Alumni profile

Dr Penny Davies AM is an inaugural member of the Bendigo Tertiary Education Anniversary Foundation founded in 1988 and continues to Chair and guide the Foundation to this day.

Penny has tertiary qualifications in Health, Education and Arts from La Trobe University. She graduated with a PhD in History from La Trobe in 2014.. 

Penny notes that her extensive involvement at La Trobe's Bendigo campus doesn't quite mirror the general university experience.

“University, for me, has really been quite different," Penny said.

"Initially I began in higher education nurse training – long before nurse training was seen as higher education.

The place was jumping. There was a real sense of belonging, ownership and of loyalty to the place.

After spending many years in a number of Bendigo's education institutions, Penny began researching for her PhD thesis, Negotiating the Labyrinth from College of Advanced Education to La Trobe University. The paper charted the history of higher education in not only Bendigo, but in Australia.

In 2007 Penny received La Trobe University’s highest honour, a Distinguished Alumni Award and La Trobe Medal in acknowledgement of her community service to Bendigo. 

Penny was City of Greater Bendigo Citizen of the Year in 2015, in recognition of her contribution to the university, in an honorary capacity, through assistance to students; together with more than 40 years of voluntary support for people with chronic illnesses in Bendigo and beyond. 

“I wasn’t anticipating it at all... I really hoped that during that year I gave back to the community that has given me so much."

Distinguished Regional Arts, social sciences and communications Education and teaching

Last updated: 18th June 2019