2020 recipients

The 2020 winners came from a broad field of discipline areas and professional and operational service

Excellence in Community Engagement

Associate Professor Fred Cahir School of Arts
Acknowledging his valuable contribution in demonstrating excellence in developing links, partnerships and/or projects between the University and external Aboriginal communities instilling critical thinking about Aboriginal history. He plays a prominent role in using his research expertise as a tool for enhancing community engagement in the arts and heritage sectors.

Excellence in Community Engagement

Oscar Owens, Ryan Worn, and Jason Slater Federation University Sport
Acknowledging their valuable contributions for establishing and maximising community engagement, which included the development of social media for FedUni Sport, creation of the Sports Swoop podcast, and specialty articles designed for community benefit.

Excellence in Leadership and Transformational Change 

Ange Jenkins, Carl Smith, Keisha Handley-Valentini
and Xandria Hughes		 Library Frontline Services Leadership Team
Acknowledging their valuable contribution in leading the implementation of the InfoPoint Service in Library Services as the one-stop query resolution service that transforms students’ early experiences in transitioning to university and provides a key point of contact throughout their learning journey.

Excellence in Vocational Industry Engagement and Collaboration

Cheree Macdonald, Greta Murdoch, Raymond Spiteri, Andrew Edmiston, Nicholas Andison and
Braddon Watson		 P-TECH Pathways Team
Acknowledging their valuable contributions for working collaboratively with IBM through P-TECH programs to ensure that the career pathways available to students reflect future industry demands.

Vocational Teaching Excellence

Cheree Macdonald Federation TAFE
Acknowledging her contribution as an integral part of ensuring industry, students and co-workers collaborated to achieve the P-TECH program goal of preparing young people for high growth (new collar) jobs.

Excellence in Research – Early Career Researcher

Dr Meagan Dewar School of Science, Psychology and Sport
Acknowledging her valuable contribution and significant research potential, demonstrated by her success in being awarded a prestigious competitive grant (>$145k), with an emerging reputation in Antarctic sea birds and her appointment as co-Chair of the Antarctic Wildlife Health Monitoring Working Group for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

Research Excellence

Associate Professor Andrew Greenhill School of Science, Psychology and Sport
Acknowledging his valuable contribution in demonstrating exceptional performance as a prolific biomedical researcher through his ability to meaningfully engage with and be sought by international, inter-institutional and industry-based collaborators, as an infectious diseases expert and leader.

Excellence in Research – Research Impact and/or Engagement

Professor Rochelle Eime School of Science, Psychology and Sport
Acknowledging her valuable contribution to research at international, national and community levels in sport management, sport policy and sport and health industries as well as the local sport community. Rochelle developed a multi award-winning Sport Participation Research Project, which is now in its 10th year of research funding from VicHealth and the state government.

Certificates of Commendation

Excellence in Leadership and Transformational Change
(Certificate of Commendation)

Marketing Recruitment Team Marketing
This award acknowledges their valuable contribution for the adaption and innovative idea generation in maintaining the high school network in a virtual environment and increasing our presence with prospective students

Excellence in Professional Services during COVID-19
(Certificate of Commendation)

We strongly acknowledge the extraordinary service demonstrated by all 19 nominations for this category, who were instrumental in transforming University core business in a challenging environment.

  • Casey Geaghan – Student Experience
  • Jack Wang – International
  • Jason Slater – Student Experience and Admin Services
  • Julie Howes, Jean Flynn and Belinda Allwood – University Registrar’s Directorate
  • Kerry Cleary and Mary Madden – Student Experience and Admin Services
  • Kylie Turville – Information Technology Services
  • Renny O’Connor – Academic Services and Support Directorate
  • Arts Academy – School of Arts
  • Corporate Governance Team – Corporate Governance
  • Enrolment Solutions Working Group –  Academic Services and Support Directorate, Finance, Information Technology Services, and University Registrar’s Directorate
  • Human Resources Organisational Development Team – Human Resources
  • TAFE Building and Construction Team – Federation TAFE
  • TAFE Children’s and Community Services Team – Federation TAFE
  • TAFE Nursing and Health Team – Federation TAFE
  • International Marketing and Recruitment – International
  • ITS Service Support Team – Information Technology Services
  • Student Experience Directorate – Student Experience and Admin Services
  • Student Finance Team – Finance
  • System and Business Changes Project Team – Academic Services and Support Directorate, Information Technology Services, and the University Registrar’s Directorate.

You can view the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence presentation slides (pdf, 424kb), or enjoy a short video from some of our award winners speaking about what this award means to them.