In November and December of 2010, the U of A Alumni Association hosted cocktail receptions in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, giving alumni the chance to reconnect with old friends and classmates and to find out the latest news about the University. Here are updates from a few of the alumni who attended:
Ruth Smith, '54 Dip(Nu), is married with two adult children: Cameron, who lives in Wisconsin with his wife and two girls; and Kelly, who lives in Mornington with her two children. Now retired, Ruth enjoys spending her time socializing with friends and walking.
Wayne Pendleton, '65 BCom, '83 BEd, recently retired as a seasonal instructor at James Cook University, where he specialized in Australian business law and management accounting.
John Graham, '68 BPE, '79 MA, retired in June 2007, but returns to Canada regularly as his wife Ann is originally from Alberta. John taught at Archbishop O'Leary High School from 1968 - 1973 and then at Toorak State College in Melbourne from 1974 - 1981.
Jane Ibell, '69 BA, '71 BEd, has lived in Melbourne since 1974 and now is a semi-retired teacher, who works in schools to keep the computers, networks and teachers up-to-date.
Glenn Watkins, '69 MA, '72 PhD, has been working as an academic and consultant for 30 years. Just over a decade ago he set up an international education business in China. About 1,500 students from China come to Australia each year to complete their undergraduate or post-graduate degrees at Australian universities. He is married with four children and nine grandchildren.
Diane Fagan, '71 BA, is married with four kids. She lives on a 1,000-acre farm and alternates her time between Sydney and Tooma.
Anne Robertson, '71 BSc, has lived in Melbourne for 21 years and is currently working as a cytogeneticist and quality manager for seven genetics laboratories.
David Carlson, '72 BSc, has been working for the last 29 years at Macquarie Group in information technology and risk management.
Judy Scott, '72 BSc, is currently the manager of Tamworth Family Relationship Centre, which provides a wide range of services to assist families in building better relationships.
Paul Meagher, '75 MEd, has retired as a schoolteacher.
Linda McCoy, '77 BA, has lived and worked in Australia since 1979. Currently, she is the director of community services for a regional health service in the Gippsland area.
Lori Chizik, '79 BSc, has had a long career coaching basketball, including for the Australian Opals national basketball team and at Wesley College in Melbourne. She is currently a basketball commentator on ABC TV.
Madeleine Linger, '80 BSc(Pharm), has expanded the pharmacy she bought with her husband in Grafton. She has three children: Matthew, who just graduated from pharmacy; James, who has been scouted to play for the Atlanta Braves baseball team; and Kathryn, who is currently in high school.
Cidney Kowalchuk, '82 BSc(Ag), '85 MPM, is a managing consultant at Enterprise Services Group in Fujitsu, Australia. Her responsibilities include business development and account and project management.
Chris Hanson, '83 MBA, is a semi-retired financial planner.
Michael Dixon, '85 PhD, has been working at IBM for the past 25 years and is currently managing IBM's consulting and systems integration business with the public sector.
James Sarros, '88 PhD, is a professor of management and the director of a leadership research group at Monash University. James has worked since 1988 and still enjoys teaching and supervising graduate students on leadership, strategic management, character and values.
Bryan Mykityshyn, '89 BSc(Eng), is married with two children and is enjoying life on northern beaches.
Catherine Gerhardt, '93 BA (Rec Admin), started a new franchise called Kidproof that provides preventative child safety education. Prior to starting this new business she worked in aged care and then taught community services for the Australian Technical and Further Education system.
Darren Wolchyn, '94 BSc(Eng), is specializing in mobile video streaming solutions. Initially he planned to settle in Melbourne for only six months, but the trip turned into a permanent relocation, and he loves the lifestyle change.
Rachel Leung, '98 BSc, moved home to Hong Kong following her graduation from the U of A. In 2007 she completed her master's degree in medical science and moved to Melbourne to study adolescent drinking behaviour.
Todd Oliynyk, '02 PhD, is a lecturer in the school of mathematics at Monash University. His wife, Romalynn, '94 BSc, '97 BSc, '01 MSc, is a stay-at-home mom to their six-year-old daughter Giorgia and their three-year-old son Edward.
Nasim Amirjani, '05 PhD, is a post-doctoral fellow of neuroscience research.
Christopher Sims, '07 BSc(Eng), is currently working as a consultant in acoustics and theatre planning for Arup, a global engineering and design firm.
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