Chancellor Emeritus, University of Technology Sydney
Ceremony: 11 October 2018, 2pm - Faculty of Science, Institute for Sustainable Futures
About the Speaker
Vicki served as Chancellor of UTS from December 2004 until February 2016. Under her guidance, UTS became recognised internationally as the top university in Australia under 50 years of age, one of the top 10 universities in Australia and one of the top 25 universities globally.
Following the completion of a Bachelor of Arts and a PhD at the University of Sydney, Professor Sara was awarded the Rolf Luft medal in 1993 for excellence in endocrine research by the Karolinska Institute and pursued research into the growth of the human brain (endocrinology research) at the Karolinska Institute.
She returned to Australia to take up a role as Head of the School of Life Science at Queensland University of Technology, and following this became the Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Diagnostic Technologies, the Dean of Science at the Queensland University of Technology. Later Professor Sara served as the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council.
During her time at UTS, Professor Sara twice served as Chair of the University Chancellors' Council, chaired the NSW panel of the Sir John Monash Foundation Scholarship and was Chair of the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication and Technology Advisory Board, amongst many other roles.
She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Southern Queensland in 2004, Victoria University in 2005, from UTS in 2009 and the University of Sydney in 2016. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the University from the Queensland University of Technology in 2006.
Vicki was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to science and higher education in 2010.