Spring Graduation 2014 - Honorary Awards

The Honourable Dr Kim Yeadon is a former Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly, holding office from June 1990 to March 2007. He is a former electrician who attended Sydney University and gained a Bachelor of Arts in politics and history.

Dr Yeadon was a research officer with the Federated Miscellaneous Workers Union before being elected as the Labor Member for Granville in 1990 at a by-election.

Dr Yeadon was elevated to Cabinet when the Carr Government was elected in 1995, and served as Minister across a range of portfolios including: Land and Water Conservation; Ports; Information Technology; Forestry; Western Sydney; and Energy. He also served as a member on numerous parliamentary committees including the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics, and the Regulation Review Committee. Dr Yeadon was Temporary Chairman of Committees (1991-1995) and Chairman, Committee on the Independent Commission Against Corruption (2003-2007).

In May 2003, Dr Yeadon was appointed as the Legislative Representative on the Board of Trustees of the University of Western Sydney. From early 2005, he then became a ministerial appointee on the Board, with his third term finishing at the end of 2013.

During his service to the University of more than 10 years, Dr Yeadon was elected Deputy Chancellor in 2008 and also became a member of the Board Standing Committee and Remuneration and Nominations Committee. As Deputy Chancellor, Dr Yeadon presided at official ceremonies of the University on behalf of the Chancellor, most notably our graduation ceremonies.

From 2008 to 2013, Dr Yeadon was Chair of the Campus Development Committee and he was a member of the Strategy and Planning Committee from 2011 to 2012. In 2006, Dr Yeadon also chaired a sub-committee of the Board which provided a report outlining proposals for the provision of student services in the voluntary student unionism environment from 2007.

Dr Yeadon's enduring and voluntary service on the Board of Trustees, and several of its committees, is a testimony to his unwavering commitment to the University of Western Sydney. He has brought his professional skills and expertise to the University to guide its strategic direction and improve its operations.

In particular, Dr Yeadon's leadership on the Campus Development Committee during a period of rapid change and progress has contributed to the significant enhancement and development of our campuses, including the construction of new buildings and infrastructure, which has enabled the University to compete in today's ever-changing educational environment.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Western Sydney has resolved to confer the title of Doctor of Letters honoris causa on The Honourable Dr Kim Yeadon in recognition of his distinguished service to the University in the areas of governance, strategic planning, campus planning and development and for outstanding service to public life in Western Sydney.

Until his recent retirement, Dr Glen Sanford was an Audit Partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Dr Sanford commenced with Deloitte in 1978 and gained extensive experience, specialising in professional auditing and accounting issues relating to multinational and large local companies. He was appointed an Audit Partner in 1990 and was the Deloitte Australian Life Sciences Leader. Dr Sanford has worked across a range of industries, including contracting, life sciences, manufacturing and distribution, consumer business and retail.

Dr Sanford has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, a Registered Auditor and a Justice of the Peace.

Dr Sanford's extraordinary contribution to the University first began in 1997 when he was appointed Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee, holding the position of Chair until 2010. Following some revisions to the Board's committee structure, Dr Sanford was then appointed Chair of the new Finance and Investment Committee from 2011 to 2013. At the same time, he also became a member of the Strategy and Planning Committee, from 2011 to 2012.

In addition to these important committee roles, Dr Sanford served as a member of the Board of Trustees, the governing board of the University. He was first appointed in 2003 as a Ministerial appointee, with his third and final term finishing in December 2013. As a member of the Board, Dr Sanford was appointed to the Board Standing Committee and Remuneration and Nominations Committee from 2007 and was elected Deputy Chancellor from 2010. In this role, Dr Sanford presided at official ceremonies of the University on behalf of the Chancellor, most notably our graduation ceremonies.

Dr Sanford's enduring and voluntary service on the Board of Trustees and several of its committees is a testimony to his unwavering commitment to the University of Western Sydney. He has brought his professional skills and expertise to the University to guide its strategic direction and improve its operations. In particular, Dr Sanford's roles on the Board and its committees contributed to the successful transition from the previous three federated members into the unified university that we know today as the University of Western Sydney. His business acumen has contributed to a more robust institution which understands the financial imperatives of operating in an ever-changing educational environment and within an internal control structure that minimises risks.

Following his retirement from Deloitte and his final term on the Board of Trustees, Dr Sanford was recently appointed an Adjunct Professor in the School of Business and a member of the External Advisory Committee for the School's undergraduate programs. It is not surprising that Dr Sanford regards the University of Western Sydney as the most important institution in western Sydney, and believes that the success of the University in educating the people of western Sydney is paramount to the future of the region. The University is extremely grateful for Dr Sanford's commitment to the University over the past 17 years and for the leadership and expertise he has brought to the Board and its committees, particularly those on which he has been a long-standing member.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Western Sydney has resolved to confer the title of Doctor of Letters honoris causa on Dr Glen Sanford, for his distinguished and sustained service to the University in the areas of governance, strategic planning and financial management

The Honourable Dr Helen Sham-Ho OAM was the first Chinese-born parliamentarian in Australia when she was elected to the NSW Legislative Council in 1988. She represented her constituency first as a Liberal Member of the Legislative Council and then sat as an Independent, before retiring from politics before the 2003 election.

Dr Sham-Ho was born in Hong Kong and migrated to Australia to study when she was 17. She completed studies in arts and social work at the University of Sydney in 1963, receiving the University's Award for social work.
Dr Sham-Ho began her career as a social worker at Sydney Hospital while also starting a family. She later became interested in law and completed a law degree at Macquarie University. While studying, Dr Sham-Ho worked as Chief Social Worker at Ryde Hospital and taught a welfare course at North Sydney TAFE. On the completion of her law degree she was admitted to the New South Wales Bar and became a solicitor.

Prior to her election to Parliament, Dr Sham-Ho served as a Commissioner on the NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission. In 1988 she was elected to Parliament as a Liberal member of the Legislative Council. In 1998 at the peak of the One Nation Party debate, she resigned from the party to sit as an Independent. While a Member of Parliament, Dr Sham-Ho participated in numerous committees and councils including the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics (of which she was Chair) and the General Purpose Standing Committee No. 3, where she was responsible for the Cabramatta Policing Inquiry.

During her political career, and since retiring from politics, Dr Sham-Ho has been involved in a wide range of educational, voluntary, charitable and Asian affairs organisations. Dr Sham-Ho has been an avid supporter of education, and in particular, higher education. She has participated in a variety of University boards and is currently a Patron of the Macquarie University Foundation and a member of the University of Technology Sydney's China Research Centre Advisory Board. Dr Sham Ho was a member of the UWS Board of Governors between 1990 and 1991, and still maintains a strong relationship with UWS. 

Dr Sham-Ho is a tireless fundraiser and has raised funds for a wide variety of causes, just some of which include political campaigns, Aboriginal communities, Sichuan earthquake victims, the Victorian Bushfire Relief and homes for elderly citizens from various ethnic communities. Dr Sham-Ho has also acted as a champion for a number of universities among philanthropic leaders within the Chinese community, resulting in a number of significant donations to the University of Western Sydney.

For over 25 years Dr Sham-Ho has lead a public life that has provided a vital link between the Australian-Chinese community and mainstream Australia. Dr Sham-Ho's efforts and achievements to promote a multicultural Australia within Australian politics are exemplary. She has contributed to substantial change in policing in Cabramatta and more broadly across NSW; helped bridge the gap between Asian-Australians and Australian politics and policy-makers; helped bring the subject of reconciliation and the plight of Aboriginal peoples into the spotlight; promoted the needs of ethnic and minority communities in accessing services and making a life for themselves in Australia; promoted the rights of women and in particular the rights and needs of women from non-English speaking backgrounds; and she has helped in advancing the economic interests of New South Wales by developing close and mutually beneficial economic and diplomatic ties between Australia and its Asian neighbours.

In 2012, Dr Sham-Ho was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in recognition of her outstanding achievements and service to the Parliament of New South Wales, the Chinese community, and as a supporter of a range of charitable organisations and educational institutions. 

The Board of Trustees of the University of Western Sydney has resolved to confer the title of Doctor of Letters honoris causa on The Honourable Dr Helen Sham-Ho OAM in recognition of her distinguished service to the community and to multiculturalism.

Professor Edmund Fung joined the University of Western Sydney in 1994, founding the Department of Asian Studies in the Faculty of Arts. Prior to this, Professor Fung worked at Griffith University for nineteen years, where he was Associate Professor of Chinese Studies and Dean of the Faculty of Asian and International Studies from 1992-93.

Professor Fung was educated at the University of Hong Kong, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. He completed his PhD at the Australian National University in 1972. Apart from his teaching roles at UWS and Griffith University, Professor Fung has also taught at the National University of Singapore and Monash University.

Upon his appointment at UWS, Professor Fung held the roles of Chair in Asian Studies and Head of Department Asian Studies. Following the incorporation of the Department into a larger organisational unit in 1997, Professor Fung continued as Professor in Asian Studies where he focused on teaching and research and authored two books:

In Search of Chinese Democracy: Civil Opposition in Nationalist China, 1929-1949 (published in 2000); and 
The Intellectual Foundations of Chinese Modernity: Cultural and Political Thought in the Republican Era (published in 2010).

Professor Fung continued to provide exemplary leadership within Asian and historical studies at the University and has been instrumental in the development of the International Relations and Asian Studies major within the Bachelor Arts.

Professor Fung specialised in the history of the politics of twentieth century China, with an additional interest in international relations, democracy in Asia, and contemporary Australia-China relations. Indeed, Professor Fung is an internationally-renowned historian of modern China and a scholar of considerable standing in the field of modern Chinese history, a status confirmed by his election in 2011 as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He was a key figure in the development of the field in Australia and co-founded the Chinese Studies Association of Australia. He continues to be a leading and active member of the Association.

Professor Fung's research interests have ranged from military to political to diplomatic, and in recent years to intellectual history, on which he has published extensively. His research during a long academic career has been supported by both internal and external grants, including Australian Research Council (ARC) grants.

Professor Fung has been invited to visiting positions at a number of prestigious institutions in Europe, the United States and Asia, including the London School of Economics, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. His work has been published by leading international publishing houses including Cambridge University Press, Routledge and Oxford University Press. In particular, his book The Military Dimension of the Chinese Revolution: The Role of the New Army in the Revolution of 1911 (ANU Press & University of British Columbia Press, 1981) is a standard text on the subject in Western scholarship, and its Chinese translation, published in China in 1994, also remains a set text for students of history in many universities in China and in Taiwan.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Western Sydney resolved to confer the title of Emeritus Professor of the University on Professor Edmund Fung, in recognition of his distinguished academic career and outstanding contribution and leadership at the University in the field of Asian Studies.