of social studies and English for speakers of other languages; however, because of his prior business background, he has almost exclusively been teaching accounting and commerce.

Dr Chris Riley (BSc 1983, BVSc 1988, PGCertInnovMgt 2007) is leading a multinational veterinary team into the North Central Plateau region of Haiti for two weeks to conduct a dog spay-neuter and rabies clinic, animal health services for poor villagers, and training for local animal health agents. The team is self funded, with the assistance of generous donations by supporters. This is a follow-up to a team visit in 2005 that worked with over 300 families and around 650 animals over a two-week period, and provided training for ten animal health agents. The fact that four of the 2005 team members (including Chris) are going again is a testament to the wonderful people of Haiti with whom they are privileged to work.  

Katrina Slater (GDipEd 2006) successfully completed a year of teaching English and VCE Literature at Nhill College before joining the teaching team at Roxburgh College (English and Literacy) where she has been reunited with other 2006 DipEd graduates.

Anastasia Spathis (GDipMtlHlthSc 2007) has just returned home to Melbourne after spending two-and-a-half years in Alice Springs working with the Stolen Generations and their families, using her training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy combined with the advice of indigenous counsellors. Working with indigenous Australians had been one of her interests but had been put aside while she was busy with a growing family.

Kylie Stevenson (BEd 1996, MEd 2007) has been working in government secondary colleges since completing her undergraduate degree in 1995. She went on to complete a Master of Arts (Creative Writing) at RMIT University and has lectured in creative writing on a part-time basis at RMIT University since 2005. Kylie has recently been awarded the Cambridge Australia Trust Patrick Moore Scholarship to commence a Master of Philosophy in Arts Education and Culture at the University of Cambridge in October 2008.

Tom Stonier (MIS 2007) is currently living in Hong Kong where he works for Ariba International as an Engagement Manager.

Debby Tanamal (MTD 2001) is a lecturer at Bina Nusantara University in Indonesia and manages the Lecturer Resource Center. She develops professional development programs for lecturers and is also in charge of lecturer recruitment and promotion. In 2007 she visited the University of Melbourne as an Endeavour Executive Award recipient.

Tao Wang (MTelecomEng 2006) is working for Hewlett Packard as a GSD software engineer. His responsibility is to provide enterprise business level customers in the Asia-Pacific region with HP software administration, solutions and consulting.

Mariel Wong (BA 2005) is currently enjoying life in sunny Singapore, sleeping her days away as Deputy Editor of tech-lifestyle magazine T3 Singapore. She sings in a symphonic goth band and actively participates in the local Asian scene after her stint in the Australian ABC sitcom We Can Be Heroes.

Angela Xiriha (BNSc 2006) is working at St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, on a busy gastrointestinal surgical ward. It is a fast-paced, challenging and extremely rewarding career for which Angela feels her Melbourne degree prepared her well.

Warren Brooks (Science 1998) completed a Bachelor of Laws in 2007 but decided to stay in the pharmaceutical industry when a chance came up to work as a regional marketing director for Bristol-Myers Squibb in Singapore. He has now been there for 12 months and hopes to stay at least another two years in Asia.

Carli Browne (BCom 1999) works as a Business Manager for publisher Random House UK. She is getting married in October 2008 and currently lives in London with her fiancé. Since completing her studies, Carli has gained her CPA qualification and worked in private practice and for Pepsico UK.

Dr Judith Buckrich (PhD Arts 1998) has worked on commissioned histories since 1995. She is presently working on the 150th anniversary history of the Melbourne University Boat Club. She also chairs the Interational PEN Women Writers' Committee.

Dr Luke Chen (MB BS 1999) finished his training in internal medicine and infectious diseases in Melbourne in 2006. He is undertaking a research fellowship in Infection Control and Healthcare Epidemiology at Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina, USA. He is also a matriculating Master of Public Health student at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Miffy Farquharson (née Hughes) (BEd 1992) is working in Bendigo as Head of Library for Girton Grammar School and Junior School Teacher-Librarian. Miffy is the Children's Book Council of Australia 'Book of the Year' Judge representing Victoria during 2008-2009, a very prestigious position and one which she thinks is 'heaven on a stick'.

George Ivanoff (BA(Hons) 1990) spent several years working in higher education administration and then in web development before embarking on a career as an author. He recently had his 26th children's book published. His new series, Corey Jansen - Teen Spy, is due for publication later this year.

Dr Anuradha Jayathillake (MB BS 1996) is undertaking a fellowship in urological oncology in Miami, Florida after completing advanced urology training in New Zealand.

Dr Ian McCracken (BSc 1995) moved to Newcastle to study medicine in 1997. In 1999 and 2001 he had the great privilege of working in Lesotho in southern Africa. In between getting married and being blessed with a lovely daughter (Sapphire), riding his Triumph in the mountains and walking the Kokoda Track, he is now working towards becoming qualified in psychiatry.

Natalie Mitchell (BPD 1998, PGDipPD 1999) has been working, and occasionally dodging bullets, with UN HABITAT in Kosovo as a Municipal Spatial Planning Advisor in the ethnically divided northern town of Mitrovica for the past year and a half. This follows a year working in tropical Samoa as a Senior Strategic Planner with the Planning and Urban Management Agency (as part of an AusAID funded program) after completion of Masters studies in International Development at RMIT.

Dr Christina Thompson (PhD Arts 1990) is the author of Come On Shore And We Will Kill You All, a combined memoir and history of contact in New Zealand, which will be published in the US by Bloomsbury in July 2008 with English, German and Australian editions to follow.

Susan Warner (BEd 1997) works in London as a Technical Manager for a construction company. She previously taught visual arts for a year before returning to study at Victoria University.

Helen Bradley (née Brelaz) (LLB 1980) lives in the wine country of northern California and is an international artist, photographer and lifestyle writer. Her work appears in publications all over the world. She still remembers with fondness hanging out in the Law Library in the heady days of 1973.

Zoe Hogg (GDipEd 1985) is still teaching but is now coaching young rowers. Zoe also runs the St Kilda Penguin Research Team.

Professor Jennifer McKay (BA(Hons 1979, PhD Arts 1984) is Professor of Business Law at the University of South Australia, specialising in community and business responses to water law reforms. She will be on study leave at the Centre for Sociolegal Studies, University of Oxford until June 2008 and will then spend a year at the University of California, Berkeley as a Fulbright Senior Scholar to work on judicial interpretation of ecologically sustainable development.

Melanie Raymond (BA(Hons) 1984, MA 2003) was named ‘Woman of the Year’ in March 2008 by Moreland City Council for her work in leadership and representation of women. Melanie has been Chair of the Board of Directors of the not-for-profit welfare agency Youth Projects since 1999, is on the Board of Directors of the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade and has chaired the Country Fire Authority and MFB Joint Activities Committee. She is also currently on the Liquor Licensing Ministerial Council within the Department of Justice and is a director of the newly formed Inner North Community Foundation. Formerly an elected councillor with the City of Moreland, she has worked in media and public relations for 15 years and in 1996 completed the executive program in industrial relations at the Harvard University School of Business.

Perry Zamek (BSc 1981) is a member of the Israel Translators Association executive committee. His translation from Hebrew to English of Moses: Envoy of God, Envoy of His People by Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein was recently published in the United States.

Ian Ajzenszmidt (BA(Hons) 1978) is a subject of biographical record in Who's Who in the World 25th Silver Anniversary Edition 2008, a Who's Who in America Publication by Marquis. He worked from 1979 to 1989 as a member of Australian Government staff.

Ed Robinson (BSc 1970, GDipEd 1972) has lived in London since 1974 and is the principal of Kensington College, a computer training college specialising in programming. He previously ran a tutorial college teaching A-level mathematics and physics, but the arrival of the PC allowed him to pursue his interest in computing.

Dr Paul Shuen (MB BS 1976) is a consultant in obstetrics, gynaecology and gynaecologic oncology at North York General Hospital in Toronto, Canada, and a lecturer at the University of Toronto. He is married with four children, all of whom are now at university in Canada and Australia.

Helen Stagg (née Smith) (BA 1975) has renewed her interest in academic pursuits, fuelled by her eldest son graduating from medicine in 2006, her daughter being in the third year of a double degree at Melbourne and her youngest son studying Year 12 this year. She is undertaking a Master of Arts at the University of New England, specialising in history, and would like to work in the public history field at the completion of her studies.

Katherine Gallagher (BA 1963) started teaching in Melbourne high schools (Newlands, later Fawkner) from 1964-8, then went overseas, teaching in London schools and later teaching English in Paris. She has lived in London since 1979. She started writing poetry for adults and children in 1965 and has been widely published in Australia and the UK; her published work includes four full-length collections of poetry plus a book of translations from French.

Bruce Gillespie (BA 1968) has been a professional freelance book editor since 1974. His non-professional interest area is producing amateur magazines (fanzines) in the science fiction field. In 1969 he began SF Commentary, and has also published several other magazines including The Metaphysical Review (1984) and Steam Engine Time (2000). Bruce's awards over the years include 17 Ditmars (Australian SF Achievement Award) and the A. Bertram Chandler Award (2007) and Peter McNamara Award (2008) for lifetime achievement. He was a guest of honour at the World SF Convention held in Melbourne in 1999.

The Reverend Graeme Kerr (BA 1964) will lead his final service at St Andrew's Box Hill and retire from the ministry of the Uniting Church in Australia in June 2008. He writes that this is ‘a time for wondering about others who began the journey at university and for being so grateful for the many doors that were subsequently opened because of the privilege of university education’.