Academic Staff Archive - Excelsia University College
Source: https://excelsia.edu.au/about/academic-staff
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:10
Academic Staff Archive - Excelsia University College
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Professor Jane Fernandez, Provost, Excelsia
Professor Jane Fernandez holds the position of Provost at Excelsia. Jane was until recently also Vice-President, Quality & Strategy at Avondale University College (2011–April 2020). In her role at Avondale, Jane successfully led Avondale’s University College and Self-Accrediting projects. She led in the set-up and management of Avondale’s Joint-Conferral Scheme with Charles Sturt University. Jane also founded and continues to lead the national-based Higher Education Private Provider Quality Network (HEPP-QN). Jane is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is also a member of the TEQSA Register of Experts. She is committed, through collaborative practice, to contributing to the national reputation of higher education in Australia.
Dr Daniel Johnston, Vice-Provost (Academic)
Associate Professor Daniel Johnston received his PhD from The University of Sydney and holds a Masters degree in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge. In addition, he has earned relevant education qualifications in Learning and Teaching from UNSW. For 15 years, Daniel fulfilled teaching and leadership roles across various prestigious Australian higher education institutions. He also served as Principal Lecturer and Quality Lead at Sheffield Hallam University. Daniel has a strong background in learning and teaching with a focus on facilitating quality and student-engaging experiences. Daniel’s expertise, leadership and professional experience are a strong foundation to transition into the role of Director of Learning and Teaching.
Associate Professor Harold Culala, Director of Learning and Teaching
Associate Professor Harold John Culala is the Director of Learning and Teaching at ExcelsiaUniversity College, with over 20 years of higher education leadership across Australia and Asia. His previous roles include Vice President for Academic Services, Dean of Teacher Education, and Senior Lecturer in Academic Development, with expertise in academic development, teaching and learning, assessment, and governance. He holds a PhD in Education (Curriculum Studies) from Taylor’s University and an MA in Education (Curriculum and Instruction). He has published in the areas of curriculum reform, academic identity, and higher education practice, and has supervised and examined PhD and Master’stheses. He is a Senior Fellow of UK Advance HE (SFHEA), Associate Editor of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, and Board Secretary of the Open Access Publishing Association.
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Dr Jack Jia, Academic Operations Manager
Dr Jack Jia holds a PhD in Management (Business Management & Accounting) from University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy. During his PhD’s study, he also held visiting research appointments at The University of Adelaide and Western Sydney University. In the profession’s domain, he is an active member of CA, CPA, IPA, CMA, MAICD and IEAA.
Jack’s most recent role was the Course Coordinator (Business & Accounting) at Charles Sturt University Sydney Campus where he provided academic leadership to the Business and Accounting courses. Additionally, he has held several courses coordination and lecturing roles both at universities and private higher education institutes including WSU, La Trobe Sydney, and Sydney Institute of Higher Education. In his teaching career, Jack was a recipient of Teaching Excellence Award for Postgraduate Programs at La Trobe Sydney.
Jack is experienced in a wide range of academic course management, teaching & learning activities as well as professional engagement both academically and administratively. He is passionate about the continuous improvement of the academic operations to support academic courses and student success. He looks forward to contributing to the Christian higher education community.
School of Business
Dr Sarah Eyaa, Head of School of Business and Director of Research
Dr. Sarah Eyaa has been an academic in the field of business management for over 20 years in higher education institutions in Uganda and Australia. Over the course of her career, Sarah has served at different levels of higher education academic administration in addition to lecturing. In research, Sarah has published on a range of topics in her areas of research interest, supervised several postgraduate research theses and reviewed journal articles as well as book chapters.
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Dr Andrew Levula, IT Program Director
PhD, MICT, PGD, GCTE, BA | MACS (Snr), MACS (CP), MAICD
Associate Professor Andrew Levula has been an ICT professional, research and academic. He is the IT Program Director at Excelsia and was instrumental in the development and accreditation of the Bachelor of Information Technology at Excelsia. He is MACS (SNR) member certified by ACS, he brings over 15 years’ experience in IT Project Management, Academic Leadership and IT Curriculum and Course Development. Associate Professor Levula is committed to enhancing students learning experience and his teaching philosophy is that education should be an enjoyable and exciting journey. He is an advocate for education as a catalyst for change in people which is Goal 4: Quality Education of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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Dr Fu Dai, Business Lecturer
Dr Fu Dai, Lecturer, School of Business
Fu Dai Joined the School of Business, Excelsia University College as a casual high-degree research co-supervisor in 2020 and is now a lecturer in Management in the School of Business, Excelsia University College.
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Dr Isaac Akomea-Frimpong, Accounting Lecturer
Dr. Isaac Akomea-Frimpong is an accounting lecturer. He has Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification together with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree from Western Sydney University where his doctoral thesis focused on modelling financial risk management framework for public-private partnership projects. Isaac has both teaching and industry experiences. Over the years, he has taught and supervised students in different courses such as accounting, project management, financial management, costing, complex building projects, auditing, taxation and risk management. Isaac also served as a general manager in a property and facilities management company in the past. Isaac has great interest in research publication with several journal articles and peer-review experiences.
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Dr Safoora Pitsi, Lecturer and Program/Course Coordinator (MBR)
PhD (Leadership Cognition), MBA Executive, MSc (Information Technology management), BSc (Computer Engineering-Software), (Cognitive Psychology, Behavioural & Cognitive Neuroscience,Brain & Behaviour, University of Tasmania)
Dr. Safoora Pitsi is a Lecturer and the Program and Course Coordinator for the Master of Business Research program at the School of Business. She completed her PhD in 2024 on Perceptions of Leadership Intelligence, where she investigated how individuals mentally perceive, conceptualise, and categorise leadership using cognitive frameworks. In her research, she has worked deeply on leadership and cognitive theories, particularly implicit leadership theories (ILTs), leadership categorisation theory (LCT), and intelligence theories.
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School of Counselling
Dr Aqua Y Hastings
PhD (Sociology), Bachelor of Social Science (Hons I), Bachelor of Social Science (Gender)
Dr Aqua Hastings is a teaching and research academic with over ten years’ experience within the tertiary education sector. Aqua has worked as a frontline community practitioner in a variety of contexts. She has a particular interest in the diverse worldviews that shape people’s realities, and is committed to holding the light aloft to enable others to see difference with soft eyes.
Aqua has over 15 years experience counselling individuals in a range of settings including homeless shelters, women’s centre, remote communities, and natural disaster. She is registered with PACFA, ACA, PCA, ATMS, and TASA.
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Dr Lauren Poole
PhD in Psychology, Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice, BSc (Honours) Psychology
Dr Lauren Poole (née Kita) is a Lecturer within the School of Counselling at Excelsia. Lauren has been teaching Psychology and Counselling within the higher education sector for over ten years both within Australia and the UK.
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Daniella Taouk, Associate Lecturer in Counselling
Daniella holds a Bachelor of Arts – Psychology, a Masters in Clinical Counselling, and Advanced Clinical Training in Contemporary Gestalt Psychotherapy.
She has experience working with a variety of clients including youth and adults from diverse backgrounds and communities, in various mental health areas.
Daniella has also worked as a counsellor, both within organisations and in private practice. She has engaged in a variety of supportive and teaching roles within a tertiary education setting.
Daniella is passionate about empowering, supporting and walking alongside individuals through their own unique journeys.
Linda Higgins-Reid, Counsellor
M.Couns; M Child&Adol Welf: B Soc Sc Soc Welf
Clinical Registrant PACFA
Linda has been a Mental Health Professional for over 20 years in both a voluntary and a professional capacity. Her vast professional experience has been gained working across many areas including grief counselling, young parenting, family, and individual counselling and supporting children and adolescents experiencing significant behavioural and emotional difficulties. Her extensive therapeutic work with adults encompasses working with complex trauma from an attachment model. She works from a psychodynamic base, incorporating person-centred, somatic and expressive therapies in her daily work.
Linda has worked at Excelsia (previously Wesley Institute) for many years as both a casual lecturer and student counsellor, involving both face to face and online counselling. She also sees clients in her private practice, which includes working with her much loved therapy dog Bella Bee.
Trish Yeung Petchell, Counsellor
Trish is a registered clinical counsellor of PACFA. She is trained for Emotion Focused Counselling and Emotion Focused Psychotherapy. Trish provides trauma-informed and culturally sensitive practice to adult individuals in all walks of life and with any religious beliefs. She is passionate and skilled in guiding and collaborating with her clients in the therapeutic setting in finding support, clarity, freedom, and strength.
School of Creative and Performing Arts
Drama
Associate Professor Lotte Latukefu, Head School of Creative and Performing Arts
Associate Professor Lotte holds a PhD in Music Education from the University of Wollongong, Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music (NY) and a Bachelor of Music from the ANU School of Music. Collaborative Learning in Music, in particularly singing, has been a particular research interest for Lotte for about seven years. In her PhD thesis she examined the work of Lev Vygotsky and socio-cultural theorists who have followed in order to address questions concerning the nature of learning singing in collaborative settings. Her thesis demonstrated that there is a rich resource of learning to be found in the way that students interact with each other and learn from each other. Forming a nexus to this research is her own creative practice as a mezzo-soprano.
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Dr Mark Seton, Lecturer
Dr Mark Seton is an Honorary Research Associate (Department of Theatre and Performance Studies) at The University of Sydney. He is a lecturer in Theatre History, Film Project, Screen Histories, Screen Genres, Introduction to Screen Storytelling, and Formation 4: Designing my Creative Career at Excelsia, and lecturing in career sustainability for actors at the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television (AFTT). He was recipient of the 2009 Gilbert Spottiswood Churchill Fellowship to conduct a study tour of actor training healthcare practices in the UK. Arising from this study, the Equity Foundation, in collaboration with Dr Seton, Assoc Prof Ian Maxwell (Department of Theatre and Performance Studies) and Dr Marianna Szabo (School of Psychology) at the University of Sydney, initiated a ground-breaking Actors’ Wellbeing Study (AWS) in collaboration with the Equity Foundation in 2013.
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Hailey McQueen, Associate Lecturer in Producing and Performance Practice, Director
Hailey has been a part of the School of Drama at Excelsia for 14 years. Graduating from Excelsia as Valedictorian in 2002, Hailey went on to receive a Diploma of Education in Drama and History from the University of New England and completed studies with Bell Shakespeare. Hailey has appeared in many productions across Sydney as an actor including,
When the Rain Stops Falling
for The New Theatre,
King Lear
and
Measure For Measure
for The Sydney Shakespeare Festival,
The Way of All Fish
for Sydney Fringe Festival and for The Genesian Theatre;
Richard III
. For Twisted Tree Theatre;
The God of Carnage
,
Entertaining Angels, The Importance of Being Earnest, Hamlet
and
Picnic on the Battlefield
. For Sydney’s Big Laugh Comedy Festival and Newtown Theatre;
The Popular Mechanicals
. For Cufflink Productions;
Talking With
and
The Cardboard Box
. During her studies Hailey had roles in
Morning Sacrifice, Only Words, Charlotte, J.B, Fear and Misery in the Third Reich, Easter
and
The Hot Mikado
.
She also appeared as Sonia McMahon on Channel 9’s
Power Games
and in a web series
Town Centre
and in
Mr. Foot
, for Bondi Feast,
Metamorphosis
at Chippen Street Theatre and
Wit
at Seymour Centre. As a Producer and Director, Hailey has produced many independent shows across Sydney and is co-founder and Artistic Director of Clock and Spiel Productions, where her adaptation and direction of
The Screwtape Letters
by C.S. Lewis had a sold-out national tour. More recently the company’s productions of
Freud’s Last Session, Metamorphosis, Wit
and
Molly Sweeney
were all received with critical acclaim.
Fiona Gentle, Associate Lecturer, Academic Support Advisor
Excelsia Excellence in Teaching Award (2020) recipient.
Fiona teaches Movement, Story and Academic Skills. She has worked professionally for over 20 years as a performer/puppeteer, movement director, director and writer. She has performed with renowned theatre, film and television companies, such as
Sydney Theatre Company, Theatre of Image, Opera Australia, ABC and BBC, Sesame Street, Jim Henson Company, Nickelodeon and Kennedy Miller Productions
. Fiona has performed many loved characters including ‘Ferdinand’ (the duck) from the BABE films, and for the last eight years, has assisted David Rudman in performing the Cookie Monster, on his Australian tours. She has directed a number of theatre productions, written for theatre and children’s television, and is ongoing puppetry consultant for television shows and commercials.
Fiona holds a Masters in Writing, Diploma in Fine Arts (The National Arts School), and completed the 12-month ‘Physical Theatre Program’ at the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre (US). Her training includes Philippe Gaulier, Monika Pagneux, Trestle Theatre, Diablo Mundo (Argentina) & Kevin Clash (puppetry), The Guildhall (UK), Kate Champion (writing).
Rebecca Kellahan, Production Manager
Rebecca is a theatre and film actor, stage manager and producer. She has worked in the stage management team for numerous theatre productions including Evie May (The Hayes Theatre), A Doll’s House (Bard on the Beach Productions), Jack Data (Road Train Productions), Hell Hole (Clock and Spiel Productions), Alison’s House (The Depot Theatre) and The Crucible (Bard on the Beach Productions). In 2021, Rebecca joined Clock and Spiel Productions as a Producer and Project Manager, contributing toward the development of the Eternity Project. As an actor, Rebecca specialises in devised and movement-based storytelling. In 2021, she performed in the world-premiere of The City, a physical theatre production featuring voice over and soundscape, which was staged at the Sydney Opera House. Her other performance credits include theatre productions Wit (Joining the Dots Productions) and Windy Gully (Merrigong Theatre Company), short film The Whole Package (Dorothy Creatives) and video series Before it Starts (Hustle Media). Having graduated as Valedictorian from Excelsia with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Theatre Practice) in 2017, Rebecca is advancing her academic skills through pursuing a Master of Business (Research). Integrating leadership, research and business management skills with her performing arts background, Rebecca seeks to effectively support creative teams and projects to achieve artistic excellence, desired impact, and sustainability.
As Production Manager at Excelsia, Rebecca works to ensure theatre productions are a positive learning experience in which students can explore, develop, and showcase their creative and technical skills on the Excelsia stage.
Jason Perini, Acting Lecturer
Jason lectures in the graduate acting and directing courses for both theatre and screen.
As an actor, writer and director Jason co-wrote and acted in the short film ‘A LITTLE BIT BEHIND’. Jason was awarded ‘Best Actor’ at the international 48hour Short Film Awards in the USA. The film screened at the Cannes Film Festival shorts corner (2012)
In 2016 Jason wrote and directed his short film ‘THE NEW EMPRESS’. The film starred Maggie Gyllenhaal and was produced by Dana Brunetti. The film had its premiere at Paramount Studios (LA) as part of the Jameson First Shot project.
In 2018, Jason acted in and co-wrote the online Wallabies campaign for ASICS ‘THE TRAVELLING SALESMAN ’ which was co-produced with LADbible.
The campaign has had over 3 million views online and was the winner of the Mumbrella Sports Marketing Awards Social Campaign of the year
Jason’s directorial debut feature film ‘CHASING COMETS’ had its national cinema release in August 2018. The film played in over 90 cinemas across Australia. Jason was nominated for an ADG award for ‘Best Director in a Feature film’ (Under $1mil) in 2019. The film is currently streaming on Stan.
In 2019 Jason directed a series of commercials for global brand HP. The campaign included the original voice of Siri, Susan Bennett.
In 2021 Jason’s short film ‘CARAMEL’ won the ‘Second Batch Film Festival’ competition run by Pedestrian TV.
Linda Nicholls-Gidley, Lecturer
Linda holds a Master of Creative Arts – University of Wollongong, Graduate Diploma – NIDA, and a Bachelor of Arts – Acting for the Stage and Screen Charles Sturt University. Linda Certified in Knight Thompson Speechwork in 2019 and is one of only 2 teachers of the method in Australia.
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Kylie Bonaccorso, Movement Lecturer
Dip Arts (Acting), BA (Theatre Studies), Grad Dip Education (Drama & English)
Movement Lecturer
Kylie Bonaccorso has completed a Degree and a Graduate Diploma of Education in Theatre Studies and English at UNE. In 2005 she completed further study at the International School of Commedia dell’ Arte and Comic Acting in Italy with world-renowned maestro Antonio Fava.
She currently works as the movement lecturer at Excelsia where she devises shows regularly with her movement classes. Kylie has directed The Government Inspector in 2012, the graduation show of 2016 Hearts Like Fists and Love and Information in 2018. Kylie often supports major productions and student created work at Excelsia, as a movement director.
Kylie has been a regular tutor for NIDA Open for over twenty-five years, teaching all ages; classes such as mask work, scene preparation, movement for stage and screen studios, devising, improvisation, teaching teachers, youth with a disability and touring programmes. She has directed Stories in the Dark, Bush Tales (After Grimm), A Comedy of Errors, The Pied Piper, The Time Machine, Tales from the Arabian Nights and Antigone for Nida Open. She was a Movement Director on Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood and The Wizard of Oz (all directed by Mary-Anne Gifford). She is also a facilitator with Nida Corporate Performance (over 15 years).
Kylie has also directed two shows for Redline Productions at The Old Fitz Theatre; Smashed by Lally Katz in 2016 for the Late Night Performances, and The Way of All Fish by Elaine May for the Sydney Fringe Festival in 2013.
Kylie has worked at The McDonald College of Performing Arts for six years specialising in teaching play building, storytelling, mask work such as Commedia dell’ Arte, Neutral and Basel. During her time at the college Kylie directed Ghost Sonata, Summer of the Aliens, Lord of the Flies, The House of Bernarda Alba and A Servant of Two Masters.
Donna Abela, Script Writing Lecturer and Mentor
Donna is an award-winning playwright. Jump For Jordan won the 2015 AWGIE Award for Stage and the 2013 Griffin Playwriting Award, and is on the 2019-2022 HSC Drama Syllabus. Her body of work includes plays which have won AWGIE awards for radio (Spirit, Aurora’s Lament, Mrs Macquarie’s Cello), the Human Rights Award for Drama (Highest Mountain Fastest River), and were nominated for NSW Premiers Literary Awards (Tales From the Arabian Night, Jump For Jordan). For Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image, she wrote two large scale adaptations: Monkey … Journey to the West (2014 Brisbane Festival, 2015 Melbourne Festival, 2015 Sydney Opera House program) and Tales from the Arabian Nights, a widely produced play on refugee themes which was published by Currency Press in 2019.
Donna also has extensive experience in script and writer development, and has worked with organisations such as Q Theatre, Arts Out West, Hothouse Theatre, PYT Fairfield, Australian Theatre for Young People, Playwriting Australia, National Theatre of Parramatta, Westwords, UoW and Excelsia to teach, mentor or provide dramaturgy to over a hundred students, emerging and professional writers for screen and stage. Donna is a graduate from the University of Technology, the University of New South Wales, the University of Wollongong, and the National Institute for Dramatic Arts. She is a member of Milk Crate Theatre’s Artistic Advisory Council, and a founding member of PYT Fairfield and 7ON Playwrights.
Malcolm Frawley, Acting Lecturer
Malcolm is a writer/director/teacher and actor with over 35 years of professional experience. His plays and productions have been performed in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Byron Bay and Darwin. He has taught at NIDA, Sydney Theatre School, Screenwise, Actors College of Theatre & Television (ACTT), Theatre Nepean (University of Western Sydney), Screen Actors Workshop, ADASA, Ed5, Kick and Gala Studios. Malcolm has been a member of the Excelsia team since 2014.
Kate Gaul, Lecturer, Director
Kate is a Freelance Theatre Director/Designer. She graduated from NIDA in 1996, completing the Directing Course and the Anne Bogart SITI Company In New York City in 2005. Associate Director Ensemble Theatre 2004/5. Festival Director World Interplay 2009/11. Festival Director Short Play Festival Canberra 2013 – 2015, Cabaret Sydney 2014, Mardi Gras Parade Creative Director 2015/16. Curator Playlist 2018 – 2020. Kate’s directing credits include plays, opera, physical theatre, devised works and classics for theatre companies and schools in Australia. Kate has won numerous awards across the fields of directing and design. She is Artistic Director of Siren Theatre Co where her passion is for text-based drama challenges artists and audiences to have bold imaginative experiences. Kate’s play –
Fatboy
has been produced twice and she has written and directed two short films –
Embrace
and
Cake
.
In 2019 Kate produced and directed
The Moors
(by Jen Silverman) and curated PLAYLIST both in conjunction with Seymour Centre and Mardi Gras; directed a stage version of Janne Teller’s YA novel
Nothing for Blue Cow
(Tasmania);
By the Light of the Moon
(Opera Australia), and
Hansel & Gretel
(Pacific Opera). Kate’s gender bending
HMS Pinafore
for Hayes Theatre opened in November 2019 and tours NSW in 2020.
Mary Benn, Stage Management Lecturer and Mentor
Mary has been a stage manager in the entertainment industry for 30 years and has travelled extensively in Australia and Asia taking theatre to the people. She has been teaching her craft in Australian institutions now for 10 years and enjoys passing on her knowledge to the new stage managers of the world.
Music
Associate Professor Lotte Latukefu, Head School of Creative and Performing Arts
Associate Professor Lotte holds a PhD in Music Education from the University of Wollongong, Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music (NY) and a Bachelor of Music from the ANU School of Music. Collaborative Learning in Music, in particularly singing, has been a particular research interest for Lotte for about seven years. In her PhD thesis she examined the work of Lev Vygotsky and socio-cultural theorists who have followed in order to address questions concerning the nature of learning singing in collaborative settings. Her thesis demonstrated that there is a rich resource of learning to be found in the way that students interact with each other and learn from each other. Forming a nexus to this research is her own creative practice as a mezzo-soprano.
Learn more
Ludmila Beliavskaia, Tutor, Classical Piano
DipMus, MMus(Hons)
A graduate of Rachmaninov Conservatorium of Music in Russia, Ludmila has more than 30 years experience of teaching classical piano. She started working at Rachmaninov Conservatorium of Music as a teacher in solo piano and chamber ensemble performance. She also worked as an accompanist. Having worked in Australia for 15 years, Ludmila currently teaches at the University of New South Wales, Excelsia and International Grammar School. Some of her recent performances include concerts with the German Chamber Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House and the Greek Choir at Sydney Town Hall. Ludmila’s students have received awards at piano competitions both in Russia and Australia.
Dr Sadaharu Muramatsu, Lecturer and Tutor, Conductor
BA(Hons), MMus, MMus, Hon.DMus
Sada completed a Masters of Music in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK. Subsequently, he was granted a fellowship to study conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney under the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists.
Sada completed a Masters of Music in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK. Subsequently, he was granted a fellowship to study conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney under the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists.
Sada studied conducting under Imre Pallo, Kurt Masur, Sir Mark Elder CBE, Hirofumi Misawa and Kazuki Sawa.
George Makras, Lecturer, Digital Music Production
George Makras brings his extensive knowledge in music production, composition and audio to his teaching role at Excelsia. George’s understanding of digital technology and digital audio workstations makes him an indispensable resource for many students.
In 2006 George was certified as a Level One Apple Certified Pro Logic Trainer. George is an accomplished programmer and electronic music composer. He also teaches other areas of digital media such as web design, image capture and editing.
He has travelled extensively thru India and Nepal over the past 15 years as an Audio Engineer with the GEOS project.
George has performed extensively with the Sydney University Gamelan Ensemble, the Sydney Institute of Technology Ensemble “SITE” and was a member of Sydney indie band “Fred the Bison”.
Julia Michaels, Tutor, Contemporary Voice, Song Writing, Small Ensemble
Julia Michaels is an award-winning singer/songwriter with over 20 years of experience working in the music industry. She has worked with some of Australia’s elite musicians and performers as a performer, composer, arranger, and music/vocal director singing alongside artists such as Paramore, Delta Goodrem, Prinnie Stevens, Barry Crocker and Darlene Zschech.
As a songwriter, Julia has enjoyed much success receiving international recognition and awards including 2014 Adult/Contemporary Song of the Year, 2015 Folk/Acoustic Song of the Year and Runner Up for 2015 Australian Songwriter of the Year.
As a Vocal Coach and Music Educator, Julia specialises in Contemporary Voice with a focus on Speech Level Singing, Mix Voice, Belt and Musical Theatre and enjoys training others in composition, songwriting and artist development.
Dr Peter McNamara, Tutor, Composition and Harmony
Dr. Peter McNamara is an award-winning Sydney-based freelance composer and academic. He is currently the instructor of composition (Masters) and harmony units at Excelsia and has worked for a variety of other tertiary institutions including the University of Sydney and University of New England. He is also a co-artistic director of the
Sideband
composer collective.
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Candice Boyd, Tutor, Contemporary Voice and Contemporary Violin
Candice teaches singing and violin specialising in contemporary singing and violin, as well as classical violin. In 2010, she began teaching the choirs and small vocal groups at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts. She has toured with Ben Hazlewood and Molly Meldrom, and is currently performing with her self-managed duo “Am Believe I” developing her skills as a singing violinist, which is also the focus area of her Masters research.
David Pudney, Lecturer and Tutor, Jazz Piano, Bass Guitar, Double Bass
AssDipJazzStud, Industry Professional
David completed his Associate Diploma in Jazz Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium in 1984 and has been a sought after bass player in the Australian jazz scene since that time, with a wide repertoire of mixed styles. He spent 16 years as bassist in the Don Burrows Quartet and has worked with many distinguished Australian and overseas jazz artists. David is also a pianist and teaches piano, electric and double bass, and improvisation at the Sydney Conservatorium Open Academy, Avondale Conservatorium in the Newcastle area, and here at Excelsia. As a working musician, recording artist and teacher, he brings a wealth of musical experience to Excelsia.
Na Ri Kim, Tutor, Piano Accompanist
BA(Mus), BCA(MusPerf), MMus
Na Ri is an experienced piano teacher, organist and music theory teacher. Na Ri Kim was born in South Korea and interested in music from a young age. She started learning the organ when she went to university. While studying, she performed in numerous concerts as a soloist and accompanist. She migrated to Australia after she got married in 1998. She studied and completed a Bachelor of Music at Wesley Institute and a Master of Music at Newcastle Conservatorium. She is currently teaching at Excelsia, Message Musical School in the Korean Community and as a private piano teacher.
Jae Woo Kim, Tenor
Born in Korea, Jaewoo Kim is a graduate of the Canberra School of Music and a winner of several prestigious scholarships including Opera Foundation’s Metropolitan Opera Awards and the McDonald’s aria. He was a Principal Artist with Opera Australia from 1999 – 2006
He was a visiting lecturer at Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.
From
2007-2012
Jaewoo was based in the UK. the Italian Singer:
Der Rosenkavalier
, Edgardo:
Lucia di Lammermoor
(English National Opera); Lensky:
Eugene Onegin
(English Touring Opera); Duke:
Rigoletto
(Opera Holland Park); Harlequin: Tarik O’Regan’s
The Heart of Darkness
(Linbury Theatre Covent Garden); Tamino:
The Magic Flute
(Lyric Opera Productions, Dublin); Alfredo:
La Traviata
(Longborough Opera, Societa Filarmonia in Croatia and Italy); Tamino
,
Ferrando:
Così fan tutte
, Orphée:
Orphée aux enfers
(Diva Opera: UK, Europe). Concerts included
The Dream of Gerontius
(London Mozart Players and Oriana Choir at the Barbican), a Gala Concert with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London and Verdi’s
Requiem
(Nottingham Harmonic Choir).
In concert in Australia, Jaewoo has appeared as soloist with the Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Sydney Philharmonia, Queensland Music Festival.
Luke Sweeting, Tutor, Performance, Small Ensemble, Harmony and Composition
Improvising pianist and composer Luke Sweeting resides in Sydney, Australia. He is best known for the strength of his composing like in his 2012 jazz album ‘People and Lightbulbs’ and more recently with the Grey Wing Trio who recently released their debut album ‘Amoroso’ on Jazzhead. Last year, Luke toured Germany, Sweden and Australia with Svelia, The Grey Wing Trio in Australia and toured New Zealand and Australia with Kiwi/Aussie collaborative band Antipodes. He also toured in April with Vulkan quintet (DENMARK/AUST) whilst performing with other projects. uke studied at the ANU School of Music before their recent course changes, receiving the Dennis Griffin Scholarship to complete his performance based masters. He studied and performed with and alongside trumpet legend Miroslav Bukovsky (of Wanderlust and Ten Part Invention fame), James Greening (of Greening from Ear to Ear) amongst many others at the school. Luke received the Sprogis Woods Composition Competition for his large ensemble piece Sound Canvas in 2010. In 2013, with the help of the Australia Council Luke was able to pursue overseas studies with Florian Ross (German pianist/composer) and Hävard Wiik (Norwegian/Berlin pianist).
Tim Geldens, Tutor of Drums
Tim Geldens is a musician/drummer based in Sydney Australia. Tim has a performed alongside some of Australia’s finest musicians; James Morrison, Emma Pask, Monica Trapaga , Lionel Cole , Uncle Jed (Australias got talent), Dale Barlow, Brendan Clarke, David Panichi, Brett Hurst, Errol Buddle, Matt McMahon, Johnathan Zwartz, John Harkins to name a few.
Tim is a graduate of The Sydney Conservatorium of Music. At the Conservatorium, he was under the tuition of great Australian drummers Andrew Dickeson and Simon Barker as well renowned musicians.
In 2014 Tim was selected to be part of the World JM Jazz Orchestra led by Pianist/Composer Erlend Skomsvoll, consisting of some of the finest young jazz musicians around the world.
Over the years Tim has spent some time in New York learning from some of his favourite drummers; Kenny Washington, Pete Van Nosetrand, Kendrick Scott, Michael Carvin, Rodney Green, Greg Hutchinson and Bob Moses.
Tim Continues to perform in Sydney and abroad with local musicians. He has also been fortunate to perform numerous occasions at the Opera House and Melbourne recital centre, as well as various international Jazz festivals including; Konsberg Jazz Festival in Norway, Sydney and Melbourne Jazz Festivals, Tauranga Jazz Festival and Waiheke island Jazz festival (New Zealand) and Wangaratta Jazz festival. Tim is proud endorser of Canopus Drums.
Steven Crain, Tutor, Guitar, Small Ensemble
Steve is a Sydney based jazz guitarist, composer and band leader. In 2011 he released a solo album “Kthwack!”.Steve studied at the Sydney Conservatorium in the early ’90s and over the last 25 years has enjoyed playing jazz, blues, gospel, pop and latin music in Sydney, across the country and internationally. He is in high demand in Sydney as a performer and combines this with teaching guitar at Excelsia and part time music ministry at St Barnabus Broadway.
Liam Webb, Tutor
Aural Perception
Yutaro Okuda, Instrumental tutor, small ensemble lecturer
Sydney based guitarist and composer Okuda has extensively toured nationally and internationally including festival appearances in Europe & a national tour with Arcing Wires, as well as a solo tour of Japan performing Okuda’s music with local & international musicians.
As well as leading his quintet and quartet, and being part of collaborative projects Arcing Wires, YUTRIO and A/O/W/G, Okuda performs regularly as sideman in many ensembles within Sydney’s contemporary jazz & improvised music scene, including Sam Gill’s Scattered, Briana Cowlishaw’s Fetherstone, Ragan Kang Quintet, Jack Stoneham’s Poltophagy, Jenna Cave’s Divergence Jazz Orchestra, Gavin Ahearn’s Memewars and Judy Bailey’s Jazz Connection.
Okuda is an honours graduate from the Jazz Performance degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Alisa Bernhard , Lecturer and tutor
Alisa Yuko Bernhard is a pianist and researcher based in Sydney. She completed her Bachelor and Master of Music in piano performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she was a student of the late Bulgarian pianist Nikolay Evrov; her Masters dissertation “The Pianist’s Freedom and the Work’s Constrictions: What Tempo Fluctuation in Bach and Chopin Indicate” (2017) engages with the musical work’s ontological status.
She is currently a Ph.D. candidate, exploring the relationship between music and dance with a focus on the first-person experience of dancing/musicking.
Victoria Parsons, Lecturer and Tutor
B. Mus, BA (Hons), GradDip Mus
Victoria Parsons is a PhD Candidate in Ethnomusicology at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. Her research is primarily concerned with how communities experience and express themselves through community music-making practices. Victoria holds a Bachelor of Music (Classical) and a Graduate Diploma of Music from the Australian Institute of Music majoring in flute. She also holds Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology and Music Studies) with first class honours from the University of Sydney.
Lauren Moxey, Lecturer
Lauren is an experienced and dedicated music educator who co-founded Sydney Vocal Academy with her husband Tim. From 2013–2022, SVA provided singing, piano and guitar training for hundreds of students, and was a thriving and transformational music community. Lauren is also an experienced communications consultant and business manager, and she is passionate about equipping creatives to thrive.
Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from University of Southern Queensland and a Bachelor of Music from Wesley Institute (now Excelsia), where she specialised in contemporary piano performance. She is currently completing a PhD (Creative Arts) with James Cook University.
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Screen Production
Mark Barnard, Production Lecturer
Mark is a television professional with over 35 years experience in just about every genre and style. He has worked internationally for many high profile employers, most recently for ABC Kids, CBeebies (UK) and Beach House (Singapore/Aust)
As a writer and director, Mark has been associated with the flagship children’s television program
Play
School
for over twenty years, creating over 200 episodes.
Jason Perini, Directing Lecturer
Jason Perini is a director, writer and actor. In 2016, Jason wrote and directed his short film ‘The New Empress’. The short stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and was produced by Dana Brunetti as part of the Jameson First Shot project. The film premiered at Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles.
His directorial debut feature film ‘Chasing Comets’ had its national cinema release in August 2018. The film played in over 90 cinemas across Australia. Subsequently, Jason was nominated for an ADG award for ‘Best Director in a Feature film’ (Under $1mil) in 2019. In late 2019 Jason directed a series of commercials for global brand Hewlett Packard.
The short film ‘A Little Bit Behind’ which Jason co-wrote and starred in has won awards internationally. Jason won ‘Best Actor’ in Australia & at the International 48hour Short Film Awards in America. The film screened at the Cannes Film Festival shorts corner in 2012.
‘Kitchen Sink Drama’ in which Jason also played the lead was a finalist at Tropfest Australia in 2012, screened at the New York City International Film Festival and won ‘Best Comedy’ at the BrownFish International Film Festival in New York.
Les Parrott, Cinematography Lecturer
With a career in camera departments spanning six decades and multiple continents, Les Parrott has worked with some of the world’s most esteemed cinematographers, directors and actors. Starting his career in the UK as a clapper loader, Les progressed through focus pulling to camera operation, working on films including Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Beatles’ Let It Be.
Les has worked with and been mentored by legendary cinematographers including David Watkin, BSC, Billy Williams OBE, BSC, Freddie Young OBE, BSC, Jack Hildyard ,BSC, Nicolas Roeg, CBE, BSC and Alex Thomson, BSC.
Since moving to Sydney in 1982, Les has continued his career as a freelance camera operator as well as setting up a commercial production company. Since 1999, Les has taught cinematography at schools including Sydney Film School (SFS), the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and Australian Institute of Music (AIM).
Les has worked with camera and cinematography technologies including 300 frame-per-second ultra- slow motion, stop motion single frame, in-camera multi/double exposure, extreme macro shooting, cine strobe light photography, aerial helicopter filming and in-camera special effects.
Sasha Zastavniković, Post Production Sound Lecturer
Sasha Zastavniković is an award-winning freelance Sound Designer with over twenty years of experience in film, television, media and entertainment industry.
In 2005, Sasha completed his master’s degree in Sound Design at the Australian Film, Television, Radio School (AFTRS). For his study, Sasha received the Digidesign Award for Sound design Creativity. Since graduating from AFTRS, Sasha has worked as a Sound Designer and re-recording mixer on many award-winning feature films, documentaries, TV series, Virtual Reality, theatre productions, video games, TVC, co-operate videos and short movies.
Over the years, Sasha has won numerous sound awards for the work as Sound Designer and also nominated on many other occasions. Sasha has also won Australian Screen Sound Awards for his work on TV series All Saints.
In addition to sound design, Sasha is passionate about electronic music, sound art, recording, and producing noise. Sasha has also written music for feature films, theatre and short films. Sasha enjoys recording the world that surrounds him and transforming sounds into something unique and exciting.
Dr Mark Seton, Lecturer
Dr Mark Seton is an Honorary Research Associate (Department of Theatre and Performance Studies) at The University of Sydney. He is a lecturer in Theatre History, Film Project, Screen Histories, Screen Genres, Introduction to Screen Storytelling, and Formation 4: Designing my Creative Career at Excelsia, and lecturing in career sustainability for actors at the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television (AFTT). He was recipient of the 2009 Gilbert Spottiswood Churchill Fellowship to conduct a study tour of actor training healthcare practices in the UK. Arising from this study, the Equity Foundation, in collaboration with Dr Seton, Assoc Prof Ian Maxwell (Department of Theatre and Performance Studies) and Dr Marianna Szabo (School of Psychology) at the University of Sydney, initiated a ground-breaking Actors’ Wellbeing Study (AWS) in collaboration with the Equity Foundation in 2013.
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Elizabeth Blackwood, Philosophy for Contemporary Filmmaker & Film Industry Lecturer
Charlotte Mungomery, Production Design Lecturer
Known for her unique visual style director-designer Charlotte Mungomery crafts stories for the screen that are simultaneously tender and tectonic. Her work is a series of poetic compositions sometimes maddening, often cathartic and always spellbinding.
Her training and background as a theatre production designer brings a refreshing combination of aesthetics and authenticity to her film work. Charlotte is a graduate of the BFA and MFA (Design for Performance) at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. In 2018 Charlotte became the youngest production designer to win the Australian Production Design Guild award for Best Set Design for Live Performance for her design work on Brandenburg Orchestras Opera ‘Bittersweet Obsessions’.
Her directorial film work has been featured, and won awards, in film festivals across Australia and internationally. She is currently a featured artist on ‘Thursdays Child Global’ an international platform of hand selected filmmakers & photographers.
School of Education
Dr Natalie Brand, Head of School of Education
Dr Natalie Brand is Head of School of Education at Excelsia University College and an active researcher with committee membership in the Centre for Research in Early Childhood Education (CRECE) at Macquarie University. She is an expert in very young children’s social interactions and learning in early childhood centres, with a focus on infant-toddler play-based pedagogies and toddlers’ use of learning-oriented language. Natalie is also an experienced Early Childhood Teacher (ECT) with strong professional connections to the sector. Her latest project, MQ Toddler TaLK, investigated toddlers’ learning-oriented talk and aimed to develop freely accessible professional resources for educators, currently available at toddlertalk.org.au.
Associate Professor Shanti Clements, Associate Professor in Education
Associate Professor Shanti Clements holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Educational Leadership), and a Master of Education (Management and Leadership) from University of Sydney. With over 30 years’ experience as an Educational Leader, Shanti has driven educational reforms both nationally and internationally. Shanti has previously held roles such as Head of Leadership Academy (TELLAL Institute, UAE), Academic Coordinator and Head Lecturer (Liverpool Hope University), lecturer (University of Sydney) and A/Director, Leadership and Teacher Quality (NSW Department of Education). Shanti also served as Principal of two NSW schools.
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Dr Yu Han, Lecturer in Education
Dr Yu holds a PhD in Education from Western Sydney University and a Master of Arts in Foreign Language Education from Jilin University, China. With more than 15 years of lecturing experience, Dr Yu has served as Associate Professor and Dean of the English Department at Zhejiang Wanli University, as well as Associate Professor and Head of the College English Education Research Centre at Guangzhou Nanfang College in China.
Dr Alfred Mupenzi, Lecturer, Early Childhood Education
Dr Alfred Mupenzi has over seven years’ experience lecturing Sociology within the Master of Teaching (Primary) program at Western Sydney University. Alfred also has one year of experience teaching different early childhood education units at Excelsia. Alfred’s teaching in early childhood education spans from multiculturalism and multilingualism, child, family and partnerships, growth and development, through to special needs education.
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Dr Edmund Sosu, Master of Teaching Course Coordinator
Dr. Edmund Sosu is an experienced teaching and research academic with over a decade of expertise in the tertiary education sector. His career began as a secondary school teacher in Ghana, where he developed a strong foundation in pedagogy and student engagement. He later transitioned to higher education, serving as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Cape Coast. Dr. Sosu’s dedication to education extends beyond the classroom, reflected in his active involvement in community initiatives and his role as a ‘good news teacher,’ fostering positive learning experiences among children and young adults.
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Professor Patrick Danaher, Professor in Education
PhD in Education, MLitt in Australian History, GradDipTertiary Ed, BA(Hons) in Anthropology, BA in Anthropology, BEd
Patrick has worked continuously as an education academic since early 1991 – most recently in the School of Education at Excelsia University College since July 2023, and previously at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, and before that at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton – prior to which he taught for nine years in secondary schools in Queensland and Victoria. He has been privileged to co-supervise several doctoral and research masters Australian and international students to completion. Patrick’s research interests include the education of occupationally mobile communities such as fairground or show and circus families; education research ethics, methods, politics and theories; and academics’, educators’ and researchers’ work and identities.
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Dr Nguyen Thi Le Nguyen, Lecturer, Education
Dr Nguyen Thi Le Nguyen completed her PhD in Education from the University of Newcastle, and a Master of Arts in International Education from Birmingham City University, UK. She has over 15 years of experience working as a Lecturer of English Education at Hanoi Pedagogical University.
Her research interests include language education, teacher development, sociology of education, international education, and international perspectives on educational improvement policies and planning.
Dr Murni Sianturi, Lecturer in Education, Master of Educational Research/STEM
With over six years of professional academic experience, Dr Murni Sianturi has built a strong track record in leading high-impact research and securing competitive grants. Her academic career spans the University of New South Wales, Australia; National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan; and Musamus University, Indonesia. Currently, she leads a competitively funded Australia–Indonesia international research project with Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), funded by the Indonesian Government and co-funded by Excelsia University College.
She completed her PhD at the University of New South Wales under the prestigious Scientia PhD Scholarship, with a thesis by publication. Expertise in Indigenous education and educational technology has been shared through invited talks, keynotes, plenary sessions, and international conference presentations. Her publications include two books and 21 peer-reviewed articles, seven of which appear in top-tier journals such as Pedagogy, Culture & Society and Education and Information Technologies, contributing to scholarship that influences both research and practice.
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Dr Thomas Philip, Lecturer in Education
Thomas Philip is a Lecturer in Integrative Studies in the School of Education at Excelsia, drawing on nearly three decades of experience in higher education, pastoral leadership, academic administration, and cross‑cultural ministry. He holds a PhD in Arts and Education (Theology and Hermeneutics) from Charles Sturt University, as well as master’s and bachelor’s degrees in both Sociology and Theology. Thomas has taught in multiple institutions, contributing to education, curriculum development, mission, pastoral formation, and community development. His scholarly interests encompass Christology, mission, hermeneutics, and transformative learning, with ongoing work situated at the intersection of theology, culture, and educational practice. He is the author of the Routledge monograph M.M. Thomas’s Secular Commentaries on Scripture: Exegeting the World, which reflects his ongoing work in public theology and the intersection of faith and contemporary culture.
Dr Natalie Somhom, Lecturer in Education
Dr Natalie Somhom integrates research and practical experience to prepare future educators for meaningful work in early childhood settings. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Education) from Macquarie University, where her research focused on self‑regulation in Australian ECEC settings, as well as a Master of Research (Education) from Macquarie University with a focus on autobiographical memory, and a Master of Education (Educational Management) from Mahidol University. Her research journey began with investigating how primary school children in Thailand learn English, which sparked a deeper interest in the early experiences that shape learning across the lifespan and led to cross‑cultural studies on autobiographical memory in emerging adults in Thailand and Australia. Drawing on both academic insight and practical experience gained while working in childcare during her doctoral studies, she brings a grounded and holistic perspective to her teaching. As the Course Coordinator for Placement across the BECE and GDECT programs, she supports students as they connect theory with practice and grow into confident early childhood professionals.
Dr Xuemei Shao, Lecturer in Education
Dr. Xuemei Shao is a Lecturer and Fourth-Year Course Coordinator in Early Childhood at Excelsia University College. She completed her PhD at Western Sydney University, with research focusing on children’s language development and cognition. With nearly ten years of higher education teaching experience across China and Australia, she brings strong expertise in teaching, research, and curriculum leadership.
School of ELICOS
Dr Daisy William, ELICOS Program Director
Dr William is the ELICOS Program Director at Excelsia and former academic at the School of Business at the University of New England. Dr William has forty years of extensive industry and higher education leadership experience having been CEO/Director of four organisations including the Language Training Centre at the University of New England. Dr William has a PhD in Financial Management & Corporate Governance (UNE), MEd TESOL (Deakin), BTh (BCM), CELTA (Cambridge), Adv Dip Bus Mgmt (UNEP). Her research interests are in financial management, corporate governance, teaching English to speakers of other languages and developing assessments.
Rosemary Colacino, Lecturer
Rosemary Colacino is a lecturer in the ELICOS program who has seven years’ experience in English language teaching in a number of colleges in Sydney.
She has a BA Hons (Macquarie) and a Cambridge CELTA.
Sudha Kajottu Seetharam, Lecturer
Sudha Kajottu Seetharam is a trained graduate with 5 years of teaching experience overseas. She has a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mysore. Sudha has also completed a Certificate IV in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), and Level 5 in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). At present, she volunteers as an ESL teacher at the Adult Migrant English Programme. Sudha is committed to helping students from diverse linguistic backgrounds achieve their academic and personal goals.
Anggara Jatu Kusumawati, Lecturer
Anggara
Jatu
Kusumawati
has 8 years
of
experience in
teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in Indonesia.
Anggara
has completed her PhD and is in the examination of her thesis stage. Her
PhD
in
TESOL focuses on classroom management and technology integration
which she undertook
at the University of Sydney
.
Guided by the motto “teaching with heart,” she aims to create inclusive, student-
centered
learning environments and contribute to compassionate curriculum design.
Zhu Xie, Lecturer
Zhu Xie holds a Master of Research in Linguistics from Macquarie University and is currently pursuing her PhD there. With a background in linguistics, Zhu is passionate about language teaching and academic research. She is fluent in both Mandarin and English.
School of Social Work
Bonny Cotter, Lecturer and Field Education Supervisor
Bonny Cotter is an experienced social worker, educator, and practitioner with a career spanning over three decades across government, community, and academic sectors. She currently serves as a Lecturer and Unit Coordinator in the Master of Social Work (Qualifying) program at Excelsia University College, where she has been recognised with Excellence in Learning and Teaching Awards in both 2024 and 2025.
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Gino Orticio, Social Science Lecturer
Gino’s academic and research journey spans over 17 years with a profound impact on various sectors. His expertise ranges from: sociotechnical studies, international indigenous studies and multiculturalism, coupled with a keen focus on empowering disadvantaged communities. His career also includes roles as a community development worker and consultant, acting as a resource person for culturally diverse community leaders in Queensland. Through these efforts, Gino was recognised by the Queensland Government as a Digital Community Champion in 2018.
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Dr. Michelle Shamoell, Social Work Lecturer
Dr. Michelle Shamoell has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work with Honours and PhD from the University of Sydney. She also has the University of Sydney’s Post Graduate Teaching Fellowship. She has years of experience in teaching various social work, social science and research units at WSU and The University of Sydney.
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Ariel Blackman, Social Work Lecturer
Ariel has been a social worker for over 10 years, with broad practice experience including agency leadership, disability, homelessness, crisis intervention, case management, youth work, group work and counselling. She has a specific focus on Trauma Informed Care. Ariel is also the founder and owner of a female-focussed health business which is an industry leader in it’s niche.
David Keegan, Senior Lecturer and Field Education Unit Coordinator
David Keegan is an expert in refugee protection and international human rights and has worked in senior leadership roles in organisations and projects operating across the Asia Pacific region for 13 years. He also has significant practice experience working in statutory child protection and youth homelessness services in Western Sydney and maintains active networks in Sydney and throughout the Asia Pacific region.
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Research
Dr Sarah Eyaa – Director of Research (Graduate Studies)
Dr. Sarah Eyaa has been an academic in the field of business management for over 20 years in higher education institutions in Uganda and Australia. Over the course of her career, Sarah has served at different levels of higher education academic administration in addition to lecturing. In research, Sarah has published on a range of topics in her areas of research interest, supervised several postgraduate research theses and reviewed journal articles as well as book chapters.
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Dr Vidya Sagar Athota – Casual HDR Supervisor Business
PhD
Dr Vidya Sagar Athota is an Associate Professor and Head of Management, HR, and Sports & Recreation Management. He teaches Business Psychology, Human Resources and Executive Education in the School of Business at the University of Notre Dame Australia. Dr Athota holds a PhD from the University of New South Wales, Australia. He has been employed at the Sydney campus since 2007. He presented his research at various universities the USA, Europe, the UK, the Middle East and India. He is also a visiting faculty at Indian Institute of Management, India. He received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for
Initiatives that Enhance Student Learning
. In 2022 Dr Athota also received the
Australian Business Deans Council Award
from the Australian Business Deans Council
.
Most recently, Dr Athota received Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning.
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Professor Jane Fernandez, Provost, Excelsia
Professor Jane Fernandez holds the position of Provost at Excelsia. Jane was until recently also Vice-President, Quality & Strategy at Avondale University College (2011–April 2020). In her role at Avondale, Jane successfully led Avondale’s University College and Self-Accrediting projects. She led in the set-up and management of Avondale’s Joint-Conferral Scheme with Charles Sturt University. Jane also founded and continues to lead the national-based Higher Education Private Provider Quality Network (HEPP-QN). Jane is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is also a member of the TEQSA Register of Experts. She is committed, through collaborative practice, to contributing to the national reputation of higher education in Australia.
Dr Daniel Johnston, Vice-Provost (Academic)
Associate Professor Daniel Johnston received his PhD from The University of Sydney and holds a Masters degree in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge. In addition, he has earned relevant education qualifications in Learning and Teaching from UNSW. For 15 years, Daniel fulfilled teaching and leadership roles across various prestigious Australian higher education institutions. He also served as Principal Lecturer and Quality Lead at Sheffield Hallam University. Daniel has a strong background in learning and teaching with a focus on facilitating quality and student-engaging experiences. Daniel’s expertise, leadership and professional experience are a strong foundation to transition into the role of Director of Learning and Teaching.
Associate Professor Harold Culala, Director of Learning and Teaching
Associate Professor Harold John Culala is the Director of Learning and Teaching at ExcelsiaUniversity College, with over 20 years of higher education leadership across Australia and Asia. His previous roles include Vice President for Academic Services, Dean of Teacher Education, and Senior Lecturer in Academic Development, with expertise in academic development, teaching and learning, assessment, and governance. He holds a PhD in Education (Curriculum Studies) from Taylor’s University and an MA in Education (Curriculum and Instruction). He has published in the areas of curriculum reform, academic identity, and higher education practice, and has supervised and examined PhD and Master’stheses. He is a Senior Fellow of UK Advance HE (SFHEA), Associate Editor of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, and Board Secretary of the Open Access Publishing Association.
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Dr Jack Jia, Academic Operations Manager
Dr Jack Jia holds a PhD in Management (Business Management & Accounting) from University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy. During his PhD’s study, he also held visiting research appointments at The University of Adelaide and Western Sydney University. In the profession’s domain, he is an active member of CA, CPA, IPA, CMA, MAICD and IEAA.
Jack’s most recent role was the Course Coordinator (Business & Accounting) at Charles Sturt University Sydney Campus where he provided academic leadership to the Business and Accounting courses. Additionally, he has held several courses coordination and lecturing roles both at universities and private higher education institutes including WSU, La Trobe Sydney, and Sydney Institute of Higher Education. In his teaching career, Jack was a recipient of Teaching Excellence Award for Postgraduate Programs at La Trobe Sydney.
Jack is experienced in a wide range of academic course management, teaching & learning activities as well as professional engagement both academically and administratively. He is passionate about the continuous improvement of the academic operations to support academic courses and student success. He looks forward to contributing to the Christian higher education community.
School of Business
Dr Sarah Eyaa, Head of School of Business and Director of Research
Dr. Sarah Eyaa has been an academic in the field of business management for over 20 years in higher education institutions in Uganda and Australia. Over the course of her career, Sarah has served at different levels of higher education academic administration in addition to lecturing. In research, Sarah has published on a range of topics in her areas of research interest, supervised several postgraduate research theses and reviewed journal articles as well as book chapters.
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Dr Andrew Levula, IT Program Director
PhD, MICT, PGD, GCTE, BA | MACS (Snr), MACS (CP), MAICD
Associate Professor Andrew Levula has been an ICT professional, research and academic. He is the IT Program Director at Excelsia and was instrumental in the development and accreditation of the Bachelor of Information Technology at Excelsia. He is MACS (SNR) member certified by ACS, he brings over 15 years’ experience in IT Project Management, Academic Leadership and IT Curriculum and Course Development. Associate Professor Levula is committed to enhancing students learning experience and his teaching philosophy is that education should be an enjoyable and exciting journey. He is an advocate for education as a catalyst for change in people which is Goal 4: Quality Education of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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Dr Fu Dai, Business Lecturer
Dr Fu Dai, Lecturer, School of Business
Fu Dai Joined the School of Business, Excelsia University College as a casual high-degree research co-supervisor in 2020 and is now a lecturer in Management in the School of Business, Excelsia University College.
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Dr Isaac Akomea-Frimpong, Accounting Lecturer
Dr. Isaac Akomea-Frimpong is an accounting lecturer. He has Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification together with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree from Western Sydney University where his doctoral thesis focused on modelling financial risk management framework for public-private partnership projects. Isaac has both teaching and industry experiences. Over the years, he has taught and supervised students in different courses such as accounting, project management, financial management, costing, complex building projects, auditing, taxation and risk management. Isaac also served as a general manager in a property and facilities management company in the past. Isaac has great interest in research publication with several journal articles and peer-review experiences.
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Dr Safoora Pitsi, Lecturer and Program/Course Coordinator (MBR)
PhD (Leadership Cognition), MBA Executive, MSc (Information Technology management), BSc (Computer Engineering-Software), (Cognitive Psychology, Behavioural & Cognitive Neuroscience,Brain & Behaviour, University of Tasmania)
Dr. Safoora Pitsi is a Lecturer and the Program and Course Coordinator for the Master of Business Research program at the School of Business. She completed her PhD in 2024 on Perceptions of Leadership Intelligence, where she investigated how individuals mentally perceive, conceptualise, and categorise leadership using cognitive frameworks. In her research, she has worked deeply on leadership and cognitive theories, particularly implicit leadership theories (ILTs), leadership categorisation theory (LCT), and intelligence theories.
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School of Counselling
Dr Aqua Y Hastings
PhD (Sociology), Bachelor of Social Science (Hons I), Bachelor of Social Science (Gender)
Dr Aqua Hastings is a teaching and research academic with over ten years’ experience within the tertiary education sector. Aqua has worked as a frontline community practitioner in a variety of contexts. She has a particular interest in the diverse worldviews that shape people’s realities, and is committed to holding the light aloft to enable others to see difference with soft eyes.
Aqua has over 15 years experience counselling individuals in a range of settings including homeless shelters, women’s centre, remote communities, and natural disaster. She is registered with PACFA, ACA, PCA, ATMS, and TASA.
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Dr Lauren Poole
PhD in Psychology, Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice, BSc (Honours) Psychology
Dr Lauren Poole (née Kita) is a Lecturer within the School of Counselling at Excelsia. Lauren has been teaching Psychology and Counselling within the higher education sector for over ten years both within Australia and the UK.
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Daniella Taouk, Associate Lecturer in Counselling
Daniella holds a Bachelor of Arts – Psychology, a Masters in Clinical Counselling, and Advanced Clinical Training in Contemporary Gestalt Psychotherapy.
She has experience working with a variety of clients including youth and adults from diverse backgrounds and communities, in various mental health areas.
Daniella has also worked as a counsellor, both within organisations and in private practice. She has engaged in a variety of supportive and teaching roles within a tertiary education setting.
Daniella is passionate about empowering, supporting and walking alongside individuals through their own unique journeys.
Linda Higgins-Reid, Counsellor
M.Couns; M Child&Adol Welf: B Soc Sc Soc Welf
Clinical Registrant PACFA
Linda has been a Mental Health Professional for over 20 years in both a voluntary and a professional capacity. Her vast professional experience has been gained working across many areas including grief counselling, young parenting, family, and individual counselling and supporting children and adolescents experiencing significant behavioural and emotional difficulties. Her extensive therapeutic work with adults encompasses working with complex trauma from an attachment model. She works from a psychodynamic base, incorporating person-centred, somatic and expressive therapies in her daily work.
Linda has worked at Excelsia (previously Wesley Institute) for many years as both a casual lecturer and student counsellor, involving both face to face and online counselling. She also sees clients in her private practice, which includes working with her much loved therapy dog Bella Bee.
Trish Yeung Petchell, Counsellor
Trish is a registered clinical counsellor of PACFA. She is trained for Emotion Focused Counselling and Emotion Focused Psychotherapy. Trish provides trauma-informed and culturally sensitive practice to adult individuals in all walks of life and with any religious beliefs. She is passionate and skilled in guiding and collaborating with her clients in the therapeutic setting in finding support, clarity, freedom, and strength.
School of Creative and Performing Arts
Drama
Associate Professor Lotte Latukefu, Head School of Creative and Performing Arts
Associate Professor Lotte holds a PhD in Music Education from the University of Wollongong, Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music (NY) and a Bachelor of Music from the ANU School of Music. Collaborative Learning in Music, in particularly singing, has been a particular research interest for Lotte for about seven years. In her PhD thesis she examined the work of Lev Vygotsky and socio-cultural theorists who have followed in order to address questions concerning the nature of learning singing in collaborative settings. Her thesis demonstrated that there is a rich resource of learning to be found in the way that students interact with each other and learn from each other. Forming a nexus to this research is her own creative practice as a mezzo-soprano.
Learn more
Dr Mark Seton, Lecturer
Dr Mark Seton is an Honorary Research Associate (Department of Theatre and Performance Studies) at The University of Sydney. He is a lecturer in Theatre History, Film Project, Screen Histories, Screen Genres, Introduction to Screen Storytelling, and Formation 4: Designing my Creative Career at Excelsia, and lecturing in career sustainability for actors at the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television (AFTT). He was recipient of the 2009 Gilbert Spottiswood Churchill Fellowship to conduct a study tour of actor training healthcare practices in the UK. Arising from this study, the Equity Foundation, in collaboration with Dr Seton, Assoc Prof Ian Maxwell (Department of Theatre and Performance Studies) and Dr Marianna Szabo (School of Psychology) at the University of Sydney, initiated a ground-breaking Actors’ Wellbeing Study (AWS) in collaboration with the Equity Foundation in 2013.
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Hailey McQueen, Associate Lecturer in Producing and Performance Practice, Director
Hailey has been a part of the School of Drama at Excelsia for 14 years. Graduating from Excelsia as Valedictorian in 2002, Hailey went on to receive a Diploma of Education in Drama and History from the University of New England and completed studies with Bell Shakespeare. Hailey has appeared in many productions across Sydney as an actor including,
When the Rain Stops Falling
for The New Theatre,
King Lear
and
Measure For Measure
for The Sydney Shakespeare Festival,
The Way of All Fish
for Sydney Fringe Festival and for The Genesian Theatre;
Richard III
. For Twisted Tree Theatre;
The God of Carnage
,
Entertaining Angels, The Importance of Being Earnest, Hamlet
and
Picnic on the Battlefield
. For Sydney’s Big Laugh Comedy Festival and Newtown Theatre;
The Popular Mechanicals
. For Cufflink Productions;
Talking With
and
The Cardboard Box
. During her studies Hailey had roles in
Morning Sacrifice, Only Words, Charlotte, J.B, Fear and Misery in the Third Reich, Easter
and
The Hot Mikado
.
She also appeared as Sonia McMahon on Channel 9’s
Power Games
and in a web series
Town Centre
and in
Mr. Foot
, for Bondi Feast,
Metamorphosis
at Chippen Street Theatre and
Wit
at Seymour Centre. As a Producer and Director, Hailey has produced many independent shows across Sydney and is co-founder and Artistic Director of Clock and Spiel Productions, where her adaptation and direction of
The Screwtape Letters
by C.S. Lewis had a sold-out national tour. More recently the company’s productions of
Freud’s Last Session, Metamorphosis, Wit
and
Molly Sweeney
were all received with critical acclaim.
Fiona Gentle, Associate Lecturer, Academic Support Advisor
Excelsia Excellence in Teaching Award (2020) recipient.
Fiona teaches Movement, Story and Academic Skills. She has worked professionally for over 20 years as a performer/puppeteer, movement director, director and writer. She has performed with renowned theatre, film and television companies, such as
Sydney Theatre Company, Theatre of Image, Opera Australia, ABC and BBC, Sesame Street, Jim Henson Company, Nickelodeon and Kennedy Miller Productions
. Fiona has performed many loved characters including ‘Ferdinand’ (the duck) from the BABE films, and for the last eight years, has assisted David Rudman in performing the Cookie Monster, on his Australian tours. She has directed a number of theatre productions, written for theatre and children’s television, and is ongoing puppetry consultant for television shows and commercials.
Fiona holds a Masters in Writing, Diploma in Fine Arts (The National Arts School), and completed the 12-month ‘Physical Theatre Program’ at the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre (US). Her training includes Philippe Gaulier, Monika Pagneux, Trestle Theatre, Diablo Mundo (Argentina) & Kevin Clash (puppetry), The Guildhall (UK), Kate Champion (writing).
Rebecca Kellahan, Production Manager
Rebecca is a theatre and film actor, stage manager and producer. She has worked in the stage management team for numerous theatre productions including Evie May (The Hayes Theatre), A Doll’s House (Bard on the Beach Productions), Jack Data (Road Train Productions), Hell Hole (Clock and Spiel Productions), Alison’s House (The Depot Theatre) and The Crucible (Bard on the Beach Productions). In 2021, Rebecca joined Clock and Spiel Productions as a Producer and Project Manager, contributing toward the development of the Eternity Project. As an actor, Rebecca specialises in devised and movement-based storytelling. In 2021, she performed in the world-premiere of The City, a physical theatre production featuring voice over and soundscape, which was staged at the Sydney Opera House. Her other performance credits include theatre productions Wit (Joining the Dots Productions) and Windy Gully (Merrigong Theatre Company), short film The Whole Package (Dorothy Creatives) and video series Before it Starts (Hustle Media). Having graduated as Valedictorian from Excelsia with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Theatre Practice) in 2017, Rebecca is advancing her academic skills through pursuing a Master of Business (Research). Integrating leadership, research and business management skills with her performing arts background, Rebecca seeks to effectively support creative teams and projects to achieve artistic excellence, desired impact, and sustainability.
As Production Manager at Excelsia, Rebecca works to ensure theatre productions are a positive learning experience in which students can explore, develop, and showcase their creative and technical skills on the Excelsia stage.
Jason Perini, Acting Lecturer
Jason lectures in the graduate acting and directing courses for both theatre and screen.
As an actor, writer and director Jason co-wrote and acted in the short film ‘A LITTLE BIT BEHIND’. Jason was awarded ‘Best Actor’ at the international 48hour Short Film Awards in the USA. The film screened at the Cannes Film Festival shorts corner (2012)
In 2016 Jason wrote and directed his short film ‘THE NEW EMPRESS’. The film starred Maggie Gyllenhaal and was produced by Dana Brunetti. The film had its premiere at Paramount Studios (LA) as part of the Jameson First Shot project.
In 2018, Jason acted in and co-wrote the online Wallabies campaign for ASICS ‘THE TRAVELLING SALESMAN ’ which was co-produced with LADbible.
The campaign has had over 3 million views online and was the winner of the Mumbrella Sports Marketing Awards Social Campaign of the year
Jason’s directorial debut feature film ‘CHASING COMETS’ had its national cinema release in August 2018. The film played in over 90 cinemas across Australia. Jason was nominated for an ADG award for ‘Best Director in a Feature film’ (Under $1mil) in 2019. The film is currently streaming on Stan.
In 2019 Jason directed a series of commercials for global brand HP. The campaign included the original voice of Siri, Susan Bennett.
In 2021 Jason’s short film ‘CARAMEL’ won the ‘Second Batch Film Festival’ competition run by Pedestrian TV.
Linda Nicholls-Gidley, Lecturer
Linda holds a Master of Creative Arts – University of Wollongong, Graduate Diploma – NIDA, and a Bachelor of Arts – Acting for the Stage and Screen Charles Sturt University. Linda Certified in Knight Thompson Speechwork in 2019 and is one of only 2 teachers of the method in Australia.
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Kylie Bonaccorso, Movement Lecturer
Dip Arts (Acting), BA (Theatre Studies), Grad Dip Education (Drama & English)
Movement Lecturer
Kylie Bonaccorso has completed a Degree and a Graduate Diploma of Education in Theatre Studies and English at UNE. In 2005 she completed further study at the International School of Commedia dell’ Arte and Comic Acting in Italy with world-renowned maestro Antonio Fava.
She currently works as the movement lecturer at Excelsia where she devises shows regularly with her movement classes. Kylie has directed The Government Inspector in 2012, the graduation show of 2016 Hearts Like Fists and Love and Information in 2018. Kylie often supports major productions and student created work at Excelsia, as a movement director.
Kylie has been a regular tutor for NIDA Open for over twenty-five years, teaching all ages; classes such as mask work, scene preparation, movement for stage and screen studios, devising, improvisation, teaching teachers, youth with a disability and touring programmes. She has directed Stories in the Dark, Bush Tales (After Grimm), A Comedy of Errors, The Pied Piper, The Time Machine, Tales from the Arabian Nights and Antigone for Nida Open. She was a Movement Director on Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood and The Wizard of Oz (all directed by Mary-Anne Gifford). She is also a facilitator with Nida Corporate Performance (over 15 years).
Kylie has also directed two shows for Redline Productions at The Old Fitz Theatre; Smashed by Lally Katz in 2016 for the Late Night Performances, and The Way of All Fish by Elaine May for the Sydney Fringe Festival in 2013.
Kylie has worked at The McDonald College of Performing Arts for six years specialising in teaching play building, storytelling, mask work such as Commedia dell’ Arte, Neutral and Basel. During her time at the college Kylie directed Ghost Sonata, Summer of the Aliens, Lord of the Flies, The House of Bernarda Alba and A Servant of Two Masters.
Donna Abela, Script Writing Lecturer and Mentor
Donna is an award-winning playwright. Jump For Jordan won the 2015 AWGIE Award for Stage and the 2013 Griffin Playwriting Award, and is on the 2019-2022 HSC Drama Syllabus. Her body of work includes plays which have won AWGIE awards for radio (Spirit, Aurora’s Lament, Mrs Macquarie’s Cello), the Human Rights Award for Drama (Highest Mountain Fastest River), and were nominated for NSW Premiers Literary Awards (Tales From the Arabian Night, Jump For Jordan). For Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image, she wrote two large scale adaptations: Monkey … Journey to the West (2014 Brisbane Festival, 2015 Melbourne Festival, 2015 Sydney Opera House program) and Tales from the Arabian Nights, a widely produced play on refugee themes which was published by Currency Press in 2019.
Donna also has extensive experience in script and writer development, and has worked with organisations such as Q Theatre, Arts Out West, Hothouse Theatre, PYT Fairfield, Australian Theatre for Young People, Playwriting Australia, National Theatre of Parramatta, Westwords, UoW and Excelsia to teach, mentor or provide dramaturgy to over a hundred students, emerging and professional writers for screen and stage. Donna is a graduate from the University of Technology, the University of New South Wales, the University of Wollongong, and the National Institute for Dramatic Arts. She is a member of Milk Crate Theatre’s Artistic Advisory Council, and a founding member of PYT Fairfield and 7ON Playwrights.
Malcolm Frawley, Acting Lecturer
Malcolm is a writer/director/teacher and actor with over 35 years of professional experience. His plays and productions have been performed in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Byron Bay and Darwin. He has taught at NIDA, Sydney Theatre School, Screenwise, Actors College of Theatre & Television (ACTT), Theatre Nepean (University of Western Sydney), Screen Actors Workshop, ADASA, Ed5, Kick and Gala Studios. Malcolm has been a member of the Excelsia team since 2014.
Kate Gaul, Lecturer, Director
Kate is a Freelance Theatre Director/Designer. She graduated from NIDA in 1996, completing the Directing Course and the Anne Bogart SITI Company In New York City in 2005. Associate Director Ensemble Theatre 2004/5. Festival Director World Interplay 2009/11. Festival Director Short Play Festival Canberra 2013 – 2015, Cabaret Sydney 2014, Mardi Gras Parade Creative Director 2015/16. Curator Playlist 2018 – 2020. Kate’s directing credits include plays, opera, physical theatre, devised works and classics for theatre companies and schools in Australia. Kate has won numerous awards across the fields of directing and design. She is Artistic Director of Siren Theatre Co where her passion is for text-based drama challenges artists and audiences to have bold imaginative experiences. Kate’s play –
Fatboy
has been produced twice and she has written and directed two short films –
Embrace
and
Cake
.
In 2019 Kate produced and directed
The Moors
(by Jen Silverman) and curated PLAYLIST both in conjunction with Seymour Centre and Mardi Gras; directed a stage version of Janne Teller’s YA novel
Nothing for Blue Cow
(Tasmania);
By the Light of the Moon
(Opera Australia), and
Hansel & Gretel
(Pacific Opera). Kate’s gender bending
HMS Pinafore
for Hayes Theatre opened in November 2019 and tours NSW in 2020.
Mary Benn, Stage Management Lecturer and Mentor
Mary has been a stage manager in the entertainment industry for 30 years and has travelled extensively in Australia and Asia taking theatre to the people. She has been teaching her craft in Australian institutions now for 10 years and enjoys passing on her knowledge to the new stage managers of the world.
Music
Associate Professor Lotte Latukefu, Head School of Creative and Performing Arts
Associate Professor Lotte holds a PhD in Music Education from the University of Wollongong, Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music (NY) and a Bachelor of Music from the ANU School of Music. Collaborative Learning in Music, in particularly singing, has been a particular research interest for Lotte for about seven years. In her PhD thesis she examined the work of Lev Vygotsky and socio-cultural theorists who have followed in order to address questions concerning the nature of learning singing in collaborative settings. Her thesis demonstrated that there is a rich resource of learning to be found in the way that students interact with each other and learn from each other. Forming a nexus to this research is her own creative practice as a mezzo-soprano.
Learn more
Ludmila Beliavskaia, Tutor, Classical Piano
DipMus, MMus(Hons)
A graduate of Rachmaninov Conservatorium of Music in Russia, Ludmila has more than 30 years experience of teaching classical piano. She started working at Rachmaninov Conservatorium of Music as a teacher in solo piano and chamber ensemble performance. She also worked as an accompanist. Having worked in Australia for 15 years, Ludmila currently teaches at the University of New South Wales, Excelsia and International Grammar School. Some of her recent performances include concerts with the German Chamber Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House and the Greek Choir at Sydney Town Hall. Ludmila’s students have received awards at piano competitions both in Russia and Australia.
Dr Sadaharu Muramatsu, Lecturer and Tutor, Conductor
BA(Hons), MMus, MMus, Hon.DMus
Sada completed a Masters of Music in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK. Subsequently, he was granted a fellowship to study conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney under the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists.
Sada completed a Masters of Music in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK. Subsequently, he was granted a fellowship to study conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney under the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists.
Sada studied conducting under Imre Pallo, Kurt Masur, Sir Mark Elder CBE, Hirofumi Misawa and Kazuki Sawa.
George Makras, Lecturer, Digital Music Production
George Makras brings his extensive knowledge in music production, composition and audio to his teaching role at Excelsia. George’s understanding of digital technology and digital audio workstations makes him an indispensable resource for many students.
In 2006 George was certified as a Level One Apple Certified Pro Logic Trainer. George is an accomplished programmer and electronic music composer. He also teaches other areas of digital media such as web design, image capture and editing.
He has travelled extensively thru India and Nepal over the past 15 years as an Audio Engineer with the GEOS project.
George has performed extensively with the Sydney University Gamelan Ensemble, the Sydney Institute of Technology Ensemble “SITE” and was a member of Sydney indie band “Fred the Bison”.
Julia Michaels, Tutor, Contemporary Voice, Song Writing, Small Ensemble
Julia Michaels is an award-winning singer/songwriter with over 20 years of experience working in the music industry. She has worked with some of Australia’s elite musicians and performers as a performer, composer, arranger, and music/vocal director singing alongside artists such as Paramore, Delta Goodrem, Prinnie Stevens, Barry Crocker and Darlene Zschech.
As a songwriter, Julia has enjoyed much success receiving international recognition and awards including 2014 Adult/Contemporary Song of the Year, 2015 Folk/Acoustic Song of the Year and Runner Up for 2015 Australian Songwriter of the Year.
As a Vocal Coach and Music Educator, Julia specialises in Contemporary Voice with a focus on Speech Level Singing, Mix Voice, Belt and Musical Theatre and enjoys training others in composition, songwriting and artist development.
Dr Peter McNamara, Tutor, Composition and Harmony
Dr. Peter McNamara is an award-winning Sydney-based freelance composer and academic. He is currently the instructor of composition (Masters) and harmony units at Excelsia and has worked for a variety of other tertiary institutions including the University of Sydney and University of New England. He is also a co-artistic director of the
Sideband
composer collective.
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Candice Boyd, Tutor, Contemporary Voice and Contemporary Violin
Candice teaches singing and violin specialising in contemporary singing and violin, as well as classical violin. In 2010, she began teaching the choirs and small vocal groups at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts. She has toured with Ben Hazlewood and Molly Meldrom, and is currently performing with her self-managed duo “Am Believe I” developing her skills as a singing violinist, which is also the focus area of her Masters research.
David Pudney, Lecturer and Tutor, Jazz Piano, Bass Guitar, Double Bass
AssDipJazzStud, Industry Professional
David completed his Associate Diploma in Jazz Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium in 1984 and has been a sought after bass player in the Australian jazz scene since that time, with a wide repertoire of mixed styles. He spent 16 years as bassist in the Don Burrows Quartet and has worked with many distinguished Australian and overseas jazz artists. David is also a pianist and teaches piano, electric and double bass, and improvisation at the Sydney Conservatorium Open Academy, Avondale Conservatorium in the Newcastle area, and here at Excelsia. As a working musician, recording artist and teacher, he brings a wealth of musical experience to Excelsia.
Na Ri Kim, Tutor, Piano Accompanist
BA(Mus), BCA(MusPerf), MMus
Na Ri is an experienced piano teacher, organist and music theory teacher. Na Ri Kim was born in South Korea and interested in music from a young age. She started learning the organ when she went to university. While studying, she performed in numerous concerts as a soloist and accompanist. She migrated to Australia after she got married in 1998. She studied and completed a Bachelor of Music at Wesley Institute and a Master of Music at Newcastle Conservatorium. She is currently teaching at Excelsia, Message Musical School in the Korean Community and as a private piano teacher.
Jae Woo Kim, Tenor
Born in Korea, Jaewoo Kim is a graduate of the Canberra School of Music and a winner of several prestigious scholarships including Opera Foundation’s Metropolitan Opera Awards and the McDonald’s aria. He was a Principal Artist with Opera Australia from 1999 – 2006
He was a visiting lecturer at Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.
From
2007-2012
Jaewoo was based in the UK. the Italian Singer:
Der Rosenkavalier
, Edgardo:
Lucia di Lammermoor
(English National Opera); Lensky:
Eugene Onegin
(English Touring Opera); Duke:
Rigoletto
(Opera Holland Park); Harlequin: Tarik O’Regan’s
The Heart of Darkness
(Linbury Theatre Covent Garden); Tamino:
The Magic Flute
(Lyric Opera Productions, Dublin); Alfredo:
La Traviata
(Longborough Opera, Societa Filarmonia in Croatia and Italy); Tamino
,
Ferrando:
Così fan tutte
, Orphée:
Orphée aux enfers
(Diva Opera: UK, Europe). Concerts included
The Dream of Gerontius
(London Mozart Players and Oriana Choir at the Barbican), a Gala Concert with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London and Verdi’s
Requiem
(Nottingham Harmonic Choir).
In concert in Australia, Jaewoo has appeared as soloist with the Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Sydney Philharmonia, Queensland Music Festival.
Luke Sweeting, Tutor, Performance, Small Ensemble, Harmony and Composition
Improvising pianist and composer Luke Sweeting resides in Sydney, Australia. He is best known for the strength of his composing like in his 2012 jazz album ‘People and Lightbulbs’ and more recently with the Grey Wing Trio who recently released their debut album ‘Amoroso’ on Jazzhead. Last year, Luke toured Germany, Sweden and Australia with Svelia, The Grey Wing Trio in Australia and toured New Zealand and Australia with Kiwi/Aussie collaborative band Antipodes. He also toured in April with Vulkan quintet (DENMARK/AUST) whilst performing with other projects. uke studied at the ANU School of Music before their recent course changes, receiving the Dennis Griffin Scholarship to complete his performance based masters. He studied and performed with and alongside trumpet legend Miroslav Bukovsky (of Wanderlust and Ten Part Invention fame), James Greening (of Greening from Ear to Ear) amongst many others at the school. Luke received the Sprogis Woods Composition Competition for his large ensemble piece Sound Canvas in 2010. In 2013, with the help of the Australia Council Luke was able to pursue overseas studies with Florian Ross (German pianist/composer) and Hävard Wiik (Norwegian/Berlin pianist).
Tim Geldens, Tutor of Drums
Tim Geldens is a musician/drummer based in Sydney Australia. Tim has a performed alongside some of Australia’s finest musicians; James Morrison, Emma Pask, Monica Trapaga , Lionel Cole , Uncle Jed (Australias got talent), Dale Barlow, Brendan Clarke, David Panichi, Brett Hurst, Errol Buddle, Matt McMahon, Johnathan Zwartz, John Harkins to name a few.
Tim is a graduate of The Sydney Conservatorium of Music. At the Conservatorium, he was under the tuition of great Australian drummers Andrew Dickeson and Simon Barker as well renowned musicians.
In 2014 Tim was selected to be part of the World JM Jazz Orchestra led by Pianist/Composer Erlend Skomsvoll, consisting of some of the finest young jazz musicians around the world.
Over the years Tim has spent some time in New York learning from some of his favourite drummers; Kenny Washington, Pete Van Nosetrand, Kendrick Scott, Michael Carvin, Rodney Green, Greg Hutchinson and Bob Moses.
Tim Continues to perform in Sydney and abroad with local musicians. He has also been fortunate to perform numerous occasions at the Opera House and Melbourne recital centre, as well as various international Jazz festivals including; Konsberg Jazz Festival in Norway, Sydney and Melbourne Jazz Festivals, Tauranga Jazz Festival and Waiheke island Jazz festival (New Zealand) and Wangaratta Jazz festival. Tim is proud endorser of Canopus Drums.
Steven Crain, Tutor, Guitar, Small Ensemble
Steve is a Sydney based jazz guitarist, composer and band leader. In 2011 he released a solo album “Kthwack!”.Steve studied at the Sydney Conservatorium in the early ’90s and over the last 25 years has enjoyed playing jazz, blues, gospel, pop and latin music in Sydney, across the country and internationally. He is in high demand in Sydney as a performer and combines this with teaching guitar at Excelsia and part time music ministry at St Barnabus Broadway.
Liam Webb, Tutor
Aural Perception
Yutaro Okuda, Instrumental tutor, small ensemble lecturer
Sydney based guitarist and composer Okuda has extensively toured nationally and internationally including festival appearances in Europe & a national tour with Arcing Wires, as well as a solo tour of Japan performing Okuda’s music with local & international musicians.
As well as leading his quintet and quartet, and being part of collaborative projects Arcing Wires, YUTRIO and A/O/W/G, Okuda performs regularly as sideman in many ensembles within Sydney’s contemporary jazz & improvised music scene, including Sam Gill’s Scattered, Briana Cowlishaw’s Fetherstone, Ragan Kang Quintet, Jack Stoneham’s Poltophagy, Jenna Cave’s Divergence Jazz Orchestra, Gavin Ahearn’s Memewars and Judy Bailey’s Jazz Connection.
Okuda is an honours graduate from the Jazz Performance degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Alisa Bernhard , Lecturer and tutor
Alisa Yuko Bernhard is a pianist and researcher based in Sydney. She completed her Bachelor and Master of Music in piano performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she was a student of the late Bulgarian pianist Nikolay Evrov; her Masters dissertation “The Pianist’s Freedom and the Work’s Constrictions: What Tempo Fluctuation in Bach and Chopin Indicate” (2017) engages with the musical work’s ontological status.
She is currently a Ph.D. candidate, exploring the relationship between music and dance with a focus on the first-person experience of dancing/musicking.
Victoria Parsons, Lecturer and Tutor
B. Mus, BA (Hons), GradDip Mus
Victoria Parsons is a PhD Candidate in Ethnomusicology at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. Her research is primarily concerned with how communities experience and express themselves through community music-making practices. Victoria holds a Bachelor of Music (Classical) and a Graduate Diploma of Music from the Australian Institute of Music majoring in flute. She also holds Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology and Music Studies) with first class honours from the University of Sydney.
Lauren Moxey, Lecturer
Lauren is an experienced and dedicated music educator who co-founded Sydney Vocal Academy with her husband Tim. From 2013–2022, SVA provided singing, piano and guitar training for hundreds of students, and was a thriving and transformational music community. Lauren is also an experienced communications consultant and business manager, and she is passionate about equipping creatives to thrive.
Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from University of Southern Queensland and a Bachelor of Music from Wesley Institute (now Excelsia), where she specialised in contemporary piano performance. She is currently completing a PhD (Creative Arts) with James Cook University.
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Screen Production
Mark Barnard, Production Lecturer
Mark is a television professional with over 35 years experience in just about every genre and style. He has worked internationally for many high profile employers, most recently for ABC Kids, CBeebies (UK) and Beach House (Singapore/Aust)
As a writer and director, Mark has been associated with the flagship children’s television program
Play
School
for over twenty years, creating over 200 episodes.
Jason Perini, Directing Lecturer
Jason Perini is a director, writer and actor. In 2016, Jason wrote and directed his short film ‘The New Empress’. The short stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and was produced by Dana Brunetti as part of the Jameson First Shot project. The film premiered at Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles.
His directorial debut feature film ‘Chasing Comets’ had its national cinema release in August 2018. The film played in over 90 cinemas across Australia. Subsequently, Jason was nominated for an ADG award for ‘Best Director in a Feature film’ (Under $1mil) in 2019. In late 2019 Jason directed a series of commercials for global brand Hewlett Packard.
The short film ‘A Little Bit Behind’ which Jason co-wrote and starred in has won awards internationally. Jason won ‘Best Actor’ in Australia & at the International 48hour Short Film Awards in America. The film screened at the Cannes Film Festival shorts corner in 2012.
‘Kitchen Sink Drama’ in which Jason also played the lead was a finalist at Tropfest Australia in 2012, screened at the New York City International Film Festival and won ‘Best Comedy’ at the BrownFish International Film Festival in New York.
Les Parrott, Cinematography Lecturer
With a career in camera departments spanning six decades and multiple continents, Les Parrott has worked with some of the world’s most esteemed cinematographers, directors and actors. Starting his career in the UK as a clapper loader, Les progressed through focus pulling to camera operation, working on films including Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Beatles’ Let It Be.
Les has worked with and been mentored by legendary cinematographers including David Watkin, BSC, Billy Williams OBE, BSC, Freddie Young OBE, BSC, Jack Hildyard ,BSC, Nicolas Roeg, CBE, BSC and Alex Thomson, BSC.
Since moving to Sydney in 1982, Les has continued his career as a freelance camera operator as well as setting up a commercial production company. Since 1999, Les has taught cinematography at schools including Sydney Film School (SFS), the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and Australian Institute of Music (AIM).
Les has worked with camera and cinematography technologies including 300 frame-per-second ultra- slow motion, stop motion single frame, in-camera multi/double exposure, extreme macro shooting, cine strobe light photography, aerial helicopter filming and in-camera special effects.
Sasha Zastavniković, Post Production Sound Lecturer
Sasha Zastavniković is an award-winning freelance Sound Designer with over twenty years of experience in film, television, media and entertainment industry.
In 2005, Sasha completed his master’s degree in Sound Design at the Australian Film, Television, Radio School (AFTRS). For his study, Sasha received the Digidesign Award for Sound design Creativity. Since graduating from AFTRS, Sasha has worked as a Sound Designer and re-recording mixer on many award-winning feature films, documentaries, TV series, Virtual Reality, theatre productions, video games, TVC, co-operate videos and short movies.
Over the years, Sasha has won numerous sound awards for the work as Sound Designer and also nominated on many other occasions. Sasha has also won Australian Screen Sound Awards for his work on TV series All Saints.
In addition to sound design, Sasha is passionate about electronic music, sound art, recording, and producing noise. Sasha has also written music for feature films, theatre and short films. Sasha enjoys recording the world that surrounds him and transforming sounds into something unique and exciting.
Dr Mark Seton, Lecturer
Dr Mark Seton is an Honorary Research Associate (Department of Theatre and Performance Studies) at The University of Sydney. He is a lecturer in Theatre History, Film Project, Screen Histories, Screen Genres, Introduction to Screen Storytelling, and Formation 4: Designing my Creative Career at Excelsia, and lecturing in career sustainability for actors at the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television (AFTT). He was recipient of the 2009 Gilbert Spottiswood Churchill Fellowship to conduct a study tour of actor training healthcare practices in the UK. Arising from this study, the Equity Foundation, in collaboration with Dr Seton, Assoc Prof Ian Maxwell (Department of Theatre and Performance Studies) and Dr Marianna Szabo (School of Psychology) at the University of Sydney, initiated a ground-breaking Actors’ Wellbeing Study (AWS) in collaboration with the Equity Foundation in 2013.
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Elizabeth Blackwood, Philosophy for Contemporary Filmmaker & Film Industry Lecturer
Charlotte Mungomery, Production Design Lecturer
Known for her unique visual style director-designer Charlotte Mungomery crafts stories for the screen that are simultaneously tender and tectonic. Her work is a series of poetic compositions sometimes maddening, often cathartic and always spellbinding.
Her training and background as a theatre production designer brings a refreshing combination of aesthetics and authenticity to her film work. Charlotte is a graduate of the BFA and MFA (Design for Performance) at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. In 2018 Charlotte became the youngest production designer to win the Australian Production Design Guild award for Best Set Design for Live Performance for her design work on Brandenburg Orchestras Opera ‘Bittersweet Obsessions’.
Her directorial film work has been featured, and won awards, in film festivals across Australia and internationally. She is currently a featured artist on ‘Thursdays Child Global’ an international platform of hand selected filmmakers & photographers.
School of Education
Dr Natalie Brand, Head of School of Education
Dr Natalie Brand is Head of School of Education at Excelsia University College and an active researcher with committee membership in the Centre for Research in Early Childhood Education (CRECE) at Macquarie University. She is an expert in very young children’s social interactions and learning in early childhood centres, with a focus on infant-toddler play-based pedagogies and toddlers’ use of learning-oriented language. Natalie is also an experienced Early Childhood Teacher (ECT) with strong professional connections to the sector. Her latest project, MQ Toddler TaLK, investigated toddlers’ learning-oriented talk and aimed to develop freely accessible professional resources for educators, currently available at toddlertalk.org.au.
Associate Professor Shanti Clements, Associate Professor in Education
Associate Professor Shanti Clements holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Educational Leadership), and a Master of Education (Management and Leadership) from University of Sydney. With over 30 years’ experience as an Educational Leader, Shanti has driven educational reforms both nationally and internationally. Shanti has previously held roles such as Head of Leadership Academy (TELLAL Institute, UAE), Academic Coordinator and Head Lecturer (Liverpool Hope University), lecturer (University of Sydney) and A/Director, Leadership and Teacher Quality (NSW Department of Education). Shanti also served as Principal of two NSW schools.
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Dr Yu Han, Lecturer in Education
Dr Yu holds a PhD in Education from Western Sydney University and a Master of Arts in Foreign Language Education from Jilin University, China. With more than 15 years of lecturing experience, Dr Yu has served as Associate Professor and Dean of the English Department at Zhejiang Wanli University, as well as Associate Professor and Head of the College English Education Research Centre at Guangzhou Nanfang College in China.
Dr Alfred Mupenzi, Lecturer, Early Childhood Education
Dr Alfred Mupenzi has over seven years’ experience lecturing Sociology within the Master of Teaching (Primary) program at Western Sydney University. Alfred also has one year of experience teaching different early childhood education units at Excelsia. Alfred’s teaching in early childhood education spans from multiculturalism and multilingualism, child, family and partnerships, growth and development, through to special needs education.
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Dr Edmund Sosu, Master of Teaching Course Coordinator
Dr. Edmund Sosu is an experienced teaching and research academic with over a decade of expertise in the tertiary education sector. His career began as a secondary school teacher in Ghana, where he developed a strong foundation in pedagogy and student engagement. He later transitioned to higher education, serving as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Cape Coast. Dr. Sosu’s dedication to education extends beyond the classroom, reflected in his active involvement in community initiatives and his role as a ‘good news teacher,’ fostering positive learning experiences among children and young adults.
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Professor Patrick Danaher, Professor in Education
PhD in Education, MLitt in Australian History, GradDipTertiary Ed, BA(Hons) in Anthropology, BA in Anthropology, BEd
Patrick has worked continuously as an education academic since early 1991 – most recently in the School of Education at Excelsia University College since July 2023, and previously at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, and before that at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton – prior to which he taught for nine years in secondary schools in Queensland and Victoria. He has been privileged to co-supervise several doctoral and research masters Australian and international students to completion. Patrick’s research interests include the education of occupationally mobile communities such as fairground or show and circus families; education research ethics, methods, politics and theories; and academics’, educators’ and researchers’ work and identities.
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Dr Nguyen Thi Le Nguyen, Lecturer, Education
Dr Nguyen Thi Le Nguyen completed her PhD in Education from the University of Newcastle, and a Master of Arts in International Education from Birmingham City University, UK. She has over 15 years of experience working as a Lecturer of English Education at Hanoi Pedagogical University.
Her research interests include language education, teacher development, sociology of education, international education, and international perspectives on educational improvement policies and planning.
Dr Murni Sianturi, Lecturer in Education, Master of Educational Research/STEM
With over six years of professional academic experience, Dr Murni Sianturi has built a strong track record in leading high-impact research and securing competitive grants. Her academic career spans the University of New South Wales, Australia; National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan; and Musamus University, Indonesia. Currently, she leads a competitively funded Australia–Indonesia international research project with Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), funded by the Indonesian Government and co-funded by Excelsia University College.
She completed her PhD at the University of New South Wales under the prestigious Scientia PhD Scholarship, with a thesis by publication. Expertise in Indigenous education and educational technology has been shared through invited talks, keynotes, plenary sessions, and international conference presentations. Her publications include two books and 21 peer-reviewed articles, seven of which appear in top-tier journals such as Pedagogy, Culture & Society and Education and Information Technologies, contributing to scholarship that influences both research and practice.
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Dr Thomas Philip, Lecturer in Education
Thomas Philip is a Lecturer in Integrative Studies in the School of Education at Excelsia, drawing on nearly three decades of experience in higher education, pastoral leadership, academic administration, and cross‑cultural ministry. He holds a PhD in Arts and Education (Theology and Hermeneutics) from Charles Sturt University, as well as master’s and bachelor’s degrees in both Sociology and Theology. Thomas has taught in multiple institutions, contributing to education, curriculum development, mission, pastoral formation, and community development. His scholarly interests encompass Christology, mission, hermeneutics, and transformative learning, with ongoing work situated at the intersection of theology, culture, and educational practice. He is the author of the Routledge monograph M.M. Thomas’s Secular Commentaries on Scripture: Exegeting the World, which reflects his ongoing work in public theology and the intersection of faith and contemporary culture.
Dr Natalie Somhom, Lecturer in Education
Dr Natalie Somhom integrates research and practical experience to prepare future educators for meaningful work in early childhood settings. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Education) from Macquarie University, where her research focused on self‑regulation in Australian ECEC settings, as well as a Master of Research (Education) from Macquarie University with a focus on autobiographical memory, and a Master of Education (Educational Management) from Mahidol University. Her research journey began with investigating how primary school children in Thailand learn English, which sparked a deeper interest in the early experiences that shape learning across the lifespan and led to cross‑cultural studies on autobiographical memory in emerging adults in Thailand and Australia. Drawing on both academic insight and practical experience gained while working in childcare during her doctoral studies, she brings a grounded and holistic perspective to her teaching. As the Course Coordinator for Placement across the BECE and GDECT programs, she supports students as they connect theory with practice and grow into confident early childhood professionals.
Dr Xuemei Shao, Lecturer in Education
Dr. Xuemei Shao is a Lecturer and Fourth-Year Course Coordinator in Early Childhood at Excelsia University College. She completed her PhD at Western Sydney University, with research focusing on children’s language development and cognition. With nearly ten years of higher education teaching experience across China and Australia, she brings strong expertise in teaching, research, and curriculum leadership.
School of ELICOS
Dr Daisy William, ELICOS Program Director
Dr William is the ELICOS Program Director at Excelsia and former academic at the School of Business at the University of New England. Dr William has forty years of extensive industry and higher education leadership experience having been CEO/Director of four organisations including the Language Training Centre at the University of New England. Dr William has a PhD in Financial Management & Corporate Governance (UNE), MEd TESOL (Deakin), BTh (BCM), CELTA (Cambridge), Adv Dip Bus Mgmt (UNEP). Her research interests are in financial management, corporate governance, teaching English to speakers of other languages and developing assessments.
Rosemary Colacino, Lecturer
Rosemary Colacino is a lecturer in the ELICOS program who has seven years’ experience in English language teaching in a number of colleges in Sydney.
She has a BA Hons (Macquarie) and a Cambridge CELTA.
Sudha Kajottu Seetharam, Lecturer
Sudha Kajottu Seetharam is a trained graduate with 5 years of teaching experience overseas. She has a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mysore. Sudha has also completed a Certificate IV in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), and Level 5 in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). At present, she volunteers as an ESL teacher at the Adult Migrant English Programme. Sudha is committed to helping students from diverse linguistic backgrounds achieve their academic and personal goals.
Anggara Jatu Kusumawati, Lecturer
Anggara
Jatu
Kusumawati
has 8 years
of
experience in
teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in Indonesia.
Anggara
has completed her PhD and is in the examination of her thesis stage. Her
PhD
in
TESOL focuses on classroom management and technology integration
which she undertook
at the University of Sydney
.
Guided by the motto “teaching with heart,” she aims to create inclusive, student-
centered
learning environments and contribute to compassionate curriculum design.
Zhu Xie, Lecturer
Zhu Xie holds a Master of Research in Linguistics from Macquarie University and is currently pursuing her PhD there. With a background in linguistics, Zhu is passionate about language teaching and academic research. She is fluent in both Mandarin and English.
School of Social Work
Bonny Cotter, Lecturer and Field Education Supervisor
Bonny Cotter is an experienced social worker, educator, and practitioner with a career spanning over three decades across government, community, and academic sectors. She currently serves as a Lecturer and Unit Coordinator in the Master of Social Work (Qualifying) program at Excelsia University College, where she has been recognised with Excellence in Learning and Teaching Awards in both 2024 and 2025.
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Gino Orticio, Social Science Lecturer
Gino’s academic and research journey spans over 17 years with a profound impact on various sectors. His expertise ranges from: sociotechnical studies, international indigenous studies and multiculturalism, coupled with a keen focus on empowering disadvantaged communities. His career also includes roles as a community development worker and consultant, acting as a resource person for culturally diverse community leaders in Queensland. Through these efforts, Gino was recognised by the Queensland Government as a Digital Community Champion in 2018.
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Dr. Michelle Shamoell, Social Work Lecturer
Dr. Michelle Shamoell has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work with Honours and PhD from the University of Sydney. She also has the University of Sydney’s Post Graduate Teaching Fellowship. She has years of experience in teaching various social work, social science and research units at WSU and The University of Sydney.
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Ariel Blackman, Social Work Lecturer
Ariel has been a social worker for over 10 years, with broad practice experience including agency leadership, disability, homelessness, crisis intervention, case management, youth work, group work and counselling. She has a specific focus on Trauma Informed Care. Ariel is also the founder and owner of a female-focussed health business which is an industry leader in it’s niche.
David Keegan, Senior Lecturer and Field Education Unit Coordinator
David Keegan is an expert in refugee protection and international human rights and has worked in senior leadership roles in organisations and projects operating across the Asia Pacific region for 13 years. He also has significant practice experience working in statutory child protection and youth homelessness services in Western Sydney and maintains active networks in Sydney and throughout the Asia Pacific region.
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Research
Dr Sarah Eyaa – Director of Research (Graduate Studies)
Dr. Sarah Eyaa has been an academic in the field of business management for over 20 years in higher education institutions in Uganda and Australia. Over the course of her career, Sarah has served at different levels of higher education academic administration in addition to lecturing. In research, Sarah has published on a range of topics in her areas of research interest, supervised several postgraduate research theses and reviewed journal articles as well as book chapters.
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Dr Vidya Sagar Athota – Casual HDR Supervisor Business
PhD
Dr Vidya Sagar Athota is an Associate Professor and Head of Management, HR, and Sports & Recreation Management. He teaches Business Psychology, Human Resources and Executive Education in the School of Business at the University of Notre Dame Australia. Dr Athota holds a PhD from the University of New South Wales, Australia. He has been employed at the Sydney campus since 2007. He presented his research at various universities the USA, Europe, the UK, the Middle East and India. He is also a visiting faculty at Indian Institute of Management, India. He received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for
Initiatives that Enhance Student Learning
. In 2022 Dr Athota also received the
Australian Business Deans Council Award
from the Australian Business Deans Council
.
Most recently, Dr Athota received Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning.
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© 2026 Excelsia University College. All Rights Reserved.
ABN 50 360 319 774 | TEQSA PRV12064 ‘University College’ | CRICOS Provider Code: 02664K
Study
How to apply
FAQ
Fees and Scholarships
Course Brochures
International Students
Current Students
Student Success & Wellbeing
Student Handbooks
Timetables & Enrolment
Calendar
Library
Orientation
Graduation
Alumni
News
About
Events
Our mission
Contact
Meet our board
Emergency
Acknowledgement of country
Accreditation
Academic Staff
Resources
Staff
Facilities
Donations
Partners and Community
Careers @Excelsia
Research
Research Seminars
Higher Degrees By Research Policies
Staff Research
© 2026 Excelsia University College. All Rights Reserved.
ABN 50 360 319 774 | TEQSA PRV12064 ‘University College’ | CRICOS Provider Code: 02664K