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Where are they now? Latest News
October 2009 Alumni Update
Rev Ben Gooley (New College 1994-1996) appointed as New College Dean of Residents.
New Dean for 2010 to replace Dr James Pietsch
New College is pleased to announce that our new Dean of Residents in 2010 will be Rev Ben Gooley. Ben is a former New Collegian (New College 1994-1996). He completed a Bachelor of Engineering degree (Electrical) (Hons.) at UNSW (1994-1997) and spent 2 years at Alcatel Australia (1998-1999). He subsequently completed a Bachelor of Divinity (Hons 1) and Diploma of Ministry at Moore Theological College (2001-2005).
He had two years experience as part of the Ministry Training Strategy (2000-2001) and has ministry experience at Engadine Anglican (2002-2003), Fairfield Anglican (2004-2005) and Unichurch (2006-2009).
He is married to Sue who was also a New College resident (New College 1995-1998). They have three children Peter (5), Anna (2) & Rachel (6 months). Ben will commence as Dean on 4 January 2010 and his family will move into the residence in early February.
"Ben will bring great insight and experience into the role as a former Collegian and will continue to build on the College’s strong community and traditions", said Prof Trevor Cairney when announcing the appointment.
Dr John Quinn (New College 1995-2002) appointed as New College Village Dean of Residents.
New College has appointed a new Dean to take over as the live-in co-ordinator of all pastoral care of residents at NCV.
New College is pleased to announce that the new Dean of Residents at NCV from 4 January 2010 will be Dr John Quinn. A former New Collegian (1995-2002) Dr Quinn served at New College as a Residential Adviser, Senior Residential Adviser and Acting Dean of Residents. He completed his PhD in 2002 through the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design at UNSW. After he left UNSW he was appointed as a Research Fellow at Melbourne University in the Dept of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (2003-2007). From 2007 to the present he has been working as Technical Assistant & Trade Marks Attorney at Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys. John is married to Premilla who is an Anaesthetist. They will take up residence in January when Trevor and Carmen will move out.
"John will be a wonderful Dean and will help to build an even stronger community at the NCV. We have seen a rich, caring, open and diverse community developing this year. Carmen and I have loved living in the NCV with its 315 mainly postgraduate students", said New College’s Master Prof Trevor Cairney when announcing the appointment.
Jul-Sept 2009 Alumni Update
Dr James Pietsch (New College 1988-1991, 1993)
In July New College's Master Prof Cairney announced that after serving for seven years with great distinction as NC Dean of Residents Dr James Pietsch (Dean of Residents 2002-Present) will leave us at the end of 2009. The College is sad to be losing James, Margie, Samuel, Caleb and Greta. The entire family has been a great asset to New College. They are well loved and will be missed by the whole College community. Dr Pietsch has been offered and accepted the position of Head of Mathematics at St Luke's Grammar School Dee Why from 2010.
Jan-Jun 2009 Alumni Update
Rakesh Kumar (New College 1977–1979)
Rakesh Kumar was a Tutor at New College from 1977–79, while employed as an associate lecturer in Pathology and concurrently completing his PhD. Subsequently, he spent 1987 in the USA as a Fogarty International Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Unlike most academics that move from university to university as they climb the ladder, he stayed at UNSW and stayed in contact with New College, while progressing through the ranks to become a professor in 2002, as well as head of the discipline of Pathology from 2003–05. He is now Director of Academic Projects for the Faculty of Medicine, with responsibility for aspects of curriculum development e.g. advanced standing arrangements for specialist training, initially in Pathology. Rakesh is an enthusiastic teacher of Medicine and Science students, as well as of postgraduate dentists. This has been recognised via a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2000 and a Carrick Citation in 2007. His research has primarily been in the area of chronic lung disease and he currently leads various collaborative research projects on mechanisms of inflammation in asthma, with funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. In 2006, he was awarded an MD by published work and in 2009; he received an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.
Lucy Titmus (New College 2006-2008)
“Hola everyone! Writing to you from Santiago, where since leaving college in July '08 I’ve been riding the wave of my International Studies Overseas Placement at the Catholic University of Chile. Uni has been fairly intense over here; I study four subjects, just as in UNSW but with each one taught in Spanish. Thus I’ve been able to fulfil the main goal of gaining proficiency in Spanish which is very satisfying, as Chilean Spanish is known to be furthest removed from that of Spain — a little challenging in the first few months! I have also managed to travel and see some amazing things within Chile and in other South American countries that this great continent has to offer. One of the perks of living here is driving an hour to the Andes to ski in winter — fantastic! I’ve been able to work voluntarily with kids in a poorer suburb of Santiago which is very rewarding; the inequality here can be sometimes quite confronting. It’s been a great mix of studying, living and travelling in another country — such an eye-opener and I’ve learnt so much; I would highly encourage anyone contemplating exchange to go for it! Saludos from Chile!”
Stuart Donaldson (New College 1999–2001)
Since graduating from Electrical Engineering in 2003, Stuart has worked at EnergyAustralia and continued his studies part time, holding a Masters of Engineering Science in Electrical Energy, a Diploma of Project Management and is currently working towards an MBA through the AGSM. Working as a Project Manager he is responsible for around $100m worth of major electrical infrastructure construction projects throughout Sydney and the Central Coast. Stuart married Susan (nee Freak) (New College 1999–2000) in 2006 and they now live in Sydney’s Inner West. He and Susan have recently returned from a month spent backpacking around China including two days walking a remote section of the Great Wall (sleeping in a guard tower) and hiking through the Tiger Leaping Gorge in the mountains near Tibet.
Emily Mitchell (New College 2002–2003)
“After graduating in 2006 from Photovoltaic Engineering, I moved to Germany. I have been here in Freiburg for 2 years, working on my PhD at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, which is the largest solar energy research institute in the world. I have found it such an amazing experience to live and work here, and feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do so. In January 2010 I will be coming back to Australia to write up and submit my thesis (at UNSW). After that is unknown … !”
Bonneville Eggleston (New College 2001–2002)
Bonne completed his undergraduate study with UNSW in 2005 in Photovoltaics and Solar Energy Engineering. After a rewarding holiday in Thailand he started work with CSG Solar at their research facility in Botany working on the improvement of their low cost solar cells, and also developed a data acquisition and analysis system for their factory. He spent the next three years working between Sydney and Germany where the company has a solar cell manufacturing plant. He has just returned to UNSW to begin a PhD with the PV Centre at UNSW in low cost processing for thin film silicon solar cells, and intends to return to industry afterwards. He has spent a lot of his free time travelling, going to Japan, UK, New Zealand, Tasmania and recently spent 3 months backpacking in Europe and North Africa.
Where are they now? video updates
- Former Collegian Alex Blackwell (New College 2002-2003) shares a bit about her life post College and the effect New College had on her.
- Alumnus Georgina Barrett-See describes her College experience and gives an update on where she is now
- Life at and after New - an interview with Richard Fleming