Each semester, WiE&IT hold a special luncheon to celebrate yet another round of exams, internships and hard work. In 2012 our Spring Semester Luncheon on 12 September saw almost 60 students and Faculty of Engineering and IT staff members in attendance.
After networking over food and refreshments, the Director of the UTS Women in Engineering and IT Program; Bronwyn Holland gave a brief welcome and an overview of the year’s events. Bronwyn also paid her respects to Joan Bielski, who was an influential and passionate advocate for gender equality in Australia and who attended the Spring Semester Lunch in 2011. Sadly, Joan passed away in mid August, but her achievements throughout her career and her support of the WiE&IT Program will not be forgotten.
After networking over food and refreshments, the Director of the UTS Women in Engineering and IT Program; Bronwyn Holland gave a brief welcome and an overview of the year’s events. Bronwyn also paid her respects to Joan Bielski, who was an influential and passionate advocate for gender equality in Australia and who attended the Spring Semester Lunch in 2011. Sadly, Joan passed away in mid August, but her achievements throughout her career and her support of the WiE&IT Program will not be forgotten.
Bronwyn then introduced the two guest speakers for the day. First was UTS Alumni, Jenny Bhuiyan (BE-software) who now works for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Jenny went through her story of transitioning from studying a double degree of Bachelor of Software Engineering at UTS, to entering the workforce and becoming a valuable member of several teams throughout her career. One piece of advice that resounded throughout Jenny’s speech was to embrace every opportunity you can. This is a motto that Jenny herself has stuck by, and it has helped her identify her strengths and weaknesses, as well as give her valuable experience in areas not generally expanded upon in Business and IT studies, such as customer service.After Jenny’s inspiring words, we heard from Seline Hardy, a current UTS student studying Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Science in IT. Seline reflected on her experiences at the Telecom Summer School in Paris in July this year. After making up her mind to go to Paris in 2011 and missing out on the opportunity, Seline made it her mission to attend the Telecom Summer School in 2012. Seline gave us an insight into her rural background from Parkes NSW, highlighting how much of a culture shock it was for her when she finally got to travel to France.
WiE&IT Program Staff would like to thank all students, staff and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for their support, and we hope to see you all at the next semester lunch in Autumn 2013!
Our two lovely guest speakers: Jenny Bhuiyan, BE-Software Engineering (left)
and Seline Hardy, BBusBScIT (right)
and Seline Hardy, BBusBScIT (right)
