Committee Members

Professor Jane Bourke is a long-standing Committee member and current Vice-President of Graduate Women /victoria. Jane leads the Respiratory Pharmacology Group at Monash University, investigating improved treatments for chronic lung diseases, and also chairs the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is a Member of the Preclinical Working Group of the Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine, working to address the historical underrepresentation of sex, gender, variations of sex characteristics and sexual orientation in medical research.

Tara-Lyn Camilleri is a writer and interdisciplinary scientist with a PhD in evolutionary biology. Her work brings together psychology, biological anthropology and evolution to examine how human beliefs and behaviour emerge from interacting biological, social and historical systems, rather than individual choice alone.

She holds research affiliations with Monash University and the University of Oxford, where her work examines how environmental conditions shape traits across generations.

Tara lives with chronic illness and advocates for a more accurate and compassionate understanding of dynamic disability. She has been involved with Graduate Women Victoria since receiving a special scholarship in 2019 and has served on the committee on and off in multiple positions since then.

Amanda James joined Graduate Women Victoria in 2025 and is the Committee Secretary.  She has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours) from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma in Management from Deakin University.  Amanda has worked as a Civil Engineer in the public and private sectors in Melbourne and Brisbane for over 35 years. Her career highlights include contributing to the construction of the Western Ring Road and planning the development of numerous freeway interchange projects.  Amanda’s passions outside of work include playing with her Burmese cats, watching sporting events and anything to do with science fiction and outer space.

Barbara is a valued and long-standing member of Graduate Women Victoria, contributing many years of dedicated service to the organisation. She brings strong organisational skills and dedication to both roles of being a treasurer and membership secretary. Her ongoing commitment and support of the organisation's mission are greatly appreciated.

Jennifer Strauss grew up and was educated in country Victoria. Without the introduction of Commonwealth Scholarships in 1950 she would never have been able to attend Melbourne University, where she graduated BA (Hons) in 1954. In a massively expanding university sector she was able to fulfil her ambitions of an academic career, despite marriage and maternity, settling finally in the English Department of the newly-fledged Monash University. The Vietnam War and feminism fired her interest in both poetry and politics, especially within the university. She was a founding member of the National Tertiary Education Union. A member of GWV from 1956, she was later its President several times, three times President of Australian Graduate Women and twice Vice-President of Graduate Women International. In 1997 she was awarded an AM in the Order of Australia for "service to education as an academic and scholar in the field of Australian literature and poetry and a range of organisations involved in women's issues and industrial relations".

Rosy is a dedicated advocate for education, equity, and professional development, with decades of global experience in business consulting, knowledge management, and strategic leadership. She has held senior roles across multiple industries, including Business Development Manager at Los Theaterproducties, co-founder of Baker & Web, and a long-standing leader at Proudfoot Consulting, where she worked across Australia, Europe, the United States, Asia, and Southern Africa. Since 2018, she has worked as an independent consultant, leveraging her expertise in people solutions, project management, and strategic advising. 

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Beyond her professional career, Rosy is committed to supporting women's education and leadership. As Scholarship Treasurer of Graduate Women Victoria, she plays a key role in facilitating scholarships and initiatives that empower women in higher education. She also serves as Secretary of the Alliance Française de Melbourne and has held leadership roles with the VVAO in Amsterdam and other nonprofit organisations. Passionate about lifelong learning and mentorship, Rosy continues to make a meaningful impact in education, governance, and social change.

I have been involved with Graduate Women Victoria for many years as it aligns with my values - education benefits both the individual and the community. However, many people face disadvantages in accessing these benefits - our scholarships aim to address this. My involvement has included the holding of various positions: Vice-President, Membership Secretary, Executive Committee Member and most recently Secretary.

For most of my professional existence I have led a double life. After spending some time studying Medieval French, I trained and worked as a teacher of English as an additional language, specialising in English for academic purposes, and spent 18 years as an academic skills advisor at Monash. At the same time, I continued to research and publish in medieval cultural history and manuscript studies. Now I have officially retired from the first half of the double, and am concentrating on the second, with time off for music, gardening and cats. 

Sabrina is a past recipient of the Philippa McCall Scholarship and a passionate advocate for equitable access to postgraduate education. She joined the Graduate Women Victoria committee in 2023 to help support and uplift women who have faced disadvantage in their academic journeys. She strongly believes in the power of education to create opportunities and is committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment for women in higher education. 

Kerry has had over forty-five year's experience in tertiary education. She has held a number of academic positions in Health Sciences including Dean, she practised as a family therapist and is currently a nationally accredited mediator and strategic advisor in Higher Education.

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From 1999-2013 she was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Equity and Student Services) at La Trobe University. During that time, she was responsible for the University's Equity program and Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace. 

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She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, past Chair and member of the board of Deaf Children Australia, and past President of Graduate Women Victoria. She has been a Committee member of Graduate Women Victoria for over 15 years and served as the President for the previous 6 years.