5 MINUTES WITH A BENEFACTOR DAVID ANSTICE AO DESPITE HAVING SPENT THE LAST 30 YEARS LIVING AND WORKING IN THE UNITED STATES, DAVID ANSTICE HAS MAINTAINED A STRONG CONNECTION WITH HIS AUSTRALIAN ROOTS, AND WITH HIS COLLEGE, ST ANDREW’S. IN 1998, DAVID ESTABLISHED A SCHOLARSHIP, TOGETHER WITH TOM YIM (FR 1966), IN MEMORIAM OF THEIR FRIEND BILL CALDWELL (FR 1964). DAVID ALSO SUPPORTED THREE ROOMS IN THE NEW HANKS BUILDING A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO. MORE RECENTLY, HE ESTABLISHED A NEW ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP, THE DAVID ANSTICE RURAL & REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIP, TO GIVE A STUDENT FROM THE COUNTRY THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE THEIR UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN A RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE. What would you say was the best thing about your time at College? The lifelong friends I made at St Andrew’s.
Philanthropy Report 2020
What made you choose to live at St Andrew’s rather than anywhere else?
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As a boy from Wagga Wagga, I could not attend University and live at home. I was Presbyterian, and had been to The Scots College. St Andrew’s was linked by its religion and was a known quantity to my parents. I am so glad I never went to Paul’s or Wesley, and John’s was never in the mix! Why did you choose to study Economics at University? Do you have any advice for students in the same focus and looking to enter the workforce soon? I wanted a business (or maybe a federal government) career, preferably with an international footprint or focus. I did not want to go into a profession such as medicine, dentistry or law. Economics did not equip you for business per se, but it did equip me well for thinking about and analyzing interesting business and political issues.
College was quite different in your time to today – what are the main changes that stand out to you today? Inclusion of women, obviously. A great addition! Technology-enabled learning today must be a big difference from my time. I think the significant emphasis on academic achievement is to be applauded – that was less so in my time. What has not changed is the sense of College as a real community, which provides an openness to disciplines and activities beyond the strict confines of any one faculty or school. What has changed is likely superficial (I am sure the food is better). The spirit of community whilst at University is the critical advantage of college. How did the College shape your future employment and life opportunities? Employment, not directly at all I would say - there were no careers events, no networks of business folks, and so on back then. Most students were in one or the other of the professions. But College did equip me for life, in all its abundance. It was formative in my first three years of being responsible for myself.
In your opinion, what is the most important work that the College does? Provide, through a full-blooded residential experience, a sense of community, and an understanding of the need for pursuing seriously what you have chosen to do with your life, and connecting with like minded others. You finally get a chance to know who you are, and what you might be capable of doing. What contribution or achievement in relation to College are you proudest of? That I graduated – given all the distractions! You have been based in the US now for nearly 30 years – what are the differences to Australia in lifestyle and career? The USA exists on a grander scale and a more global stage. Development of talent is taken very seriously in the corporate sector, enhancing diversity is second nature (although it may not always seem so from this distance), and quality of effort is all. Standards are set high and pursued - at least that is what I found (but I was lucky in my lifelong employer). By contrast, I would say Australia is simply less ambitious, and
