Media release

Australia Day Honours for ACU community

ACU staff, alumni and donors have been recognised in the annual Australia Day Honours List, announced on Friday 26 January.

The annual awards recognise Australians who have made outstanding contributions that have benefited Australian society.

Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Greg Craven said: “I would like to offer my personal congratulations to the recipients of this year’s Australia Day Honours List.”

“These awards recognise the outstanding contributions that have been made to local communities and across Australia. This is an excellent example of how our community of students, staff, donors and alumni are committed to creating positive change.”

ACU donor and Honorary Fellow Maya Cranitch was this year honoured ‘for significant service to education, to teaching English as a second language, through education programs for refugees, and to social justice’.

Ms Cranitch worked as a Lecturer in Teacher Education at ACU and its predecessor teacher colleges (Catholic Teachers’ College and the Catholic College of Education) for 40 years, from 1975 to 2015.

Former Deputy Principal of the Canberra Campus, Dr Reginald Storrier, was also recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours. Dr Storrier was the Deputy Principal of the campus from 1990 to 1994.

He was acknowledged for ‘significant service to agriculture, specialising in soil science, to education as an academic and administrator and to the Catholic Church in Australia’.

Other members of our community who were recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours include:

• Mr Gregory Whitby Mr Whitby is an ACU alumnus, receiving a Graduate Diploma of Religious Education in 1988. He received an Australia Day Honour ‘for significant service to education in the Catholic school system as a leader, administrator, advocate and teacher’.
• Mr Peter Gill Mr Gill is an ACU donor and received an Australia Day Honour ‘for significant service to aged welfare, to the provision of pioneering palliative care programs, to medical education and to the community’.
• Mr John Mitchell Mr Mitchell is an ACU donor and was recognised with an Australia Day Honour ‘for service to the community as a philanthropist’.
• Dr Michael Stanford Dr Stanford is an ACU alumnus and completed a Graduate Certificate of Leadership and Catholic Culture in 2010. He was recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours List ‘for significant service to the health sector through executive roles, to tertiary education, and to the community of Western Australia’.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of ACU alumni, students, staff and donors who have been recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours.

To view the full 2018 Australia Day Honours List, visit the Governor-General website.