Launched five years ago, the breakfasts allow our alumni to reconnect, inform, discuss and reflect, whilst showcasing the achievements of notable graduates.

Co-hosted by the Faculty of Arts, the event will run from 7:15am to 8:45am in the Tea Room at the Queen Victoria Building, tickets are $45 for University of Sydney alumni, staff and students. The event is also open to members of the public keen to indulge in plenty of ‘food for thought’.

As a best-selling journalist, Anne Summers has an extensive background in politics, media and the non-government sector, writing for numerous publications such as The Australian Financial Review, The Age and The National Times. She has also been the editor of Good Weekend and a recipient of the coveted Walkley Award for journalism.

Her books include the now iconic Damned Whores and God’s Police, Ducks on the Pond and The Lost Mother, published in 2009.

As a passionate speaker Summers frequently addresses the key issues facing Australia in the 21st century and inspires listeners to think differently about their country, work, family and future.

The topic for the breakfast, ‘I remember … Autobiography and the personal politics of memory’, is bound to be an interesting one with Summers’ wealth of experience preparing her for the task.

Based in New York in 1987, Summers was editor-in-chief of Ms. – America’s landmark feminist magazine. The following year she and business partner, Sandra Yates, purchased Ms. and Sassy magazines in the second only women-led management buyout in US corporate history.

Summers also served as a political advisor to Prime Minister Paul Keating prior to the 1993 federal elections and after spending three years running the Office of the Status of Women for Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

In 1989 Summers was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for her services to journalism and women and has gone on to do considerable work for Greenpeace International and Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.

Past graduate connections breakfast speakers include Allan Moss AO, chief CSIRO scientist, Dr. Jim Peacock and journalist Paul Kelly.

This Graduate Connections Breakfast is co-hosted by the Alumni Relations Office and the Faculty of Arts. The Breakfasts are held four times annually.

To register online for the Graduate Connections Breakfast: Dr Anne Summer AO visit -
http://events.sydney.edu.au/office2/getdemo.ei?id=20049&s=_63S0ZWS2K or email Claire Hannagan at

RSVP deadline: Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Cost: $45 for Alumni, Staff and Students of the University / $50 for Friends or Guests / $320 for a table of eight.

Article by Liz Schaffer.