Stories behind sea of faces at graduation
Published on 26 February, 2009
Graduation ceremonies may look like a sea of anonymous faces, but they are really a nexus for many personal journeys...
Rockhampton's graduation ceremony on Tuesday (Feb 24) included two sets of mother-daughter graduates - Lisa and Shae List and Suzanne and Grace Anstey - with plenty of nurturing between the generations.
University Medallist Erica Todd, a turtle researcher and conservation volunteer who has just gained a Smart Futures PhD scholarship, received The Chancellor Stan Jones Scholarship, presented by the former CQUniversity Chancellor himself. [Based on her CQUniversity success at undergraduate and honours levels, Erica has recently been accepted as a PhD candidate at JCU].
Faculty Medallist Joe-Anne Kek-Pamenter is a hearing-impaired graduate who studied her multimedia degree on-line from a home office in her 18th-level high-rise apartment, without being able to use the phone for verbal interaction. [The other Faculty Medallists are biomedical sciences graduate Nicholas Hill and informatics graduate Katrina Trott.]
Sandra Kinsella - one of the first to study learning management (BLM) online - completed her first summer term from Europe while travelling with her family, thanks to her trusty laptop and the flexibility of on-line studies. Another BLM online pioneer - Kate Brennan - has swapped her early career as an island-hopping hospitality worker for a more family-friendly job at a school set in the far northern rainforests (Kate could not make it to the ceremony).
The graduation included initial cohorts of Mining Associates and Power Engineering students.
Current Chancellor Rennie Fritschy congratulates former Chancellor, Hon Justice Stan Jones AO
Those attending were:
- Janice Marie Bulman - Thesis Title: Outfielder Stories: Supporting Primary Teachers Teaching Secondary Science to Come in from the Margins.
- Jo-Anne Therese Luck - Thesis Title: Lost in Translations: A Socio-technical Study of Interactive Videoconferencing in Australian Higher Education.
- Sandrine Makiela - Thesis Title: Studies on Dieback of Buffel Grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) in Central Queensland.
- Rinku Panchal - Thesis Title: Significance of features in classification of breast abnormality patterns in digital mammography.
- Brian John Sengstock - Thesis Title: The Development of Professional Identity in Nursing Students in the off-campus Clinical Setting.
There were also special awards for former long-serving Chancellor (the guest speaker) Stan Jones, who had the honorary degree of Doctor of the University conferred upon him, and former Executive Dean Richard Smith, who was appointed as an Emeritus Professor of the University.
Performing Arts graduate Meegan Fox presented a response on behalf of graduates.