Joining Dad Joe, who graduated with a Master of Business Administration, were his two daughters Claudia, 16, and Isabella, 14, who both graduated with a Diploma of Arts. And, following an 11-hour drive from their Collingullie home in the Riverina, the Sutties’ Armidale visit concluded with a Boolominbah photo shoot and a family reunion.
Joe, a consultant cardiologist, general physician and educator, already has a law degree from UNE and today consults to the healthcare, agricultural, legal and education sectors with his wife Madeleine. He said the MBA is already proving useful.
“One of the things I do is to help students from alternative pathways to consider higher education,” Joe said. “The MBA has been fantastic and helps with this educational leadership. It is the closest thing not only to professional coaching, but also to professional therapy, and has led to the most intense personal practice.”
Having been born in the United Kingdom, Claudia and Isabella completed their secondary education in Australia early, via distance education, and enrolled in the diploma together to explore interests that they had been unable to pursue as part of the school curriculum.
Claudia is fascinated by early Australian and Renaissance history and Isabella has a passion for languages. Both began by studying Latin and French and enjoyed it so much that they continued. Now Claudia is undertaking a Bachelor of Arts, with a focus on history and music, and Isabella a Diploma in Modern Languages, specializing in French.
“UNE has been fantastic, offering such a wonderful range of arts subjects,” said Joe.
The experience, Isabella says, has been excellent. “The lecturers are amazing and very supportive,” she said. “Our studies have helped us both to find out what we really like and opened up new career pathways.”
And Claudia is already thinking about what’s next. “After the Bachelor of Arts, I hope to do a Masters of History,” she said.
Graduation was a true family affair, with Madeleine’s local relatives – from the Mann family of New England Hotel fame – joining in the celebrations as the Suttie’s renewed their connections with Armidale.
And Joe, who is finishing his third doctorate (in Education) and contemplating undertaking a Master of Public Health at UNE in 2026, let slip a family secret.
“The girls have been much more organised with their studies than me. It has also been great for their confidence that their marks were also so much better than mine.”
