Graduation celebrations underway at UOW

Dec 15, 2005

The University of Wollongong has been a sea of blue gowns and mortar boards this week (Monday 13 December) as the 2005 summer graduation ceremonies take place on campus.

The University of Wollongong will have played host to more than 10,000 graduands and their families and friends by the end of the week with a total of about 3,000 graduands attending the ceremonies to receive their testamurs.

* The most prestigious prize at the University of Wollongong, the Chancellor Robert Hope Memorial Prize, will be presented to Danielle Murphy Durland at the afternoon ceremony on December 16. It is an award of the Council of UOW made on the recommendation of a committee chaired by the University Chancellor, Mr Michael Codd, AC. The prize is named in honour of UOW's first Chancellor and one of Australia's most prominent legal practitioners, Justice Robert Hope, AC, CMG. The award is based on a graduating student's academic excellence as well as his or her contributions to the University and wider community

* Penny Josephson will be the first student to receive a Bachelor of Arts with honours through UOW's Moss Vale Education Centre. She will receive her degree at the morning ceremony on December 16. Before undertaking the degree, Penny worked as a performer and on the production side of theatre throughout Europe

* A mother and daughter will be graduating -- Deanne Condon-Paoloni received a PhD at the morning ceremony on 13 December and her daughter, Elena Paoloni, will graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the afternoon ceremony on 15 December.Two sisters, Renae and Olivia Van Woerden, will graduate with Arts degrees at the morning ceremony on December 16

* Roza Dimenska was a migrant to Australia who spoke no English when she first arrived in 1992. Her father was a driving force in her decision to come to UOW around 2000. He died just after she made her decision to enrol. Roza will now graduate with an honours degree in science at the afternoon ceremony on December 16

* A former headmaster of a Sydney college and an award-winning published poet/writer, Nicholas Kyriacos, will receive his PhD at the morning ceremony on December 16. He is to have a book published in 2006 related to his creative arts thesis work which has been described by his publisher as the next great Australian novel* The eight Indigenous students graduating will hold a special 'graduation party' at the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre on campus at Building 30. The party will be held at 4.30pm on December 16. One Indigenous graduand of note is Lisa-Marie Syron who is UOW's first Indigenous postgraduate in Performance. For her Masters research she created and directed Ephemera - the Reconciliation Monologues.

Lisa-Marie won the Philip Parsons Prize in 2005 which is awarded annually by the Australasian Drama Studies Association for the best postgraduate research that results in a theatrical production. Lisa-Marie will graduate at the afternoon ceremony on December 16

Photos from each graduation ceremony can be viewed at : UOW Graduation Photos Photos are updated as graduation progresses.