Kate Taylor (1993)
Queen’s College means many happy memories. Living at Queen’s College was life-changing for me. I made life-long friends from a broad variety of backgrounds and all studying many different things. I tried my hand at music, public speaking, sports and creative arts. Having access to academic support at College also helped me pass a number of subjects. Becoming a Wyvern opened up a broad professional network that has been beneficial – there are Wyverns everywhere.
The Queen’s student body is much more diverse than when I was there in the mid-1990s; which is fantastic. My impression is that students are more able to be their full selves at College than was possible in my day. I’m pleased to see that the College still supports students from regional and rural state schools which I think is important. There had never been a woman president of the student club when I was a resident, despite women being residents since 1973 – one of my friends Samantha Unger (1993) became the first woman president the year after I left. Thankfully it’s not unusual for women to be student club president anymore. We still haven’t had a woman Master of the College or a woman Vice-Chancellor of the University yet; so lots to look forward to in the future.
I am living in West Footscray with my family – Greg Ireton and daughter, Clementine. Outside of work I have a number of hobbies that I do somewhat haphazardly; including keeping fit and crafting. I am in a community choir called Pitchface. We like to travel as a family, going on bushwalks and bigger adventures when we can. I work at the University of Melbourne, and have done so for the last decade as the Executive Director of Research Strategy. In this role I work to enable researchers from all disciplines do excellent research and have positive impacts on the world. It sounds very altruistic, and it is – I get to work with some really amazing people.