QUT honoured its outstanding alumni for 2002 at a ceremony hosted by Chancellor Dr Cherrell Hirst on July 23 in Brisbane.
Bundaberg Sugar managing director Geoff Mitchell AO was named the Chancellor's outstanding alumnus for 2002.
Awards were also made to faculty, special excellence, and young achiever graduates.
An initiative of the QUT Alumni Board, the awards recognise the professional achievements and contributions to local, state, national and international communities by graduates of QUT and its predecessor institutions.
Those honoured were:
* Geoff Mitchell AO, managing director of Bundaberg Sugar. He was named Outstanding Alumnus for 2002 and and received the Faculty of Science award. (See related story on Mr Mitchell for full details)
* Built Environment and Engineering Faculty:
Robert Bird, chairman, Robert Bird & Partners Pty Ltd
Robert Bird is founder and chairman of construction company Robert Bird & Partners. His company has made a major impact on the skyline of South-East Queensland, developing prestigious projects such as the Metway Centre, Admiralty and Dockside Towers in Brisbane, Pan Pacific, Rivage Royale, Silverpoint and Travelodge on the Gold Coast.
The company, which was founded in 1982, now has offices in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi and London.
Robert Bird & Partners entered the Asian market in 1990 and developed a number of prestige highrise projects.
Mr Bird has participated as a design team member on the company's major projects and has contributed to the development of innovative and cost-effective building solutions. These include structures that employ flatplate construction and below-ground and below-sea-level construction works.
He graduated from QIT with a Bachelor of Engineering in 1977 and has maintained close links with QUT.
He is a part-time lecturer at the university and promotes the employment of QUT graduates in his company. He has also implemented a mentor program at the school he attended, Redcliffe State High School.
* Business Faculty recipient:
Carolyn Barker, chief executive officer, Australian Institute of Management (Qld and NT)
As CEO of the Australian Institute of Management in Queensland and the Northern Territory, Ms Barker provides the organisation's thousands of members with contemporary management and business information and solutions.
She is also managing editor of Australia's only specialist magazine for managers, Management Today. In five years she has taken the magazine from an in-house publication to a national magazine.
Ms Barker completed a Bachelor of Business (Management) at QIT in 1980 and started her career as a journalist. She has owned and operated two significant companies and is sought after for her knowledge of the management profession. She serves on QUT's Brisbane Graduate School of Business Advisory Board.
Ms Barker also co-ordinates a major national longitudinal research study with Monash University's School of Business and Economics.
She has an MBA from the Graduate School of Management, University of South Australia, and is currently undertaking a Master of Electronic Business at the University of Southern Queensland. She is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.
* Creative Industries recipient:
Venero Armanno, novelist
Venero Armanno is regarded as one of Australia's leading writers, and has received acclaim for his novels which include Romeo of the Underworld, Strange Rain and The Volcano. He has also written screenplays of his original novels.
He is a playwright, and short story and children's writer. He has been praised for his keen sense of observation and ability to condense big ideas. His works have been translated into several languages, including German.
Mr Armano completed an MA in creative writing at QUT in 1998 and is a regular guest lecturer in QUT's creative writing program. He is currently enrolled in a PhD in creative writing at QUT.
He has been involved in promoting writing in South-East Queensland through participation in festivals, workshops, the Queensland Writers Centre, mentoring, teaching and encouraging young writers.
He is recognised as a Queensland author who has elected to stay in Brisbane and develop his career in his home city.
*Education Faculty recipient:
Jane Andersen, chief executive officer, Abused Child Trust
Jane Andersen, CEO of the Abused Child Trust, has helped bring about a new era in disability and child welfare work in Queensland.
Since joining the trust in 1997, she has expanded the organisation's unique child-focused abuse education, health and counselling services in Brisbane and other areas of Queensland.
Ms Andersen, who is also national director of the Kids First foundation, has worked in a wide range of fields, including education, health, corrections and child protection.
She has worked for Queensland Corrective Services, Sir David Longland Correction Centre, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of New South Wales and the Spastic Centre of New South Wales.
In the 1970s and early 1980s she helped overhaul Queensland's Intellectually Disabled and Handicapped Services, predecessor to Disability Queensland.
In 1984 Ms Andersen gained a Bachelor of Education from QUT's predecessor institution, the Brisbane College of Advanced Education, and also studied at the Brisbane Kindergarten Teachers College and the Mt Gravatt College of Advanced Education.
* Health Faculty recipient and recipient of Excellence in Promoting Creativity and Innovation
John Mendoza, chief executive officer, Australian Sports Drug Agency
John Mendoza joined the Australian Sports Drug Agency (ASDA) in 1996 and was appointed CEO in March 2001.
In 1997 Mr Mendoza managed the development of a purpose-built software application to support the doping control process from test planning to results management. Many anti-doping authorities around the world, including the US Anti-Doping Agency are now using the system.
As deputy CEO at ASDA, Mr Mendoza played a key role in staging the world's most effective anti-doping program at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. Some 350 ASDA staff worked in doping testing during the Olympics.
Since graduating from the Brisbane College of Advanced Education ' a QUT predecessor institution ' with a Bachelor of Education Mr Mendoza has worked in organisational development, training and development, public health, and drugs in sport.
Mr Mendoza has consulted or worked for a range of health-related organisations, and on projects covering drug and alcohol research, occupational health and safety, and workplace change.
* Information Technology Faculty recipient:
Gary Morgan, chief executive officer, Wedgetail Communications
Gary Morgan is a seasoned veteran of the IT industry and has played a leading role in the commercialisation of IT research. As CEO of Wedgetail Communications, he has guided the growth of this high-tech start-up company into international arenas.
Wedgetail Communications is a spin-off of the Co-operative Research Centre for Distributed Systems (DSTC) and has developed a reputation for its ability to commercialise research and take new products to world markets. The company is based in Brisbane and has offices in Sydney and San Francisco.
He completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Griffith University in 1988 and graduated from the IT Faculty with a Graduate Diploma in Commercial Computing in 1990. He completed his MBA (International) at QUT's Brisbane Graduate School of Business in 1999.
Mr Morgan, who has worked in the IT sector for 25 years, is a founder member of the Queensland "e-security cluster". This cluster is a joint initiative of the State Government and private sector, and is the largest e-security research community in the world outside the US.
He is co-founder of two start-up companies and is also a member of the ANZA Technology Network, a professional Business network designed to bring together Australian, New Zealand and US technology companies and executives.
* Law Faculty recipient:
Dr Ken Levy, Director-General, Department of Justice and Attorney-General
Dr Ken Levy is Director-General of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General. He has encouraged the diversion of offenders from the formal criminal justice system by focusing on the psychological functioning of offenders and their propensity for recidivism.
He is regarded as an expert in delinquency and criminal psychology.
Dr Levy was appointed to his present position in December 2000 and has worked in a variety of senior roles in the Queensland justice sector for 30 years.
He has served in the General Army Reserve for 32 years and holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Dr Levy obtained a BA and B Com from the University of Queensland, a Bachelor of Laws from QUT and his PhD from UQ.
He is a Barrister at Law of both the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia, and is also a qualified accountant and psychologist.
He has qualified for membership of 10 professional associations. He is a special member of the Bar Association of Queensland, member of the College of Forensic Psychologists, Australian Psychological Society, a member of the American Psychological Association and is a fellow of CPA Australia.
*Humanities and Human Services recipient:
Jennifer Peut, state manager, Queensland Aged & Disability Advocacy Inc
The Queensland Aged & Disability Advocacy Inc provides statewide advocacy assistance to frail older people and young people with disabilities who live in residential aged-care facilities or who receive care services in their own homes.
Ms Peut is an active advocate for older people and her organisation assists people to articulate their concerns and needs.
She took up her current position in 1999 and has lobbied for increased funding for the organisation.
She also makes a significant contribution to the human services profession through her support of human services students through teaching and arranging work experience placements.
Ms Peut is committed to further developing the national advocacy network and has helped developed a website for advocacy workers.
She is regularly consulted by government and provider groups in Queensland on the needs of frail older people and young people with disabilities.
Ms Peut obtained a Bachelor of Social Science (Human Services) at QUT Carseldine in 1997.
*Alumni Young Achiever:
James Moody
At 25, James Moody has chalked up more than a dozen major awards in recognition of his outstanding academic and other achievements.
A double-degree, QUT graduate and university medallist in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Mr Moody is currently completing his PhD at the Australian National University.
He has played an integral part in the building of FedSat, the first satellite to be built in Australia for 30 years, due to be launched later this year.
He is also conducting research for the Australia Asia Management Centre, Centre for the Mind and the Co-operative Research Centre for Satellite Systems.
He was previously director and CEO of Space Environmental Technologies, an aerospace and environmental engineering consulting firm working on FedSat.
Mr Moody takes an active role in numerous youth leadership issues and was recently a delegate to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Coolum and the Global Youth Form in Denmark. Last year he attended the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Mr Moody was named Young Australian of the Year (Science and Technology) in 2001 and was Australian Young Professional Engineer of the Year in 2000.
*Alumni Young Achiever:
Christopher Layton
QUT optometry graduate Christopher Layton is the recipient of the 2002 Rhodes Scholarship for Queensland -' only the third QUT graduate to have received this prestigious scholarship.
He graduated with a first-class honours degree in 1998 with an almost-perfect score and was awarded a university medal.
He is enrolled in a PhD at the University of Oxford where he is researching an innovative and significant project involving retinal prostheses. Prior to winning the Rhodes Scholarship, he was completing a Bachelor of Medicine at the University of Queensland.
As a student, Mr Layton contributed extensively to a range of professional committees, including staff-student liaison and also served on a selection committee for the chair of surgery at UQ.
He is active in the Vision Care Nepal program involving Australian optometrists and technicians who travel to Nepal to help people with sight problems.
He is a keen sportsperson and has represented his state and country in volleyball.
