A time of celebration for our 2018 graduates
On Friday, 14 December, the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs bid a fond farewell and good luck to 118 new graduates. We bid adieu to 38 undergraduate students from the Bachelor of Pacific Studies and the Bachelor of International Security Studies as well as 75 postgraduate students across our masters programs of International Relations, Diplomacy, and Strategic Studies, as well as our Graduate Diploma of International Affairs.
We also heartily congratulated our four PhD scholars and one MPhil scholar who successfully completed their theses on the following topics.
From the Department of Political and Social Change:
- Dr Justin Whitney – ‘Learning from Disaster: Resilience and Crisis Management in Japan
- Aisi Shang (MPhil) - Villager Responses to Drought: an Ethnographic Study in Southwest China.
From the Department of Pacific Affairs:
- Dr Stephanie Lusby – Raitman Olgeta: Negotiating What It Means to be a ‘Good’ Man in Papua New Guinea
- Dr Scott Robertson - Contesting the ‘Common Destiny’: Citizenship in Decolonising New Caledonia
- Dr Christina Kenny – ‘They would rather have the women who are humbled’: Gendered citizenship and embodied rights in post-colonial Kenya.
At the graduation ceremony in Llewellyn Hall, ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt AC congratulated all of the graduating students on their achievements.
“Our latest cohort of graduates will change the world for good. They have the knowledge, skills and confidence that come from getting a degree from one of the best universities in the world. On behalf of the whole University, I congratulate them and look forward to seeing their impact on the world.”
After the ceremony, celebrations were held in the atrium of the Hedley Bull Building, festively decked out with red carpets and balloons, where graduates, their families, and friends were warmly welcomed by Bell School academic and professional staff.
Bell School Director Toni Erskine concluded the celebrations by congratulating the graduates and their families on behalf of herself, Nicole Haley (Head of the Department of Pacific Affairs), Matt Davies (Head of the Department of International Relations) Paul Kenny (Head of the Department of Political and Social Change), John Blaxland (Head of the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre), Geoff Wiseman (Head of the Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy), and everyone else in the School.
“To those who graduated today, I want to say a few things. We are all incredibly proud of you and what you have achieved. As you have studied with us, we have learned from you and we are very grateful for that. We wish you well in all of your future challenges and endeavours. And, we hope that you will remember us as you continue to learn, as you continue to take risks and succeed, and as you go on to change the world. Again, congratulations!”
These graduates now join the ranks of over 4,600 proud Bell School alumni, and a global network of over 95,000 ANU alumni.
Photos from the graduation celebration are available in a photo album on our Facebook page.
