2013 The Women's College Magazine

Women’s CollegeWITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

SPRING 2013Vol 29 # 2

# 2 The Women’s College Magazine

Contents3 FROM THE CHAIR Ms Lucinda Warren

4 PRINCIPAL NOTES Dr Amanda Bell

5 STUDENTS’ CLUB Ms Alisha King

6 NEW TEACHING FELLOWS

7 AFFILIATE PROGRAM Dr Amanda Bell

8 FORMAL DINNER SERIES Professor Gillian Triggs, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, Professor Sandra Harding and Professor Erica McWilliam

10 OPEN DAY 2013 Ms Sophie McPhate

12 MENTORING Dr Tiffany Donnelly

14 ALUMNAE Ms Tori Edwards

17 CELEBRATING OUR SCHOLARS

18 EVENTS Wisteria Lunch, Grandparent’s High Tea, Father Daughter Dinner

20 BOOK REVIEWS “Doreen Langley: an ordinary person, an extraordinary life” Rosemary Annable “The Misogyny Factor” Anne Summers, “Jane Austen the Reader: The Artist as Critic” Olivia Murphy

22 VALE Elizabeth Nora Richardson (ARNOLD: 1940-43)

23 2014 CALENDAR

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Spring Issue 2013 #3

From the Chair

In the life cycle of any organisation, fresh eyes often instigate new ways of seeing potential for innovation and improvement. Over the past six months there have been new members appointed to the College Council and new staff, resulting in an enthusiastic desire to review programs and the emergence of new strategic aspirations. The review process has included a fresh look at, amongst many things, our enrolment processes and scholarship offerings; master planning; academic care; and programs to facilitate a successful transition for our students from study to career.

A major piece of work as part of this strategic process has been a review of the College master plan in light of the university’s campus improvement plan. The university has a vision to augment and re-purpose aspects of the existing campus and similarly the College has cast fresh eyes over its own campus with the assistance of m3architecture. The result is an affirmation of the historic significance of key buildings and gardens on our site and the potential to enhance and develop these with sensitivity towards aesthetic improvement and a regard for the period and style in which they were conceived.

The Council looks forward to the emergence of the new Women’s College Campus Improvement Plan over the next few months—a plan which will lend itself to a staged rationalisation of existing spaces with refreshed and reactivated gardens and green space; refurbished and flexible accommodation options; and a newly designed building on Western Avenue which will be the College interface with the University and which will foster social and research functions strategically identified as pivotal to the College’s students and leadership in the future.

Ms Lucinda Warren

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PrincipalNotes

Since arriving at Women’s College in January, the complexity and pace of life here has been both inspiring and consuming. It has been a privilege to observe the myriad student activities and accomplishments and this deep engagement in Women’s culture and history led naturally to new ideas! With the assistance of our dedicated and creative staff we have developed an articulation of all that is special about this historic and extraordinary place. The Women’s College Advantage has been launched as a result.

This Advantage for our current and future students—resident and affiliate (explained elsewhere in this edition)—is based on the premise that the College, the first of its kind in Australia, is a globally connected, secular residential community of female scholars. It offers unrivalled opportunities for enhanced academic, cultural, sporting and professional development. The College’s leading programs in mentoring, tutoring, internships, leadership, sport, culture and community service are what contribute to promoting our students beyond their degree studies at Sydney University.

Alongside all these exciting projects runs the important reliance on our College community—alumnae especially—for support. Scholarships which enable regional, interstate and international students to live and study on campus add to our diverse community. Constant improvements to the College infrastructure ensure it is a well-maintained campus, well-suited to enhancing scholarship, social activities and positive community living.

This College was conceived from an idea to enable women to study equally alongside men—which was well ahead of

its time—an idea realised from philanthropic endeavour. Philanthropy is at the heart of this College’s soul and success. With no government or university funding it has stood stridently self-sufficient and independent for 121 years, throughout which time donors and benefactors have ensured women have enjoyed the tremendous value of a residential offering along with the advantage of a community that is diverse, scholarly and inspirational.

A new initiative has been to join the AISUSA Foundation which facilitates tax deductible donations to the College for our alumnae who are living and working in the USA. We have many supporters already in the United States and this option provides a localised incentive for their philanthropic support. Further details are available at www.aisusafoundation.com.

Our overarching philanthropic goal is to achieve full engagement with one hundred per cent of our community—a strategy based in participation rather than quantum. The College staff, Council, student house committee and alumnae committee are leading the way. It is not the amount that matters, but the willingness to recognise the value of the Women’s College to our students and the future of developing well-educated, well-balanced women. We sincerely thank all of our past and present supporters—especially those who contributed via the autumn edition of this magazine—and I would encourage everyone to reflect on the tremendous contributions our students and alumnae make to family life, the professions, the community and culture in the broadest and deepest sense.

Dr Amanda Bell


Students’ Club ReportA YEAR IN REVIEW

The Students’ Club has had a stellar year with a new constitution and our leadership roles expanded to 173 student positions. From the sporting field to the stage, Wizzies have brought home some spectacular results. While we were one point short of winning the swimming trophy, our team was unrivalled in the netball and Women’s placed second overall in the Rosebowl Cup. We won both the solo and group vocal sections in the cultural stakes, placing us well up the rankings in the Palladian Cup as well.

Our fabulously themed Formal and Spring Cocktails will be talked about for years to come. We celebrated the College’s 121st birthday in true 21st style and the Resident Assistants puton a kindness week for the whole College. Cabaret was a hit performance this year with the best talent this College has on show. Women’s also spearheaded the inaugural Intercol Musical with a performance at the Seymour Centre of Sweeney Todd, produced and directed by our own Anna Colless. The Musical was such a success it has already been puton the calendar for next year.

Our charity committee has been getting fit in the name of good causes, entering teams in City to Surf, Civic to Surf and the Colour Run. They also had a birthing kit assembly day to set up kits to send overseas for women in need. In December thirteen of our students will travel to Nepal to work with alumna Rebecca Ordish in her very special women’s charity, the Mitrataa Foundation (www.mitrataa.org). Funds for the Foundation have been raised through a silent auction at the Father-Daughter Dinner and an intercollegiate comedy competition, InterLol, which attracted a line-up of professional and aspiring college comedians.

The Students’ Club timetable has been jam packed this year. My thanks to all of my fellow students who have made 2013 such a memorable year!

Ms Alisha King, Senior Student

The Women’s College Students’ Club 2014Senior Student Rebecca HoldtSecretary Martha JamesTreasurer Anna LoriganIntercol Reps Penny Sheehan, Amelia SweeneySenior Rep Chelsea Witham3rd Year Rep Sarah Brazel2nd Year Rep Gabrielle Royle2nd Year Rep Melanie StrongmanCultural Rep Rachael KwaSports Rep Nicola Macgregor


New Teaching FellowsIn August, College welcomed four new Teaching Fellows as part of the College’s Senior Common Room and academic programs.

The Fellows will join Barrister Philippa Ryan, our continuing Teaching Fellow in Law, taking weekly tutorials in their respective fields of study and contributing to lively debate in the Senior Common Room dinner series.

Senior Teaching Fellow Tamson Pietsch also joined the College in October.

Alice received her Masters of International Relations from the University of Melbourne in 2011. Originally from Italy, Alice also speaks fluent Spanish. Alice will take on the Government curriculum at College from this semester, and intends on pursuing a PhD on violence and insurgency in Mali from 2014.

Alice Grandi

Rebecca has recently returned to Sydney after nine years in the UK, where she undertook a PhD in Archaeology at the University of York. Rebecca’s archaeological specialty is dental remains, and she lectured in the School of Dentistry at the University of Liverpool from 2007-2010. Rebecca is currently working in the Research Office at the University of Sydney. She is also a Women’s College alumna.

Rebecca Griffin

Rosemary undertook her Masters in Arabic and Islamic Studies while living at Women’s College in 2010. She recently returned from seven months in Jordan where she studied Arabic as part of an Endeavour grant. Rosemary is currently pursuing her PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Sydney University.

Rosemary Hancock

Chris is currently in the final stages of his English PhD, working on discourses of psychiatry in the fiction of Aldous Huxley and Philip K. Dick. Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in English and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney. Chris was a recent recipient of a Dean’s Citation for Excellence in Tutorials at the University of Sydney.

Chris Rudge

Tamson joins us from Brunel University in London where she was a Lecturer in Imperial History. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Adelaide and holds a Masters and PhD from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She has worked in academic publishing and was aide and speech writer for the Governor of Victoria.

Tamson has returned to Australia to take up an early career research fellowship in the Department of History at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the cultural and intellectual history of Britain and its empire. Her book, Empire of Scholars: Universities, Networks and the British Academic World, 1850-1939 was published in 2013, and her current project focuses on the idea of global education in the interwar period.

Dr Tamson Pietsch Senior Teaching Fellow


NEW AFFILIATE STUDENT PROGRAM The Women’s College now offers a bespoke Affiliate Student Program for non-residents.

Affiliates are entitled to enjoy direct access to the College’s renowned academic, cultural and social programs, and benefit from tailored leadership programs and professional development opportunities as part of the broader Women’s College Advantage. The Affiliate Program is ideal for students who wish to remain living at home or in share accommodation, but seek the advantage of being involved in a premier collegiate experience while studying at the University of Sydney.

The program also suits current students who are completing their undergraduate degree and wish to transition to independent living for their postgraduate studies. These students want to remain connected to the College via benefits such as the unique Formal Dinner Series, tutorials, mentoring, internships and leadership programs.

Affiliate status is also offered to selected students when the College has no residential places available, thus enabling them to participate in College life while waiting for the possibility of full residency in the future.

Details on the Affiliate Student Program and information on how to apply can be found on the College website:

http://www.thewomenscollege.com.au/affiliate-program.php

Internships

Zaina interned with media identity Dr Anne Summers, working on landmark journalistic pieces such as the last interview with Julia Gillard as Prime Minister and perfecting the art of transcription.

Anastasia has been interning at College in the Marketing Department throughout 2013. She has gained large event and community relations experience, particularly through her role as event organiser for Open Day 2013.

MEDIA - Ms Zaina Rayan AhmedBachelor of Science/ Bachelor of Arts I

MARKETING - Ms Anastasia CraigMasters of International Relations student


Formal Dinner Series

Former Women’s College tutor and Head of the School of Physics, Professor Anne Green, was in the audience along with a number of Women’s College science alumnae, when College was treated to some mad science with celebrated science commentator Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. Best known for his weekly radio programs on Triple J and BBC radio, Dr Karl is Julius Sumner Miller Fellow in the Science Foundation for Physics at the School of Physics, University of Sydney.

Dr Karl delighted his audience with a dizzying array of topics. His Formal Dinner talk pondered the curious connection between a preference for the right-hand side in newborn babies and romantic couples; and how alcohol consumption increases the facial attractiveness of the opposite sex. He even revealed the secret science behind the reasons women make better chairs of meetings.

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

Professor Gillian Triggs

Joint Women’s and St Paul’s Law Dinner

President of the Australian Human Rights Commission and former Dean of the Faculty of Law Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs addressed the Women’s College and St Paul’s College Joint Law Dinner on Monday 16 September in the Women’s College Dining Hall. The joint dinner was an initiative of Deputy Chair of the Women’s College Council, barrister Mary Walker (GHANTOUS: 1975-78).

Professor Triggs was Challis Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney from 2007-12 and Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law from 2005-7. She is a former Barrister with Seven Wentworth Chambers and a Governor of the College of Law.

In her address Professor Triggs outlined the heady, idealistic years of her undergraduate degree in the late 1960s before tackling the issue of protecting human rights in the “political maelstrom” of an election year in Australia. Professor Triggs articulated the disconnect between international treaties protecting human rights, and their practice at the level of domestic law, stressing the crucial role bipartisan support plays in the effective implementation of human rights treaties.


On Monday 26 August Vice Chancellor and President of James Cook University (JCU) Professor Sandra Harding gave an address at Formal Dinner, attended by University of Sydney Vice Chancellor Dr Michael Spence. In addition to her role at JCU, Professor Harding holds the position of Chair of Universities Australia, the peak body representing the university sector nationally and internationally. She has also held numerous senior university-aligned roles as well as memberships and directorships of a variety of local, national and international Boards and Councils.

In her address Professor Harding outlined the findings emerging from the State of the Tropics Report, a report commissioned by JCU to assess the critical questions facing one of the world’s most important and fastest growing regions. The aim of the report, says Professor Harding, is geopolitical. “We’re not trying to supplant other perspectives but we’re eager to offer another way the way the world can view itself. It’s a puzzle and a great challenge as to how we lost that lateral Aristotelian view of the world as existing in discrete zones.” The report can be found at http://stateofthetropics.org/.

Professor Harding has had a long association with Women’s College Principal Dr Amanda Bell. “She has brought such strong leadership to education and the community,” Professor Harding said, “and I know the prowess that she’ll bring to her new role. I’m delighted for the College that this appointment was made.”

Professor Sandra Harding

Professor Erica McWilliam

Professor Erica McWilliam’s address to College at our Arts Week Formal Dinner on Monday 14 October encouraged students to engage in “serious play and probing,” in their academic pursuits, challenging them to find pleasure in “the rigour of lifelong learning.”

A seasoned writer, academic and educator, Professor McWilliam structured her address as an extended multiple choice question, offering a number of options to the question of what constitutes creativity in today’s world. Drawing on examples from Dylan Thomas, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Pablo Picasso, Professor McWilliam explored the creative space opened up by the collision of oppositional ideas.

Professor McWilliam is adjunct professor in the Creative Workforce 2.0 Research Program in the ARC’s Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology. She is the author of The Creative Workforce: How to launch young people into high flying futures (UNSW Press, 2008).


This year’s Women’s College Open Day attracted record numbers of potential students, their families and friends from all over Sydney, regional areas, interstate and overseas.

Scores of Women’s College volunteers shared the story of Women’s and engaged in our Open Day Fete.

Fresher tour guides took groups of visitors on tailored excursions around the College; with College show bags in the hands of possible future residents.

The energy of the guides was boundless and their enthusiasm for Women’s truly infectious. So many of the Open Day volunteers were so keen to be involved on the day they assisted for hours before and beyond their allocated shifts.

The Women’s stall set up in the University’s Quadrangle proved a great hub for interested students to chat to current residents, before being escorted to College for a tour.

Convenors representing the College’s various sporting, cultural and philanthropic pursuits shared information with visitors at tables leading up to the entrance of the College.

Visitors and volunteers alike enjoyed the fun and inviting atmosphere of the occasion, sharing ice-creams, Luxe coffees, a gourmet BBQ topped with blue and white fairy floss on the front lawns.

Open Day is a great opportunity for current students and staff to showcase The Women’s College to potential future residents. This year proved hugely successful in exhibiting the College’s unique benefits to the wider community and attracting a record number of applications for 2014 and beyond.

OPEN DAY 2013

Showcase in blue and white

Ms Sophie McPhate, Open Day Leader



Mentoring assists young women with expectations around professional etiquette and bearing when they enter the workforce, and encourages them to set goals and to reach for benchmarks they may not have envisioned for themselves without the support of a mentor.

In the tertiary education setting mentoring can be a catalyst to wider career choice, greater self-confidence and the inception of strategic thinking about career which inevitably impacts the trajectory of women’s professional pathways; fuelling their ability to challenge themselves to bid for promotion.

The Women’s College program is relatively unique in the Australian residential college scene. Indeed, it is fast becoming a benchmark program for other Australian university colleges. The mentoring program at Women’s forms part of an integrated program to assist students throughout their College career: it’s the last in a series of positive interventions which begins with the transition into university life, assists with academic support throughout their degree programs, and ultimately sees students transition into professional life. Established in its current format in 2006, the program matches senior undergraduate and postgraduate students with a professional mentor in the field they are aiming to work when they graduate.

For both mentors and mentees, the time commitment is fairly small: four meetings over the course of an academic year. The College hosts three annual mentoring events to which mentors and mentees are invited, and the pairs are encouraged to meet informally at other times in a mutually agreed location. While the proactivity of the mentee is important in setting up the meetings and maintaining regular contact, the formal framework of the program facilitates face-to-face discussion and provides measurable goals to reach for.

The range of professions to which College women aspire varies widely and shifts annually, and without doubt the key challenge of the program is finding appropriate mentors to match student requests. This is where strong alumnae networks have proved invaluable.

On average more than half of the mentees in the program are matched with mentors who are former Women’s College students, who have kept the College informed of their careers

either directly or via the Women’s College LinkedIn group. As well as being a willing source of mentors, involvement in the mentoring program also serves as a catalyst for reconnection, forging intergenerational links and providing alumnae with an opportunity to give back to the College in a tangible way. Feedback from students matched with both alumnae and other mentors drawn from the wider College network (largely from university and professional connections) suggests that mentors are natural role models for their mentees, keying into another essential aspect of the mentoring experience. Role modelling provided by more senior women mentors has been shown to create an aspirational culture which, in organisational settings, signals the feasibility of professional mobility (Kurtulus et.al., p177).

Seniority is a key factor in the selection of mentors for the program. In order to ensure a balance between mentors having time to spend with their mentees, and mentees not finding their mentors intimidating, the program actively recruits mentors who are younger (generally between 25 and 40), and who are not in senior management positions but who possess valuable organisational knowledge.

Gender is a factor too: while alumnae of the College are naturally all women, recruitment of female mentors has been deliberate, particularly for mentees who are training for traditionally male-dominated professions. While male mentors have been utilised occasionally in the Women’s College program (with positive outcomes), there is evidence to suggest that there are greater career effects for women in having female mentors. In her 2005 study of women in mentoring, Phyllis Tharenou stated that “women with female as opposed to male mentors can learn more strategies for dealing with barriers to their advancement … gain more support including role modelling, and gain more career support especially with challenging assignments” (p82).

Qualitative survey data on the Women’s College program taken at the end of the mentoring year has been consistently positive, both from mentors’ and mentees’ perspectives. Mentors reported satisfaction with assisting a younger woman into professional life, and greater focus on mentoring for themselves, while mentees pointed to the benefits of receiving information about organisational cultures, advice on further study, assistance with job applications, access to networks

MentoringEffectsDr Tiffany DonnellyVice Principal


MentoringEffects

which would otherwise be unavailable, workplace visits or work experience, and general personal support. “It was great to be able to see the different directions my study can take,” noted one mentee, “and be guided through the difficult process of making big career decisions.” Another stated: “the experience has been fantastic. Not only did my mentor strive to get to know me and help me wherever she could, she also invited me to various professional events that proved extremely beneficial to my career plans.” A third noted: “The relationship has given me the confidence and knowledge to confirm my desire to teach and work towards furthering my career in the education field” (Women’s College Survey Data 2012). A special relationship forged with a mentor has also been linked to philanthropic giving back to institutions in later life (Clotfelter, p.115).

The benefits of instituting a formal program are palpable, since many women don’t necessarily establish informal mentoring relationships naturally.

A global study of businesswomen and mentoring undertaken in 2013 found “women are still not seeking mentors for themselves,” and despite the known professional benefits of mentoring, only about half of the organisations surveyed in the study had formal mentoring programs (Neal et.al, p5). A formal program does more than just institutionalise mentoring. It fosters a culture that makes it more acceptable for women to seek out and ask other women to be their mentors, both formally and informally. (Neal et.al., p9)

Fostering a culture of mentoring in educational institutions can harness the positive effects of mentoring early on.

By familiarising them with mentoring in a formal educational context, young women who gain from this early experience are more likely to seek out mentors in their professional life too.

Wendy McCarthy of McCarthy Mentoring says a formal mentoring program “can be structured to be socially inclusive and has the advantage of including discipline and protocols. It also frequently uses external mentors who are not part of the club and can offer the mentee an external view of the world” (p 17).

The professional outcomes of formal programs are measurably good too: a study published in the Harvard Business Review states that women who experienced mentoring through formal programs “received more promotions than women who had found mentors on their own (by a ratio of almost three to two)” (Ibarra et.al., p85).

In several instances the benefits of the Women’s College mentoring program have continued well beyond the stipulated year of the program, and into mentees’ professional lives. Four mentoring relationships which have continued long term were surveyed in 2012, confirming the elements which have made the program successful from inception. All four relationships continue to have regular (if possible face-to-face) meetings with frank and honest feedback. All cited similarity or compatibility of career or profession, shared values, and mutual respect and regard as key ingredients of the longevity of the relationship. Mentors reported being genuinely invested in their mentee’s success, and continued to ask probing questions, challenge assumptions, and act as a good role model to their mentee.

As one mentee stated: “my mentor helps me calibrate where I am at in my career and provides a useful reality check against other advice.” Her mentor said: “for me there’s been a joy in seeing a talented person succeed, and a pleasure in providing help that is valued and advice that is implemented.”

While the benefits of mentoring which bridges the transition from study to work are palpable in these comments, and while it’s still too soon to tell whether educational mentoring programs can help redress the shortage of women in senior management in the future, the signs are good: all four of the mentees who have maintained long term connection with their College mentor have undertaken Master’s programs overseas (including Oxford, Harvard and the University of California), one mentee has a board position, and one is running her own start-up business out of a major Asian hub.

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2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Fig. 1. The Women's College Mentoring Program:Number of students matched (2006 - 2013)

Eligible students

Matches

Trendline (Eligible students)

Trendline (Matches)

References

C.T. Clotfelter. “Alumni giving to elite private colleges and universities” Economics of Education Review 22 (2003): 109–120.

Ibarra, Herminia, Nancy M. Carter and Christine Silva. “Why Men Still Get More Promotions Than Women.” Harvard Business Review (September 2010): 80-85.

Kurtulus, Fidan Ana and Donald Tomaskovic-Devey. “Do Female Top Managers Help Women to Advance? A Panel Study using EEO-1 Records.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 639 (2012): 173-97.

McCarthy, Wendy. One to One: The Guide for Mentors. Sydney: Focus Publishing Interactive, 2008.

Neal, Stephanie, Jazmine Boatman and Linda Miller. Women as Mentors: Does She or Doesn’t She? A Global Study of Businesswomen and Mentoring. Development Dimensions International, 2013.

Tharenou, Phyllis. “Does Mentor Support Increase Women’s Career Advancement More than Men’s? The Differential Effects of Career and Psychosocial Support.” Australian Journal of Management 30.1 (2005): 77-109.


Alumnae NewsMs Tori Edwards, Alumnae President

Just over ten years since I left the Women’s College, my memories of my time at our “much loved institution of learning”, as the Principal of my era, Ms Quentin Bryce liked to refer to it, are as strong as ever. Having taken the reins of the Alumnae Committee from Jacquei Hicks in July this year, I have been reflecting more than ever on the strength of the bonds forged within those walls, and the extraordinary personal and professional grounding offered by a Women’s experience. I extend my heartfelt thanks to Jacquei on behalf of the Alumnae community at College for her three years of service as the President of the Committee. She leaves it in good shape, and with a clear mission to ensure that links between the College and its past students, who make up such an important part of the College community, are rekindled and maintained.

With this mission in mind, the Committee is embarking on a new project aimed at strengthening these connections and at seeing some of our large body of esteemed alumnae recognised for the work that they have done and continue to do in a diversity of professional fields around the globe. We are aiming to nominate former students from the Women’s College for a range of ‘gongs’, and are hopeful that we will be successful in their accomplishments being publicly acknowledged. On that note, it is over to all former Wizzies to nominate their peers (or themselves), and to bring their achievements to our attention. We eagerly anticipate being spoiled for a choice of nominees. I look forward to the opportunity to lead the Alumnae Committee, and to forge new connections with current and former Wizzies in the year ahead.

Left to Right:

Stephanie Moffitt (2002-2006) Committee Member

Antonia Waddy (1998-2001) Secretary

Tori Edwards (2000-2002) President

Victoria Harper (MORGAN: 1981-84) Vice President

Carolyn Gavel (1984-1988) Treasurer

Eliza Newton (2002-2005) Committee Member


Tiffanny is a graduate of the University of Sydney and alumna of Women’s College. Tiffanny has held senior management positions in international marketing, media and sport and is a member of the College executive, responsible for the marketing, community relations and philanthropy portfolios. Tiffanny’s research area is social media and big data in international sport. She also teaches in the Department of Media & Communications at the University of Sydney at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Welcome to New StaffMs Tiffanny JuneeMPub(with Merit), B.A


Susan BarrettRuth BarryAmanda BellChristina BoycePeter BullPenny CameronJanice ChapmanGeorgina ChewDavid CochraneWestpac Ruby ConnectionJohn CoplandGineke De HaanAlexandra DonaldsonTiffany DonnellyAnna DoweStella DownerGwenneth DownesCatherine DraytonAnn EylandJanet FlintJill ForrestDenise FungOlma GanCarolyn GavelSamantha GavelAlice GilmourIan GordonDinah HalesSophie HarrisonJill HawkerMargaret HawkinsJacqueline HicksTiffanny Junee

Alan LandersTina LeungPenelope LittleEmily MakerBetty MarksJanet McCredieMary McGuirkLeah McKenzieAlison MurrayMargaret MurraySandra NashKenneth & Helen NealeRosemary PageSharon ParkerJoan Miriam PerkinsSerena PorgesPaula Benn RafiqTrish SharpLorna SiahSarah SivyerElissa SmallmanLee SteeleAnne SummersNancy SutherlandPaul SwanChristopher SweeneySandra TaylorMargaret TinkDaniela TorshMaple-Brown TrustDanny WetherallMandy WhelanHolly Wright

Alumnae Awards 2014 Nominations are invited for the 5th Women’s College Alumnae Awards. The awards recognise the achievements of our alumnae in their professions and in service to the community and the College. The awards cover three categories: The Women’s College Alumna Award (open category), The Women’s College Young Alumna Award (for an alumna under 40 years of age), and The Women’s College Alumna Community Achievement Award.

Alumnae are warmly encouraged to nominate an inspirational leader or a quiet achiever for each of these awards. Winners will be announced at the Alumnae Awards Dinner at College on Monday 26 May 2014.

Further information, including nomination criteria and nomination forms, is available on the College website.

2011 Alumnae Award Winners:TWC Alumna Award: Professor Margaret Burgess AO (pictured above)TWC Young Alumna Award: Rebecca OrdishTWC Alumna Community Achievement Award: Jill Hodgson

The Women’s College Donors List January - July, 2013


The familiar and much loved portrait by James Quinn of our first Principal of The Women’s College, Louisa Macdonald, is in urgent need of restoration.

The portrait was presented to the College by “past & present students & friends” and has been hanging in the Dining Hall for many years in pride of place.

Unfortunately, owing to the proximity to the kitchen and the changing climate conditions, it is in poor structural and aesthetic condition.

The College has secured a conservation report to repair and restore both the canvas and the beautiful gilded frame.

As Louisa and her portrait are of great historic significance to our College we are seeking support from our Alumnae to assist us to meet the $9,825 quotation to bring her back to her original condition—once again revealing the luminosity of the paint quality and tonal variations which are currently hidden under years of grime and damage.

The Alumnae Association has generously offered to assist with part of the restoration costs and we would be very pleased to hear from any of our College community who may also like to contribute to this important project.

Please contact Tiffanny Junee, Director - Marketing, Community Relations & Philanthropy if you would like to assist: [email protected] or +61 2 9517 5000.

(Donations to The Women’s College are tax deductible)

Portrait of

by James Peter Quinn c.1924

Louisa Macdonald


The College thanks Westpac for its generous support in donating a table at the awards dinner for our students and staff.

Second-year Music Performance student Rachael Kwa topped the academic results for Semester One with a stunning 92.8% average in her university subjects.

A talented violinist and pianist, Rachael leads a group of twelve students who achieved a high distinction average mark (85%+) over the first semester. Impressively, three of these students were freshers.

Women’s College continues to provide a supportive scholarly environment which cultivates academic excellence. Over one third of our student body consistently achieves a distinction average or above each semester. In Semester One, 103 students reached this benchmark – a remarkable 37% of the College.

Celebrating our Scholars

ACADEMIC TABLE SEMESTER ONE

Highest individual Average Mark awarded 92.8%

Students with High Distinction average 12 (4.3% of College)

Students with Distinction average (32.5% of College)

Number of individual units of study taken 1012

College average (across all subjects) 71.8%

Congratulating our CommunityCongratulations to College Council member Professor Marian Baird for winning the Public Policy category in the Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards for 2014.

We also congratulate the Chancellor of the University of Sydney and Official Visitor to the College, Belinda Hutchinson AM, on co-winning the Board/Management category.

Gail Kelly, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Westpac Group and Larke Riemer, Director of Women’s Markets, Westpac extended a warm welcome to Women’s College staff and students at the 100 Women of Influence Awards Dinner

Professor Marian Baird Belinda Hutchinson AM


Grandparents’ High TeaThe inaugural event will now become an annual fixture on the Women’s College Calendar

Wisteria LunchIn 2013, the annual event doubled as the 60 year reunion for our 1953 Freshers


Father Daughter Dinner 2013A blue ribbon Semester 2 event drawing guests from around the world

Fathers were treated to a special menu at our annual Father Daughter Dinner on Saturday 14 September when celebrity chef Teage Ezard, proprietor of Sydney restaurant Black, and Melbourne establishments Ezard and Gingerboy, oversaw the creation of the meal. Ezard’s special guest appearance was organised by our catering company, Alliance Catering, and his creative culinary input added extra flavour to what is a beloved night in the College calendar.

Second-year Education student Kate Murray introduced her father Rob Murray to the microphone to deliver the after-dinner address. Rob’s musings on the challenges of fatherhood and his personal and business philosophy were an amusing highlight of the evening, and a great talking point for the assembled throng of fathers. Formerly CEO of Lion Nathan, Rob is currently Non-Executive Director on several boards including Lion, Kirin’s International Advisory Board, Super Retail Group, Linfox and the Bestest charity.


Doreen Langley: an ordinary person, an extraordinary lifeby Rosemary Annable

Review by Janet Scarfe

For many alumnae, the name “Langley” is inseparable from their memories of The Women’s College. They lived in the Langley Wing or were interviewed by “Miss Langley” the Principal before coming into college. They were the beneficiary of her care when ill or encouragement when finishing a thesis, or they took advantage of the liberal visiting hours for guests introduced in her time. Some perhaps experienced the sharp end of her tongue. Some became friends with “Doreen” in life after College, and delighted in her postcards from far flung places, her phone calls, her gourmet cooking and exuberant conversations about any number of topics – art, music, books, films, politics and (as I recall once) bathmats.

Doreen Langley was Principal of The Women’s College from 1957 until 1974, seventeen years, a length of service exceeded only by the founding Principal Louisa Macdonald. During that time thousands of young women, many from country New South Wales, lived there for all or part of their university experience.

Doreen Langley’s principalship was a highly significant time in the history of the College. Now it has been recorded, along with Doreen’s life and times before and after The Women’s College in this short but wonderfully evocative biography entitled Doreen Langley: an ordinary person, an extraordinary life (Brinkburn Press, 2013, 139pp), by Dr Rosemary Annable, former archivist at the College and historian.

Under Doreen as Principal, Women’s trebled in size from 88 to nearly 300, Reid Wing was opened, the Langley Wing and Menzies Common Room were built, and The Maples was renovated to encourage postgraduate residents. She worked hard to build a sense of academic community and academic achievement. International guests were a part of this: Linus Pauling (Nobel Prize winner for both peace and chemistry) spoke at formal dinner on his Australian visit in 1973.

Doreen’s principalship also coincided with far-reaching, confronting and often exhilarating changes which touched every aspect of society. Neither Women’s College nor the University of Sydney were immune. Students participated in anti Vietnam war marches, protests against the Springbok cricket tour, sought representation in university forums, and criticised established ways of doing things.

Doreen relished the times. Legend has it she put up bail for a Burgmann sister arrested in a Springbok protest. She brought

married tutors to live in, endorsed a student representative on the College Council and ‘extended visiting hours’ (‘all night visiting’ to its opponents), and progressively reduced College formalities. She supported a student through her pregnancy, allowing student and baby to remain in College. She marched into BHP, one of Australia’s biggest corporate entities, to support a former student applying for a position that stipulated “Men only need apply” – with success. Her car bore the bumper sticker “Scientists against Nuclear War”.

Rosemary’s meticulous and wide-reaching research shows us Doreen’s life before, during and after The Women’s College. She captures the essence of various decades, countries (Egypt, New Guinea, Gambia, Fiji, England …), two world wars, social mores and personalities as she delineates Doreen’s background, fascinating family, education and professional life.

Research is one essential element of biography: the other is encapsulating the person. Doreen’s extraordinary abilities, qualities and array of contributions to the University of Sydney (the Senate, International House and the University Settlement) shine through this book in a most engaging way. We see her achievements as a single professional woman in circles where men dominated decision-making, determined expectations and set the rules.

We also sense the personal cost to her of living in a fishbowl with a 30 second walk from flat to office, Doreen’s struggles with the College Council over policy, power and her conditions, and the condescension of her peers, the male Heads of Colleges who scoffed at her complaints when their drunken men broke into Women’s after every Rawson Cup dinner. Her flaws (which were at times there for all to see) are evident too, and treated in a gentle understanding way.

Rosemary Annable and Pat Lesslie, Doreen’s sister who commissioned this biography, are to be most warmly thanked and congratulated on the fascinating, highly readable life story.

Do read this wonderful biography whatever your relationship with Doreen – student of her time or later in the College she shaped so much, colleague in any one of her many endeavours, friend or adversary.

Janet Scarfe was a tutor in The Women’s College from 1971 to 1974, and privileged to be a friend of Doreen’s for the rest of her life.

*Copies of Doreen Langley: an ordinary person, an extraordinary life ($25 including postage & packing within Australia) can be purchased by contacting the author by e-mail on: [email protected]

Biography of Doreen LangleyWomen’s College Principal 1957-1974


If you thought that there was no more to be said about Jane Austen, you wouldn’t be far wrong. It is a truth widely if not universally acknowledged that she has to be the most written about author in English – and by ‘written about’ I don’t only mean books and articles, though there are plenty of them. I mean also sequels, imitations and adaptations. There have been more than twenty film and TV adaptations already this century. Fan clubs – often called Jane Austen Societies – flourish in the Anglophone world and beyond. The term ‘Janeite’ was coined as long ago as 1894. Austen is an addiction – among novelists only Dickens inspires similar adulation.

However, if there is more to be said, Women’s College alumna Dr Olivia Murphy is the one to say it. In her book she demonstrates a long-nurtured inwardness with her author – she really knows Jane Austen’s writings upside down and

inside out. Into the bargain, she demonstrates a formidable acquaintance with literary contexts: who and what Jane Austen read, who was writing when she was. She navigates with skilful ease the mountains of criticism and commentary, taking her literary historical bearings mainly from feminist criticism and book history.

The argument of the book can be simply stated: ‘By reading Austen’s novels for their literary criticism, as much as for their creativity, we can gain new insight into her artistic practices’ (p. ix). A far cry from a famous dismissal of Jane Austen’s novels as simply concerned with ‘a husband hunt in a country village,’ Jane Austen the Reader shows how integral Austen’s reading was to her writing, and how the novels are in themselves a critical discourse. The study builds on previous work to create new understanding and illumination.

Jane Austen the Reader: The Artist as Critic by Olivia Murphy (Palgrave, 2013)

Review by Professor Margaret Harris

The Misogyny Factorby Anne Summers (New South Publishing, 2013)

Review by Ivan HeadBA (UWA) BD (MCD) PhD Glasgow, Warden of St Paul’s College University of Sydney

This book is essential reading and ought to be considered a seminal reader for University students and College residents. Summers brings back into the light the ongoing issues of gender difference, equality and inequality in Australia by focussing on the often unremarked structural factors that make institutional leaders think they are responding to natural phenomena rather than to socially constructed and entrenched traditions.

The work is part of what could be called ‘the equality project’ and Summers surveys the rise and fall of political initiatives on behalf of women, by men and by women in Australia from Menzies to Gillard. Summers rightly lists and praises Gillard’s achievements as Australia’s first female Prime Minister and places these alongside the misogynist demonisation given airplay in the Australian press. The book has a political agenda, or a humanist agenda for modern Australia, expressed

around the theme of equality for women and men in life and in work, in opportunity, in relationships, in income aspirations and retirement benefits. Summers includes in her notion of equality equal access by parents (women and men) to affordable and realistic state funded childcare. In effect, the state has to become the social driver and source of leverage in constructing a society in which all can, as a right, preference their professional and income-earning activities in a way that sees real economic gain to the individual and couple. This is a point that invites very real debate and reflection.

As head of a neighbouring College for men, it was great to be at the launch of this book at the Women’s College. Jointly in our times we can pursue a vision of equality and difference, a ‘room of one’s own’ and the greater relational realities that can hold between women and men.


Bettie was born in Albury in 1923, the first of three children. She was school captain at Albury High School and the first woman in the area to attend a university.

Bettie graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Sydney University in 1942. She completed a postgraduate Certificate of Dietetics while working as a student at Prince Alfred Hospital, and later worked as chief dietitian there for a year before marrying journalist Hal Richardson. Bettie worked as a teacher and raised three children, Sandy, Megan and Michael.

The family moved to Canberra in 1963 and Bettie returned to her original profession, working as therapeutic dietitian at the Canberra Hospital. A leader in her profession, she was the main conciliation negotiator of the individual State Associations of Dietitians, her work culminating in the registration of the Australian Association of Dietetics in 1976. In 1973 Bettie co-authored The Anti Coronary

Cookbook with Nathalie Havenstein. The book received a silver medal for the best seller of the year.

Bettie contributed to many organisations in her local community. She was a foundation member of the Home Economics Association, foundation President of ACT Diabetes Association, an active member of the Catering Institute of Australia, the Apprenticeship Board and the Nutrition Society.

Bettie provided guidance and support to the dietetic and catering workforce in the ACT as Senior Dietitian at both major hospitals and the community health program. She was awarded a Medal in the Order of Australia in 1999.

Both as a practitioner and as an advocate for community nutrition education, Bettie was a pioneer for her profession, and a tireless encourager of high standards and team work.

Vale

Elizabeth Nora Richardson (ARNOLD: 1940-43) BSc CertDietetics OAM

September 2013written by Wendy Gray(RABONE: 1958-60)

Calendar 2O14

MONTH DATE ACTIVITY/ EVENTS

JANUARY Friday 03.01.2014 University of Sydney Information Day

FEBRUARY Tuesday 25.02.2014 University of Sydney O-Week Commences

MARCH Sunday 02.03.2014 Students Return to College

APRIL Friday 18.04.2014 Good Friday Public Holiday

Friday 18-25.04.2014 Non-Teaching Week

Monday 21.04.2014 Easter Monday Public Holiday

Friday 25.04.2014 Anzac Day Public Holiday

MAY Saturday 03.05.2014Saturday 17.05.2014

Alumnae High TeaMother / Daughter Dinner

Friday 23.05.2014 College Formal

Monday 26.05.2014 Formal Dinner Series: Alumnae Awards Dinner

JUNE Monday 09.06.2014 Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday

Monday 09-13.06.2014 Stuvac

Saturday 28.06.2014 Semester 1 Ends

JULY Monday 28.07.2014 Semester 2 Begins

AUGUST Sunday 10.08.2014 SCR: 3 Minute Thesis Pitch

Saturday 30.08.2014 University of Sydney Open Day

SEPTEMBER Saturday 06.09.2014 Grandparents’ High Tea

Saturday 13.09.2014 Father / Daughter Dinner

Saturday 20.09.2014 Annual Wisteria Lunch

Monday 29.09.2014 Mid-Semester Break Commences

OCTOBER Monday 06.10.2014 Labour Day Public Holiday

NOVEMBER Monday 3-7.11.2014 Stuvac

Friday 22.11.2014 Semester 2 Ends


Publisher: Tiffanny JuneeEditor: Tiffany DonnellyPhotography: SugarLove PicturesPrinting & Design: The SOS Print + Media Group

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2013 The Women's College Magazine