Stephanie Fett

What position do you currently hold and where? What does your job involve? I'm the Environment Program Manager at News Corp Australia, a role that involves wearing both a communications and legal hat! My main focus is managing our Environmental Sustainability initiative, '1 Degree', which encompasses the company's environmental commitments and engages our employees and partners.

What led you to choose UTS:Law for your studies? After living and breathing UTS for my first degree - a Bachelor of Communications, I had to come back for more! I was already familiar with how the university worked and had heard great things about the Law program.

Was your decision to study the Juris Doctor to advance your current career path or a career change? It was originally for a career change - but after a while I realised that it was going to be really helpful no matter what I ended up doing.

How have your studies at UTS contributed to your career as a whole? How have they informed the way you work? It was completely different going back to uni as a postgraduate, there was a renewed energy and interest in what I was learning and that transferred into my work as well. Suddenly, I had a completely new way of thinking and was constantly learning, it really helped me to have the confidence to provide more of a valuable contribution in meetings and to my team.

What was the most rewarding aspect of your degree? Why? Being able to delve head first into research essays with questions that I had chosen from scratch. It was such a challenge, but one that you can really get into and it is such a great way of building knowledge of a particular area you are really interested in. I also loved meeting people in the post graduate classes from a diverse range of professional backgrounds, it really made class discussions valuable and interesting.

What is the most useful or important thing you learned from your studies at UTS? That even when things seem impossible to complete, and nothing is going right, you can always get it done, and there is always a way. UTS has a brilliant support network for when life pops up with crazy surprises and challenges, and if you ask for it, you will get the support you need to overcome difficulties no matter what they are. I also learned that there is nothing that sheer determination in the face of ridiculousness can't overcome.

Was there anyone in particular at the University who had a significant influence on your studies? My Research Paper supervisor, David Leary, showed such patience and commitment to helping me complete the paper. He influenced my studies by giving me a special insight into the academic world, and greatly assisted me in learning how to express complex concepts in a clear and helpful way.

What would your advice be for someone who is looking at studying Law at UTS? I would say that it is important to look at the sort of study mode that suits your commitments - UTS is great for balancing work and uni as it allows part time and block mode subjects. I found it was better than some of the other universities at allowing this, as you are able to change from part time to full time quite easily without changing the course you are in.

Find out more about our JD program at our information evening.