United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation consultant, Suganya Boonprasirt, has been named as The Universtiy of Queensland’s International Alumnus of the Year for 2004.
The announcement was made, along with the Alumnus of the Year and the Young Alumnus of the Year award, at the 2004 Courting the Greats lunch held at Customs House today (Thursday, October 28), and hosted by UQ Chancellor Sir Llew Edwards.
During her career, Ms Boonprasirt, now based in Bangkok, has worked as a planner in Japan, the United States, Malaysia, Australia and India.
She helped develop housing and social welfare plans for low-income people in New Delhi and Bombay in India, before undertaking training as urban planner with the Brisbane City Council.
She completed this training in 1991 and graduated with a Master of Social Planning and Development from the University of Queensland in 1992.
Since then, she has produced planning documents for the betterment of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the City of Bangkok including The Fifth Bangkok Metropolitan Development Plan, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and a CD-ROM on Bangkok’s Development Process.
She went on to become Assistant Director with the Department of Policy and Planning at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
Ms Boonprasirt also was responsible for coordinating Bangkok’s cooperation, under the Sister City Relationships Program, with the city governments of Beijing, Washington DC, Moscow, Budapest, St Petersburg, Brisbane, Manila and Jakarta.
In addition, she has contributed to international seminars, meetings and conferences concerning urban development issues.
“The reasons I chose to study at UQ after I had been awarded a scholarship from the Australian government were the University’s fine academic record, reputation and the attractive living and learning environment,” Ms Boonprasirt said.
“My UQ experiences have been among the best in my life. I enjoyed everything and every moment – my study with thoughtful lecturers, the helpful departmental and university staff members, friendly students and friends, perfect facilities for education such as the libraries, IT access and other areas, and also the relaxation that came from a healthy living environment.
“I will never forget the everlasting memorable experiences I had at UQ and I will try very hard to come back for my PhD, even if it is through an offshore program.”
Media contacts: Ms Boonprasirt (telephone: 0011 66 2 573 3883, mobile: 0011 66 2 990 6690, email: suganyab_bma@hotmail.com) or Shirley Glaister at UQ Communications (telephone: 07 3365 1120, email: s.glaister@uq.edu.au).
