Written by Julia Day

Carmel started working at the University of New England more than 23 years ago. She began her career at UNE by providing administrative support to a project in Agronomy with Associate Professor Graham Blair. When this project was completed she moved into a position in Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology. This was a highlight for Carmel as she had the honour of working with Professor Mark Morewood. He was instrumental in discovering the remains of ancient human hobbits.

After a time, Carmel moved to Student Central where she learnt all about the Business and Law degrees. Her expertise was soon recognised and she was promoted to the role of Academic Manager at the Law School. This was a great move for Carmel as she had previously worked with a solicitor when she lived in Sydney.

Carmel with Michael Kirby and Vicki Vivers

Carmel has loved her time at UNE Law. ‘I have worked with lots of different course coordinators and heads of school. I have also seen lots of changes within the law degrees and divergent teaching styles. I love hearing about the interesting research done in the Law School. We have developed several processes within the school such as appeals and extension processes which have been emulated at other places throughout the university. It has been a great and interesting place to work.’ 

Carmel and Belinda

Carmel notes the favourite aspect of her job is working with students to help them progress throughout their degrees. She loves seeing the confidence of students grow as they advance through their legal courses. Anyone who knows Carmel won’t be surprised that some of her favourite memories at the Law School also includes social events such as the 25^th Anniversary Dinner. Carmel has also witnessed many sad times at the Law School such as the passing of Fran Wright, Bryan Pape and Professor Eilis Magner all in the same year. Even though this time was filled with sadness, Carmel was heartened to see how the school came together as a community to support each other and its students.

Carmel at the Law School’s 25th Anniversary Dinner

What Carmel plans to do with the next stage of her life is inspiring. Primarily she wants to spend more time with her family, including with her new grandson ‘Tommy.’ As I am sure many of us can relate to, Carmel hasn’t had time for Carmel for several decades. ‘Now I will have time to focus on getting fitter and healthier. I want to stop putting everything on the backburner and be attentive to what fills me with joy.’ Carmel may also write a murder mystery, after reading many books of this genre over the years. ‘I think UNE and Armidale would be the perfect setting for a murder mystery. It has a fantastic Indigenous culture, a historic university and magnificent scenery.’ She also mentioned the many ‘crazy academics’ who live in the town- but I am confident she wasn’t talking about anyone from the Law School?!?

Carmel and Trevor

Dr Eric Ghosh perhaps pays the best tribute to Carmel when he notes ‘Carmel has a passion for getting things right. In that sense, she had a passion for legality. But she also demonstrated initiative. An example is her initiative in establishing an advance standing arrangement with Victoria Police, which brought in a significant number of additional students into our law degree. Carmel has a great personality: very warm and with a great sense of humour.’

Thank you, Carmel, for being such a terrific friend and colleague to everyone at the UNE Law School!