Our Dandjoo Darbalung residents recently painted over 30 canvases for the new Ronald McDonald House on Park that the College has partnered with.

These canvases are a vibrant display of the rich heritage and traditions of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents, brought to life through their creativity and dedication. The project also provided an opportunity for the residents to express their cultural pride and share their unique perspectives.

We spoke with Alaxandrea Slade, one of the residents who contributed to this project. She shared her inspiration and techniques for her canvas, emphasising her deep connection to her culture as a young First Nations woman.

“My culture is inherently a part of who I’m as a person. It’s part of my day-to-day activities, how I treat people, my art, my performance, my academics,” Alaxandrea explained.

Through traditional dance, art, song and poetry, Alexandrea embodies her cultural heritage in everything she does. Watch the video to learn more about her artwork and her involvement in this project for RMHC.

To view the entire collection of canvases created for RMHC, please click on the gallery below to explore.

We sat down to talk to Carina Schutzenberger, our former College Co-President (2022), about her life after College as an aquatic ecologist.

What have you been up to career-wise since graduation?

My post-graduation journey unfolded quickly, as I secured my job a few months before officially graduating. After a few weeks at home in Singapore, I transitioned into full-time work as an aquatic ecologist with SLR Consulting, a world-leading environmental consulting firm.

I have been fortunate to partake in some amazing trips around Western Australia with this role. My most cherished moments are those spent working in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, monitoring the river systems. The team and I spend our days travelling in helicopters, enabling us to maximise the number of survey sites and explore areas inaccessible by conventional means due to their remote nature. The Pilbara has the most breathtaking landscapes, including some hidden gems within Karijini National Park. We conduct comprehensive environmental assessments, gather data on water quality, macroinvertebrate samples and fish species, and identify any invasive animals present. Collaborating closely with clients and engaging with traditional owners, who often join us in the field, has been particularly rewarding.

Tell us more about your current role at SLR Consulting.

The narrative that securing a job in ecology is challenging lingered throughout my academic journey, often stirring a sense of apprehension. However, landing this remarkable job and receiving positive feedback during the interview regarding my extensive fieldwork skills validated my capabilities and gave me a sense of encouragement and accomplishment.  

During the initial few months, I had the chance to be part of SLR’s Graduate Program, working in Sydney and exploring the Pilbara region as part of our long-term environmental monitoring programs. I dove headfirst into my role, and the skills honed during my time at university and College played a pivotal role.

What was your most significant challenge during your transition from university to work life?

Adapting to full-time working hours posed my most significant challenge, especially considering the stark contrast to the flexibility I enjoyed during my College days. Juggling work and personal life proved to be a struggle initially, and I missed the spontaneous coffee breaks and hangouts with friends that used to be part of my day. However, after a few months, I found my rhythm and settled into a more structured routine.

How did living at College help you with your transition into the workforce?

St Catherine’s equipped me with invaluable people skills. Navigating diverse perspectives and engaging with individuals from various backgrounds and cultures has instilled confidence and ease in conversing with anyone. These interpersonal skills seamlessly translate into the professional realm, empowering me to communicate effectively with both colleagues and clients in a confident manner. I found value in the presence of older postgraduate students around me while at College. As I was contemplating postgraduate studies at the time, I engaged in frequent conversations with them to gain insights into their experiences, and the knowledge I acquired through these discussions has been incredibly insightful and beneficial.

Living at College also immersed me in a community of exceptionally supportive, high-achieving and driven individuals. The encouragement to exceed my potential was a constant theme throughout my College experience. Engaging in inspiring Faculty and Industry Dinners and dialogues with field experts from Western Australia has been incredible, providing unique insights that wouldn’t have been possible without St Catherine’s. The career support was another great feature, with assistance in refining my CV and cover letter through multiple drafts and constructive feedback from the College’s Academic Team.

My most valuable connections emerged from friendships at St Catherine’s. One of my friends from College recommended me for a position at SLR Consulting, where I currently work. Now, within our team, three St Catherine’s alumni are still in our roles here, marking a continuation of the legacy established by four of our fellow graduates who once contributed to this workplace. It has become a running joke among us about who the next St Catherine’s alum to join the team will be!

 What advice would you offer to later-year students or recent graduates pursuing their career aspirations?

I strongly recommend following your passion and pursuing what brings you joy. While navigating my academic path, I encountered sceptics who doubted the possibility of finding employment in my field. However, I persevered despite the challenges and landed my dream job.

I also encourage you to converse with diverse individuals and network—constantly! Forge meaningful connections with your professors and tutors—take the time to chat after class. Their wealth of wisdom is an invaluable resource and can provide fantastic support. Nurturing these relationships can pave the way for exceptional references when you start the job application process.

You should also maximise your College experience by volunteering whenever possible. You will build fantastic connections, and employers will view this involvement favourably. The hands-on experience will open doors and help you confirm if it’s the right professional fit.

Professor Joseph Siracusa stands at the forefront of global academic leadership, having assumed the role of Inaugural Dean of Global Futures at Curtin University’s Faculty of Humanities in 2023. With a distinguished career spanning American politics, international security and historical analysis, Professor Siracusa, now Professor of Global Futures brings a wealth of experience and vision to his new role.

As the Inaugural Dean of Global Futures, Professor Siracusa outlined ambitious plans to enrich the academic environment at Curtin University. His initiatives include enhancing collaboration with St Catherine’s College to provide specialised academic support and mentors.

Notably, he also aims to deepen partnerships with prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins’s Kissinger Centre of Globalisation, which recently co-hosted a nuclear deterrence conference at Curtin University.

Reflecting on his interactions with students, particularly those living at St Catherine’s College, Professor Siracusa emphasises his enjoyment in engaging with intellectually curious individuals. He values the vibrant academic atmosphere that encourages students to fostering impactful academic exchanges and tackle contemporary global challenges enthusiastically.

In shaping the workshops at St Catherine’s College, Professor Siracusa highlights the importance of historical thinking and communication skills development. As an author, historian and public intellectual, he encourages students to think historically, while developing their communication skills. Professor Siracusa says, “I am interested in workshops that highlight writing – So you think you can write? – and contemplation of why they are here  – What is a university?”. This aims to provoke critical thought and introspection among students, preparing them for complex societal issues.

Professor Siracusa’s approach extends beyond academia to collaborate with industry, stakeholders and the broader academic community. He leverages his extensive network to create unique internship opportunities locally and abroad to foster permanent employment prospects for students.

Drawing from his expertise in international security, Professor Siracusa integrates these critical areas into Curtin University’s Global Futures platform. He emphasises the cultivation of future ‘grand strategists’ who are equipped to navigate Australia’s future amidst global uncertainties. ”There are important problems to solve, beginning with the threat of nuclear war, concluding with climate change and food insecurity. We have an obligation to produce the next generation of ‘grand strategists’ who can navigate Australia’s future if not very survival. The stakes couldn’t be higher.” Professor Siracusa said.

Beyond academia, Professor Siracusa provides astute observations on American politics, highlighting the current dynamics within the Democratic Party and predictions on electoral outcomes, reflecting his deep understanding of political trends. In the wake of the first debate and the calls from the top Democrats for President Biden to drop out of the election. Joe Biden pulls out of the US presidential race and endorses Kamala Harris to take on Donald Trump. Professor Siracusa states, “Clearly, the Democratic Party is in crisis and looking for a way out. The leadership has given up on President Biden while the Big Donors have cut off funding.

Professor Siracusa’s analysis extends to the impact of Supreme Court rulings and electoral dynamics, offering nuanced perspectives on the implications for key political figures and outcomes in the United States. Reflecting on Trumps various court cases Professor Siracusa believes “the recent Supreme Court rulings will provide former President Trump with the proverbial ‘stay out of jail card”.

Professor Siracusa’s leadership at Curtin University’s Faculty of Humanities and involvement at St Catherine’s College, promises to shape the next generation of global thinkers and leaders. His blend of academic rigor, practical collaboration and keen insight into global affairs and American politics positions him uniquely to steer the Global Futures initiative towards impactful contributions on a global scale.

Caleb Adams grew up in Fremantle but has called St Catherine’s home for the past two and a half years.

Currently studying for a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Mechanical Engineering), Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) (Mathematics and Statistics) and Diploma in Modern Languages (Italian) at the University of Western Australia, Caleb has found the solid academic and community-oriented culture incredibly supportive throughout his time at St Catherine’s.

“The tutoring service complements my studies very nicely, with support available if needed for any of my units,” said Caleb, “I have also been given the opportunity to assist with organising one of the College’s Faculty and Industry Dinners. These events highlight how different fields of study are interconnected and are an invaluable networking for residents.”

Over the past two years, Caleb has received the St Catherine’s College Highest Academic Achiever Award, for high academic achievement within his cohort and was a finalist in the Jacobs Sustainability Top100 Future Leader Award.

Caleb is also the recipient of the Fogarty Foundation Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to ten high school leavers annually across Western Australia for achievement across three of four categories: sport, leadership, community service and arts.

This scholarship is one of Australia’s most prestigious scholarship programs designed for the future leaders of Western Australia. Alongside the University of Western Australia, the Foundation aims to enrich the community by investing in exceptional young people who use their skills, abilities and commitment. “The Fogarty Foundation makes a significant impact through initiatives such as the scholarship, EDvance and CoderDojo WA programs,” he said.

In preparing to apply for the scholarship, he advises students not to focus on activities aligned with the scholarship criteria but rather to do things that interest them. “Prioritise your happiness and success will follow,” he said.

Earlier this year, St Catherine’s offered its residents the opportunity to participate in an invite-only symposium titled ‘Re-Imagining the Global Nuclear Order.’ Caleb was one of the lucky students to receive an invitation. The event was a three-day affair hosted at Curtin University and organised by Prof. Joseph Siracusa, Dean of Global Futures at Curtin University.

At the event, interdisciplinary scholars debated the current state of nuclear policy in Australia and globally, delving into topics such as using nuclear weapons for deterrence, recent developments with AUKUS and the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war.

“During the symposium, I learned a great deal about fields of study that I had limited prior experience in.” moreover, he noted, “It drove home the importance of continuing to expose myself to a wide range of disciplines to ensure I am not siloed into my comfortable way of thinking.”

“There are innumerable tangible and intangible benefits that can be had from taking on the challenge of engaging in cross-disciplinary study and looking for collaboration between disciplines,” Caleb said.

He said that exposing himself to a range of disciplines has taught him volumes about himself and revealed the importance of engaging with a range of topics. He feels grateful to St Catherine’s College for providing these opportunities and is looking forward to events promoted by St Catherine’s in the future.

In April 2024, St Catherine’s College hosted the inaugural Boyd Dinner for Emerging Leaders. This prestigious event, designed to inspire and motivate our future leaders, featured the remarkable Australian Olympian and WA Young Person of the Year 2023, Peter Bol, as our guest speaker.

The emerging leadership series is held in honour of Dr Sue Boyd AM in recognition of her notable achievements. Dr Boyd was bestowed with the title Member of the Order of Australia to acknowledge her substantial contributions to international relations, tertiary education and women’s affairs. Notably, during her residency at St Catherine’s College from 1966 to 1969, Dr Boyd made history as the first female student to be elected Student Guild President at the University of Western Australia. Subsequently, she pursued a distinguished career as a senior diplomat, where she played a pivotal role in advancing the representation and rights of women within the realm of foreign affairs.

Our guests included student leaders from the Perth Metro Area and Regional WA who were captivated by Mr Bol’s extraordinary journey, a testament to the power of resilience and determination. Born in Sudan, his family sought refuge in Australia, where he discovered his passion for athletics. His natural talent for running, combined with his unwavering dedication, propelled him to the world stage.

At the core of Mr Bol’s success lies his commitment to his goals. From a young age, he recognised that achieving greatness required more than just talent; it demanded unwavering dedication and effort. He embraced countless hours of training and pushed himself to the limit, all to realise his full potential.

However, his resilience in adversity truly sets Mr Bol apart. He has encountered setbacks and disappointments throughout his journey, from injuries and a false positive drug test to missed opportunities. His story is a testament to the power of resilience, inspiring us all to face our challenges with strength and determination.

“When you know your goals and values, decisions may be tough, but you know deep down what you need to do,” said Mr Bol.

The St Catherine’s College community gives Mr Bol their heartfelt wishes for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

View the gallery from the Boyd Dinner for Emerging Leaders images below.

Read the full Peter Bol story here.

Originally from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, College alumna Dr Kate O’Shaughnessy (1994 – 1997) holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and PhD in Indonesian history from the University of Western Australia. Her work on gender in Indonesia during the Suharto era – Gender, State and Social Power in Contemporary Indonesia – was published by Routledge as part of its Women in Asia Series. 

From 2007-2022, Kate worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra and overseas. Her public sector experience spans providing policy advice to government on Australia’s interests in the Indian Ocean, supporting the development of the Australian aid budget and intelligence analysis.

During her diplomatic career, she served in Ghana and was deployed to Lebanon, France, and Nigeria. From 2020 to 2022, she was Australia’s High Commissioner to Mauritius and Seychelles and Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros, advocating Australia’s Indo-Pacific vision to stakeholders across the western Indian Ocean.

Kate is the Research Director at the Perth USAsia Centre, a foreign policy think tank focused on Indo-Pacific strategy, based at the University of Western Australia.

We sat down with Kate to discuss how this year’s International Women’s Day theme of Inspire Inclusion resonates with her.

Who did you look to for inspiration when starting your career?

The honest answer to that is nobody, and that cuts right to the heart of the challenge for young women starting their careers in many fields. I grew up in Kalgoorlie – a mining town – in the 1980s and 1990s. I didn’t know anybody who had ever worked in foreign affairs, Canberra, or even government. So that made starting my career in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade quite an overwhelming, discombobulating experience, although I didn’t realise it at the time. That’s given me an acute sense (in hindsight) of the importance of diverse role models to give young people the confidence to imagine themselves in a particular career.

What were some of the challenges that you faced in your career? 

I think there are two types of challenges in anyone’s career –doing difficult things and navigating difficult feelings.

In the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, many elements of the work are just objectively difficult because they are in tough environments or about tough subjects. One of my early tasks, when I moved to Canberra, was to translate breaking Indonesian news of a plane crash in Yogyakarta in 2007, in which a number of Australian embassy officials tragically died. Indonesian media outlets were reporting the names of these officials before their families had been informed, and I had to pass this information on to consular officials working with the families. In 2016-2017 I was part of a crisis team working in the Sahel (Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso) in response to the kidnapping of an elderly Australian citizen – he remained in captivity for many years, and working on that case was distressing, for many people, because there wasn’t a positive outcome for a long time. So that sort of work is just hard – for anyone.

But there’s also the internal challenge I faced at work, shared by many women – self-doubt. For many years, I doubted my capabilities and tended to keep quiet in meetings, assuming others who spoke up must surely know more than me. It took me a long time (and several supportive supervisors and managers) to realise that loudest doesn’t necessarily equal smartest. Learning to speak up confidently and quieten my unhelpful inner critic has taken a lot of practice. 

What are you most proud of when you reflect on your career?

What I am most proud of in my career is not any discrete achievement or project but rather my record of building and leading respectful, inclusive teams with strong morale and a shared sense of purpose, especially in my overseas assignments. If I think about my first diplomatic posting in Ghana (2009-2012), I learned so much from my Ghanaian colleagues – I still think of them often with genuine respect and affection, and I know they feel the same about me. We absolutely achieved some important things together as a team – delivering Australian aid projects across West Africa, campaigning for Australia’s non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council (2013-2015) and providing consular assistance to Australian citizens in nine countries. I recognise those achievements, but the thing that sticks with me most – and that I am most proud of – is how I worked with and in a team of people to do it.

Why do you think there is a continuing need worldwide for more progressive mindsets and inclusive behaviours to be forged?

In the past, we needed to talk about inclusive behaviour because there wasn’t much of it. These days, our gains are being threatened by political polarization and siloed debates (fuelled by social media algorithms and mis- and disinformation). We all need to take a breath and recommit to two simple concepts – everyone deserves respect, and everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work. If you can do that, everything else flows from there.

How do you inspire inclusion in your workplace?

This is a theme of my career, and I do hope that I lead by example in being honest about what I have to learn and making space for those who know more to share their expertise. There’s always more to learn – always. For example, my colleague at the Perth USAsia Centre, Sarah Leary, the Centre’s inaugural First Nations Foreign Policy Fellow, is teaching me so much right now about First Nations perspectives on Australia’s international engagement and the importance of putting aside my preconceptions. Inclusion happens when everyone acknowledges they have something to learn from others.

How would you inspire more women to take up leadership positions?

I would suggest two things. First – for women who want to take up formal leadership positions in an organisation, they can and should ‘do leadership’ in an authentic way. It doesn’t have to look the same as what we might consider ‘traditional’ leadership models (top-down, authoritative). It’s fine to be a leader and cry at work (I have), it’s fine to admit that you are wrong, and it’s generous to acknowledge publicly when your decisions have been based on the work and advice of others. And then second, I think it’s useful to think about leadership at every level. Both team members and team leaders have a role to play in modelling kind, respectful behaviour – that helps create an environment where people who later want to take up formal leadership roles can do so.

As I age, I think about leadership the way a Ghanaian Chief once described it – like an egg; hold it too tight you break it, too loose and it falls and breaks as well. So, you must strive for the right amount of control and letting go. 

During the year, St Catherine’s College residents showcased an enduring commitment to community engagement, environmental stewardship and fostering positive change with initiatives ranging from recycling efforts to participating in conservation field trips.

Recycling for a Greener Future

St Catherine’s College residents from our UWA and Curtin campuses collected 24,880 used cans and bottles for Containers for Change in 2023. The proceeds were used to plant 690 trees, contributing to a more sustainable and verdant future.

Clean Up Australia Day

Residents actively participated in a cleanup at Matilda Bay where they collected 15kg of waste.

A Helping Hand

Residents supported the local community by volunteering at one of Perth’s leading not-for-profit providers, where they served the residents at a Café every Monday and Friday morning and participated in a site clean-up.

Fashion with a Purpose

In a nod to sustainable fashion, St Catherine’s College residents engaged with an organisation dedicated to collecting end-of-line brand-new stock from fashion retailers nationwide. The collected clothes were sorted and distributed to those in need through a national network of charities and social service agencies, promoting both style and social responsibility.

Extending the Lifespan of Possessions at Repair Lab

St Catherine’s College hosted a repair lab that offered repair stations for clothes, bicycles, and electronics. This initiative encouraged a culture of repair and sustainability and emphasised the importance of reducing waste and embracing a circular economy.

Gondwana Link Ongerup Field Trip

St Catherine’s College residents embarked on transformative field trips in April and July as a part of the Gondwana Link Project. The April trip focused on collecting seeds for replantation, maintaining closures within the Yongergnow Australian Malleefowl Centre and learning about Aboriginal Bush Tucker.

In July, the emphasis shifted to rehabilitating farmland and linking nature corridor reserves through extensive tree-planting efforts. In total, approximately 10,000 seeds were collected and 5,000 seedlings were planted on these field trips.

Total Volunteering Hours for the Year: Over 500 Hours