Among them is education veteran, Adele Mazoudier, whose career spanned more than three decades and included teaching and leadership positions in the New England North West region and the state’s far West and Brisbane and Sydney.
Adele said her teaching career and growing up in a small rural community has contributed to her campaigning efforts for improved lifelong learning opportunities in the Tamworth community – her long-time home.
“Being in education, particularly in regional, rural and remote areas of the NSW is certainly a background to my thinking,” she said.
“I grew up in a small rural town where you couldn’t go to Year 12 at the time and that meant I had to go away to have a full school education
“At a time when there was no subsidy from the government and to attend private schools, it was a considerable sacrifice to my parents and, also, a reflection of the value I grew up with that education was terribly important. I will be forever grateful to them for that, because neither of them had a very extensive formal education but both were very intelligent people.”
Adele is a member of the Tamworth University Reference Group, but also represents the Tamworth Community on the University of New England’s Tamworth Implementation Group. The group provide advice to UNE Senior Executives on community needs and expectations of a UNE presence in Tamworth.
She says Tamworth’s University presence is important and believes it would not just serve the Tamworth region but would be a wider-regional asset.
“It is a comfort city for so many people who don’t actually live here,” she said.
“They feel comfortable to come here and are familiar with it. It is a place where they are less likely to feel threatened and where some cultural groups have the support of family and culture.
“Tamworth has its own distinct identity as a can-do city, a can-do community and the fact that four or five people can get together with a shared vision and make something happen… the University is a prime example of that.”
Adele says she is hopeful UNE’s Tamworth Campus would be a ‘leader’ in education and inspiration for those who might not have had access to University before.
“The University will be a leader, in not just what it offers in terms of education, but it will be a leader in the way it delivers – in the way it shares the vision of the people.
“Our University won’t be (just) for people who want to do a degree, a masters or PHD, it will be a centre of learning for all of our community.”
“A place of learning for everybody irrespective your status or presentation in society… it will be a place that embraces the individual learning needs and reflect that rather than what best suits a university.”
