News Archive

When Albany student Janet Scanlan started her degree eight years ago she never imagined that she would find herself her combing through FBI files in pursuit of a murderer.  In April this year her investigations were rewarded with one of The University of Western Australia’s most prestigious undergraduate awards, the 2009 Convocation Prize for the best student essay in any upper level history unit.

“I was surprised to receive the award,” said Ms Scanlan, who graduated in December. “My essay looked at race relations – and a race-related murder - in the southern States of the US in the 1950s. I went back to primary sources and FBI files on the case. I wanted to understand who the killers were and why they were allowed to walk free.”

“I would never have been able to achieve this five or six years ago,” laughs the mother of three. “When my youngest child started school I decided to sit the STAT (Special Tertiary Admissions Test) and got accepted into the Bachelor of Arts course at UWA Albany.”

It took the mature age student seven years to complete her degree as she juggled studies with work and family commitments. Along the way she became a mentor for many new students and found herself in the unusual position of studying alongside two of her own children.

“I loved it. I learnt so much over that time, it really became all consuming,” said the recent graduate as she reflected on her studies at the UWA Albany Centre. “I’m missing it already.”

Media references

Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

Paula Phillips (UWA Albany Centre) (+61 8) 9842 0810