How will you make your mark once you graduate? Be inspired by our 2023 Deakin Alumni Award winners!
What are your long-term aspirations once you finish your studies? Take a look at the amazing achievements of our 2023 Deakin Alumni Awards winners who have gone on to accomplish incredible feats post-Deakin!
Each year, Deakin celebrates the outstanding achievements of our alumni – former students who have demonstrated professional excellence in their chosen field, community-minded achievements and inspirational leadership. Now in its 11th year, the 2023 Deakin Alumni Awards Ceremony was recently held at Deakin’s Waterfront Campus.
Winners are selected by a panel of Deakin staff members, including Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin.
My sincere congratulations to all of this year’s award recipients, as well as all our past recipients who could join us. The Deakin alumni community is an inspiring one to be a part of.
– Professor Iain Martin, Vice-Chancellor
Congratulations to the Alumni of the Year award winner!
This year, Serdar Baycan, a regular in Geelong and a 1986 Bachelor of Architecture graduate at Deakin, received an Alumni of the Year award for dedicating more than 30 years of practice to complex building design, education, science and healthcare. Mr Baycan designed the new Anam Cara House, a palliative care facility at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus.
In addition to Mr Baycan, Professor Roianne West, Dr David Newman and Daniel Wordsworth were also announced as Alumni of the Year award winners. The Young Alumni of the Year awards winners were Sophie McNamara, Abrar Aziz and Eva Mackinley.
Deakin’s Chancellor, Mr John Stanhope AM, attended the event and acknowledged the positive impact Deakin graduates are making as leaders in their fields.
We have always said that our alumni are the best measure of our success. The Alumni Awards give us the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of individual graduates, but also, the difference our university is making in the world.
– Mr John Stanhope AM, Chancellor
Each award winner received a trophy inspired by a student collaborative design project in Deakin’s School of Communication and Creative Arts.
Learn more about our 2023 winners
For more information about the awards, including videos of each recipient, visit the Alumni Awards webpage.
Image (from left): Professor Iain Martin (Vice-Chancellor), Serdar Baycan, Abrar Aziz, Sophie McNamara, Daniel Wordsworth, John Stanhope AM (Chancellor).