Connecting our alumni

Alumna Naarah Barnes (BMus 2019), a talented singer and Gija woman, is a shining example of where passion and energy in the performing arts can take you. We hope you are inspired, too, by the research of Medicine alumnus Dr Thomas Edwards, revolutionising eye surgery to combat blindness. This is yet another exciting example of what our alumni are achieving for and from Tasmania with far-reaching positive impact. There are achievements too in Surveying and Spatial Sciences, a discipline celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, as well as stories about alumni creating businesses and driving change in inclusive and innovative ways. Looking to the students in our University community, we continue our focus on improving access to tertiary education. Examples include our Schools Recommendation Program, whereby year 12 students applied for courses based on schools’ recommendations rather than an ATAR. We are also overhauling our scholarship program, with an aim of removing financial barriers to university entrance, which we know are holding back too many people. All of this work is predicated on excellence and access going hand-in-hand. On talent being evenly distributed but opportunity not. We are focused on tackling this at this University and addressing the inherent challenges it brings.

Words by Rebecca Cuthill, Director, Advancement & Rob Blandford, Associate Director, Alumni Relations

We are delighted to share our 2022 Alumni magazine with you. As we emerge from the pandemic, it has been exciting to recommence our face-to-face engagement and be reminded of how truly exceptional our alumni community is. Across our island State, and in Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne, we have seen the intense interest in your alma mater from everyone we have met. As always, this magazine is an invitation to continue to engage, be inspired, and make your contribution. This year we have created more opportunities to enable alumni to share knowledge, skills and career stories to benefit others. Whether at webinars, career events or mentoring programs, we’ve seen alumni share wonderful words of wisdom to help others build their lives or careers. In 2023, we will be re-launching a refreshed Alumni Advisory Committee, a forum for alumni to guide us in our work as we engage the alumni community both on and off-island. Helping students achieve their dreams underpins the distinctive way we deliver learning, teaching and research on this island. Our State’s natural environments also provide unique advantages for study, which brings a quality that cannot be replicated in other places. Returning to you, our alumni, for those of you who studied with us on the island, whether you remain here or not, you may relate to these distinctive island qualities and what they mean for you. As alumni of this University, in different ways you share our island values and this shapes the kinds of contributions you make. We know that our graduates, the newest members of the alumni community, are in demand, with over 86 per cent gaining employment within four months of completing their studies. The ripple effects of this success deliver many benefits to our State and places far beyond our shores. We have a passionate and growing alumni community who have made, and are contributing to, much positive change, both here on the island and beyond these shores. As alumni of the University of Tasmania, you do this in a way that is uniquely yours. My final word then sees me return to where I started, with a strong sense of optimism. As you read the stories that follow, I hope that in them you share not only this optimism about what is possible but also a sense of pride in what we are achieving together as a University community. ■

The Committee’s future remit will also be to strengthen connections between alumni as professionals and their academic disciplines here at the University. More details will be announced in future issues of our Alumni and Friends monthly e-news publication. We remain humbled by the talent of our alumni community and commit to continuing to help you tell your story – your amazing and diverse talents help inspire others. That is the power of our community. ■