If you would like to speak to someone from the P站视频 alumni team, give us a call or send us an email.
alumni@canberra.edu.au
02 6206 3959
The P站视频 is proud of its alumni and measures its success by the success of its graduates. We recognise the outstanding contribution our alumni make within their industries and communities via the Distinguished Alumni Awards.
Every year we are blown away by the incredible P站视频 Alumni who come to the surface, and this year is certainly no different! Introducing the finalists for the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Awards:
In recognition of a lifetime's achievement
A proud Mudburra (Wave Hill, Northern Territory) and Wagadagum (Mabuiag Island, Torres Straits) First Nations woman, Natalie Ahmat has made a significant contribution to the Australian media industry.
One of the most experienced Indigenous Affairs reporters in the country, Natalie is passionate about telling stories through a First Nations lens and elevating and amplifying the voices of her people throughout the country and internationally.
Natalie presents NITV News 鈥 Australia鈥檚 only dedicated Indigenous television news bulletin 鈥 on National Indigenous Television (NITV) and Nula, NITV鈥檚 weekly news program on SBS. She is also a regular contributor on The Point, NITV鈥檚 current affairs program.
Natalie has fronted NITV鈥檚 special coverage of a number of significant Indigenous events, including the Garma Festival in northeast Arnhem Land, the Uluru First Nations Constitutional Convention, and the National NAIDOC Awards. She has won several awards for her work, including being named Journalist of the Year at the 2015 Multicultural and Indigenous Media Awards and Community Broadcaster of the Year at the 2012 Deadly Awards.
Her on-air profile has given Natalie the opportunity to give back to the community through a range of voluntary roles. She is a proud Ambassador for Neighbour Day 鈥 Relationships Australia鈥檚 social connection campaign 鈥 the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the International Grammar School鈥檚 Indigenous Scholarship program, is a member of Cricket Australia鈥檚 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cricket Advisory Committee (NATSICAC) and is on the Walkley Judging Board.
Natalie is a regular MC and guest speaker at charity, community, and corporate events, and is passionate about being a role model and mentor to students and those starting out in the media industry, particularly young First Nations journalists.
With a master鈥檚 degree in Counselling Psychology from the P站视频, Alasdair Roy has become one of Australia's leading child rights specialists, with over 30 years of experience promoting and protecting the safety and wellbeing of children.
Alasdair鈥檚 areas of expertise include service provision for children in contact with the child protection, youth justice, and/or mental health systems; design and facilitation of consultations with children; development of organisational safeguarding mechanisms for children; and respectful relationships and consent programs for children.
Throughout his career, Alasdair has served as the ACT Children and Young People Commissioner, and the ACT Deputy Community Advocate for Children and Young People.
He provides consultancy services to government, private, and not-for-profit organisations based in Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, and is a Subject Matter Expert for a major international consulting firm providing advice on the development of child and family services across the Gulf Region.
Alasdair is a Visiting Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) where he teaches psychology, and is the convenor for the Public Safety and Security in the Asia-Pacific course.
He is fully registered with the Psychology Board of Australia, the British Psychological Society, the Singapore Psychological Society, and the Middle East Psychological Association (MEPA) where he is also a member of the MEPA Professional Development Sub-Committee.
In 2016, Alasdair was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to children and young people and in 2015, was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to examine service delivery for children in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
In 2014, Alasdair was an ACT Australian of the Year Finalist for his work in promoting and protecting the rights of children and young people.
In 1979, George El Khouri completed his Bachelor of Environmental Design in Applied Science at the P站视频, marking the start of his career in architecture.
George has been a member of the Australian Institute of Architects since 1978, practising as a registered architect since 1984 and a licensed builder since 1985.
He has received many awards and accolades throughout his career and has contributed his architectural and project management expertise pro bono for over 35 years to various community organisations including the Maronite Catholic Church, St George Public Hospital, St Joseph's Church primary school and a multipurpose hall for King Fahd Islamic School in Sydney. In 1990, as the Lebanese Civil War ended, George personally funded tree planting and restoration work for the village square in his parent鈥檚 village.
Throughout his career in architecture, George has been involved in the design of high-rise office and residential buildings. He also oversaw the interior fit out for Australia鈥檚 Parliament House. George has also shared his expertise through the publishing of a significant list of articles that have reached international audiences.
Patrick Hunt studied part-time at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (CCAE), now the P站视频, as a mature age student while coaching the Canberra Cannons and working full-time at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).
Patrick is recognised as one of the finest educators in basketball and has nurtured some of the best Australian players, coaches and officials, coaching them towards success on domestic and international stages, including the Olympic Games, World Championships and World University Games.
Patrick was also an integral figure in the development of 鈥榯he Australian way鈥 of both playing and coaching basketball. His standing in basketball at a global level is reflected in his current roles as the President of the World Association of Basketball Coaches (since 2010) and chair of the International Basketball Federation鈥檚 (FIBA) Technical Commission (since 2014).
Through his work as a Sports Consultant at the AIS, Patrick also mentored leaders in other sports, including coaches, officials, and administrators 鈥 his passion for sharing his knowledge and experience resulted in the success of many prot茅g茅s in leadership and coaching roles.
In 2009, Patrick created the AIS Interdisciplinary Coach Exchange Program to promote the sharing of methods, knowledge and ideas between Australian sports and national sporting institutions. He has written a wealth of research papers on high-performance sports and coaching, published in a range of international journals.
Patrick鈥檚 undoubted influence on the sport, its players and coaches has been much acknowledged. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant and outstanding service to Basketball in 1995, and has received many awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States National Association of Basketball Coaches (2012) and the Australian Sports Medal (2000). Patrick was inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
Originally from Hong Kong, Sam Wong graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the Victorian College of Pharmacy, now part of Monash University, and became a Registered Pharmacist. Sam also holds a Graduate Diploma of Statistics from the Canberra College of Advanced Education, now the P站视频, and a Diploma of Occupational Health and Safety Management from the National Safety Council of Australia, NSW Division.
Following his studies, Sam joined the Commonwealth Department of Health in Canberra and held the position of Principal Pharmacist at the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), until his retirement after 35 years of service.
Throughout his career in the public service, Sam also spent some time in the position of Chief Pharmacist in which he assisted with the preparation and implementation of the Federal Therapeutic Goods Act (1989). He also worked on coordinating the setup of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the State Administration of Chinese Medicine, Peoples鈥 Republic of China, and the TGA for the registration of Chinese medicinal products in Australia.
Sam was awarded the TGA Outstanding Achievement Award for his professional contributions to the organisation and received a 30-year Service Award from the Department of Health and Ageing, in recognition of his significant contributions to the Australian community, in particular to the health and active ageing of Australians. Sam was also awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 1999 for service to the community and multiculturalism in the ACT region, and was a finalist for ACT Senior Australian of the Year in 2020.
Throughout his career, Sam served in many different roles including as the President of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (ACT Branch), as a Full Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI), as a Council Member of the P站视频, and as the Convenor of the P站视频 Harmony Festival Celebration Steering Committee, which received a $41,000 Living in Harmony Grant from the Commonwealth Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).
Finally, the ACT Government has appointed Sam as their Multicultural Honorary Ambassador for the ACT (previously known as Honorary Ambassador for Canberra) from 2001-August 2022; and in 2012, as Canberra Multicultural Community Forum chairman, he was named a People of Australia Ambassador for the ACT via PM Julia Gillard for the promotion of Multiculturalism in Australia.
Tony Henshaw is a retired IT Executive with a career spanning 45 years in the public and private sectors. In the 20 years prior to retirement from corporate roles, Tony held senior leadership roles at Unisys, Telstra and EDS with national and Asia Pacific scope. In those roles, he led sales and service delivery with revenues between $500M and $1.5B with teams ranging from 1,000 to 3,500 people across 12 countries.
Prior to this, Tony was a senior manager in a range of Australian and multinational IT companies 鈥 leading R&D, consulting and service delivery, and sales functions. During this time, Tony served on the Australian Government鈥檚 Industry Research and Development Board (now Industry Innovation and Science Australia) and was Chair of the IR&D Board for part of the 1992 calendar year.
Since retiring from full-time corporate roles, Tony has held directorships in a range of companies. He is currently Chair of the Gradient Institute which is committed to the development of research, education and training to support the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. He was the Founding Chair of the Canberra Innovation Network and held that role from 2014 to 2019. He was a member of CSIRO鈥檚 Data61 Advisory Board and formerly Director of NICTA Ltd which was merged with Data61.
In volunteer roles since retirement, Tony has been Deputy Chair of the Canberra Hospital Foundation and a Board member of TADACT (which helps people with disabilities to maintain independence). He has also been active supporting innovation in the Capital Region having chaired the Digital Canberra Challenge for the ACT Government.
Tony is committed to growing the Canberra region's business sector through innovation and sustainable technologies. He believes that business, research, the arts and social inclusion are inextricably linked and that everyone in the community benefits when we engage in a positive way to improve all four.
Until recently, Tony was President of the Friends of the ANU School of Music which supports music students with grants and scholarships.
In recognition of an emerging professional in any industry
In the first few years of his study at the P站视频, Timi was a full-time member of the Brumbies Academy. Unfortunately, his journey with the Academy was short-lived as consecutive surgeries on the same knee resulted in his medical retirement. Soon after, Timi graduated from the P站视频 with a double-degree Bachelors of Sports Coaching and Exercise Science (2012) and a Masters of Physiotherapy (2014) marking the start of an impressive career fueled by his passion to help people.
In 2015, a calling to re-connect with t奴puna (ancestors) and whanau (family) saw Timi relocate to Kirikiriroa, Hamilton, New Zealand to explore his M膩ori heritage, culture and values. While in New Zealand, Timi embraced his heritage and culture and was met with the challenge of integrating these principles into his career as a musculoskeletal clinician, clinical supervisor, and aspiring manager. As a result, Timi founded T奴 Tonu 鈥 a community of practice where clinicians and traditional healers work collaboratively, combining clinically-proven rehabilitation and preventative methods with indigenous modalities and approaches to improving health. With an operating model that is underpinned by tikanga and m膩t膩pono M膩ori (M膩ori cultural values and customary practices), T奴 Tonu aims to address long-term health conditions that have a disproportionate impact on M膩ori.
Timi also consistently goes beyond the bounds of his own business operation to nurture and grow the next generation of clinicians. Despite his busy schedule, he provides clinical placements for physiotherapy students connecting strongly and mentoring each student placed within his service 鈥 an example of the multiple ways in which he gives back to the community.
While studying at the P站视频, Bryce co-founded the P站视频 Engineering Society and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Engineering in Network & Software Engineering with first-class honours in 2020. Despite that only being two years ago, Bryce has reached incredible heights with his career with an extensive list of accomplishments that demonstrate his expertise and commitment to giving back to the University and the wider community.
Following his graduation, Bryce founded Hackathons.com.au as a way to promote STEM events around the country and to encourage younger generations to study STEM subjects. Bryce was awarded the Australian Computer Society medal for designing an open-source accessible 3D-printed Covid face shield for use in developing nations and was selected as one of six emerging leaders from across Australia to be awarded an Emerging Leaders Scholarship. In 2021 Bryce was awarded the P站视频 Herbert Burton Medal for achieving outstanding academic results and for making a valuable contribution to the Canberra community, and was the international Winner of GovHack International for developing a prototype citizen science website. At the 2021 Young Canberra Citizen of the Year Awards Bryce was honoured with a Highly Commendable Individual Community Service Award for making significant contributions through personal endeavours to the ACT community in the areas of education and science and was the APEC App Challenge Winner for designing a prototype Android app to make the Covid-19 QR code check-in process easier.
Bryce has previously worked as a teacher鈥檚 assistant for Code Camp, as a SharePoint specialist at the P站视频, and as a Frontend Software Engineer for the Australian Government. Bryce is now working as an Associate Consultant at Adobe Australia, specialising in front-end website development with federal clients.
Kate Freeman graduated from P站视频 in 2004 with a Bachelor of Applied Science majoring in Human Nutrition and went on to work as a Corporate Health Consultant in the private sector before moving to the Department of Health and Ageing. While on maternity leave, Kate started a blog about healthy eating after noticing a disconnect between the science behind healthy eating and how it was being marketed to the general public and enrolled into a post-graduate degree at Deakin University to further her knowledge in the field of nutrition.
Following the birth of her second child, Kate commenced writing for HerCanberra and her following began to grow as did her passion for helping people live a life free from food stress. After finding a small office in the city, Kate Freeman Nutrition was born. Kate鈥檚 business grew at a rapid rate and she soon had a number of employees. After rebranding to The Healthy Eating Hub, the business continued to grow in both staff and clients. Throughout this time, Kate continued her studies in nutrition completing a Graduate Diploma from Deakin University and later finishing it off in 2017 obtaining a Master鈥檚 in Human Nutrition. In 2018 Kate launched the Hub鈥檚 Online program which offered online advice and videos in response to recognised gaps in clients鈥 knowledge of healthy eating principles. In 2019 Kate鈥檚 online program was selected to be part of the Griffin Accelerator to help her grow and scale. She also received an innovation connect (ICON) grant from the Canberra Innovation Network.
To this day Kate remains involved with the P站视频, with The Healthy Eating Hub hosting P站视频 undergraduate and masters students for placements, a program which is now up to its third intake. Kate鈥檚 dedication to helping people is not limited to those who attend the clinic, with regular support to local charities through donations for raffles, and a goal to open a bulk billing clinic to provide support to people who need it the most.
Sarah Cook graduated from the P站视频 in 2010 with a Bachelor of Applied Science; Human Biology (Sports Science major). While in high school, Sarah Cook was talent identified through the ACT Academy of Sport Talent Identification Program as having potential for the sport of rowing. This provided the opportunity for Sarah to realise her dream of competing for Australia at the Olympic Games, as she went on to compete at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games. Sarah was a member of the Australian Rowing Team from 2004-2012 winning multiple world cup and world championship medals throughout that time, and was a member of the Australian Sailing Team from 2013-2015.
Not only is Sarah an accomplished athlete, but she has also had significant influence within the Australian sporting industry and cares deeply about equal opportunity - becoming a champion for gender equity, diversity and inclusion. Sarah currently works as the Chief Operating Officer of Rowing Australia, as a broadcast commentator for World Rowing, and is an inaugural member of the National Sports Tribunal. Sarah also holds a number of voluntary positions, including Board Member of Baseball Australia, Chair of the Clubs Advisory Committee at Sydney University Sport, a Council Member of World Rowing, and a member of the World Rowing Coastal Rowing Commission and Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commission. Through her numerous roles in high performance governance, administration, leadership and coaching, Sarah has led the development of winning cultures and has led initiatives and change in sport and education.
Sarah has been identified as a trailblazer and recognised for her contribution to sport in Australia through awards such as the P站视频 Full Blue, Sydney University Full Blue, 2011 UNE Sportsperson of the Year, 2015 Westpac & Financial Review 100 Women of Influence, UNE Distinguished Alumni Award, World Rowing Sustainability Award, and through funding and support received by the Australian Sports Commission to further develop her leadership capability within the sports industry. In 2019 Sarah was bestowed the lifelong honour of being named a Steward of the Henley Royal Regatta, she is only the third Australian and the first non-british woman to be elected to the position.
Emily Coates founded Ivy Social, a boutique social media agency, in 2015 while studying a Bachelor of Advertising and Marketing Communication from which she graduated in 2016. By 2017 and with the use of her newly acquired strategic and practical skillset, Emily went full time with Ivy Social and grew from a one-person consultancy to a seven person, all female, tight knit group of professionals by 2022.
Ivy Social now holds a portfolio of over 30 select clients that range from international beauty brands and national shopping centre groups, to local florists and arts organisations, with the vast majority acquired through referrals based on reputation. Emily also uses her business to give back to P站视频 and support the talents of its future students by being an active participant in the internship program providing workplace integrated learning (WIL) opportunities to many Faculty of Arts and Design (FAD), and Business Government Law (BGL) students. Emily鈥檚 support for P站视频 is also clear in her public association as she has been featured in the P站视频 Alumni Magazine, Annual Course Guide and more recently as an ambassador for the Business at P站视频 campaign representing the new wave of self-employed business leaders in Canberra. Emily is also an inspiration to her team and other women in her demographic that wish to build their own futures in business.
Prior to starting Ivy Social, Emily鈥檚 diverse career included managing digital campaigns for a variety of brands, working on award-winning brand campaigns for the Australian Air Force and as the Editor and Owner of HOORAY! Magazine, a go-to guide for party planning and entertainment.
Explore the P站视频 alumni who have received distinguished alumni awards since the awards' inception in 2001.
Chancellor's Alumni Award
Chancellor's Young Alumni Award
Chancellor's Award for Contribution to Sport
Chancellor's Award for Service & Philanthropy
Alumni Excellence Award - Faculty of Arts and Design
Alumni Excellence Award - Faculty of Business, Government & Law
Alumni Excellence Award - Faculty of Education
Alumni Excellence Award - Faculty of Health
Alumni Excellence Award - Faculty of Science & Technology
Chancellor's Alumni Award
Chancellor's Young Alumni Award
Chancellor's Award for Contribution to Sport
Chancellor's Award for Philanthropy
Chancellor's Award for Service to the Community
Alumni Excellence Awards
Chancellor's Alumni Award
Chancellor's Young Alumni Award
Chancellor's Award for Contribution to Sport
Chancellor's Award for Service and Philanthropy
Alumni Excellence Awards
Distinguished Alumni of the Year
Winners
Finalists
Commendations for Exceptional Achievement
Winners
Finalists
If you would like to speak to someone from the P站视频 alumni team, give us a call or send us an email.
alumni@canberra.edu.au
02 6206 3959
P站视频 acknowledges the Ngunnawal people, traditional custodians of the lands where Bruce campus is situated. We wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of Canberra and the region. We also acknowledge all other First Nations Peoples on whose lands we gather.