Alumni Profile: Kate Devitt
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Degree: Arts (Honours) 2000 Current Position: Radio journalist and PhD student As the host of a leading environmental podcast, Kate Devitt has interviewed some of Australia’s best-known green identities. Based in Brisbane, she currently combines her radio work with PhD studies in philosophy and psychology. Kate spoke to GradNet about the challenging, but ultimately fruitful, few years since she graduated from Melbourne. |
My full name is Susannah Kate Devitt. I completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in the history and philosophy of science. I also majored in psychology as part of my undergraduate degree.
After graduating, my first job was with Accenture as a technical writer. I applied for graduate school in the USA at the end of 2001 and was accepted at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, with a five-year excellence fellowship to complete a PhD in philosophy and cognitive science. At the same time, my boyfriend was offered a great job as a computer game designer in Canada.
I lived in New Jersey for four years, studying, teaching and being in a long-distance relationship. I became sick with Lyme disease early in my degree. On top of that, I got adult chicken pox and tore my anterior cruciate ligament, requiring a knee reconstruction! It was a tumultuous time.
Nevertheless, I became engaged to my partner of many years and we came home to Melbourne for a big wedding in 2006. My husband got a job in Brisbane as a lead designer for Pandemic Studios. He said he would support me finishing my dissertation if we moved back to Australia. I’d completed my coursework at Rutgers and thought the opportunity to come home was wonderful.
We arrived in Brisbane in November 2006 and I volunteered for an environmental radio station, Planet Radio 88fm. They offered me the chance to have my own radio show and now I host an environmental podcast, A Climate Affair, under my married name of Kate Conroy. A Climate Affair provides a weekly critical examination of Australian environmental news and current affairs. My guests have included Don Burke, Clean Up Australia’s Ian Kiernan, Sean Fitzgerald from the ABC’s Carbon Cops, economist John Quiggin and author Mark Diesendorf. In April 2007 the show was listed among the top five news and politics podcasts on Australian iTunes.
As well as finishing my PhD and working in radio, I am a tutor at Emmanuel College at the University of Queensland. I am really excited to be home and I still miss Melbourne University! I think your online portal is great.
