December 18, 2015
Business postgraduates cap off three days of graduation celebrations
Day three of summer graduation was celebrated by 448 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Faculty of Business, while two prominent business leaders were conferred Honorary degrees.
Chancellor Ms Jillian Broadbent, AO, congratulated the students on their achievements that ranged from those who will be tomorrow’s economic leaders and others who have provided unique insights into business practice.
Recipients of the University Medal presented at the Friday morning Faculty of Business ceremony were Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) graduates Kendall Dent and Melissa Ellsmore. The University Medal is for outstanding performance and is awarded to the highest achieving honours students as determined by their academic performance across the entire undergraduate degree.
Clockwise form top left: Mr David Gonski, AC, the academic procession, Dr Andrew Connery, Kendall Dent (left) and Melissa Ellsmore, Dr Irit Alony and Dr Michael Jones, business graduates.
PhD student Andrew Connery earned his degree for his study of strategies for introducing disruptive innovation into large bureaucratic organisations.
Dr Irit Alony, who arrived 10 years ago from Tel Aviv, undertook a PhD which tested whether indicators that suggest a couple will get divorced will also predict an employee will leave their job. Her results showed that the indicators were very similar but not identical.
Renowned Australian businessman and education campaigner Mr David Gonski, AC, the Chancellor of the University of New South Wales, was the recipient of a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa). He also presented the Occasional Address.
Mr Gonski in his Occasional Address urged graduates to fight “narrowness” in their future lives. He said he was not against career specialisations but highlighted the need to always be open to new ideas.
“It took years for me to realise how narrow I had become in my field of law. That’s why I went into other areas such as the arts and education. So keep your minds open and see what issues are affecting your community wherever that might be.”
The afternoon ceremony saw The Australian Financial Review's Business person of the year Ms Catherine Livingstone receive a Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) for her commitment to innovation and leadership.
Recently announced as the new Chancellor of the University of Technology Sydney from December 2016, Ms Livingstone is a pre-eminent business leader whose roles have encompassed finance, governance and management, culminating in her current appointment as the President of the Business Council of Australia.
Students from the Faculty of Law, Humanities and The Arts; the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health and the Faculty of Social Sciences will celebrate their graduation from 26-29 April 2016.