Curtin University’s School of Public Health celebrated a quarter of a century of delivering food science and technology education in Western Australia.
Former graduates of the Bachelor of Science (Food Science and Technology) degree, industry partners, and friends joined in the 25-year anniversary celebration held at Curtin’s Bentley Campus.
Mr Stuart Johnson, the first student to graduate from the degree, was also present. Mr Johnson, who now works in his own consultancy firm ‘Thinking Food’, said the degree had opened up doors for him.
“Upon graduating I found myself developing new food technologies and products in a newly created export development role at Peters and Brownes in Balcatta,” Mr Johnson said.
“I then went on to work for the Government on an initiative for the Department of Agriculture and Food WA and started to focus more effort on value adding to the State’s agriculture.”
Head of Curtin’s School of Public Health, Professor Bruce Maycock said the festivities were held to thank everyone who had helped to grow the degree over the years.
“It was great to see so over 100 graduates, many of who are now industry partners, at our anniversary celebration,” Professor Maycock said.
“It was also interesting to hear about the wide range of fields our graduates have gone into including technical controllers, food safety officers, production managers and food safety auditors to name a few.”
The Food Science and Technology degree is the only course of its kind on offer in Western Australia.
It is recognised by the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology, which is acknowledged internationally.
