After careers in teaching and hospitality, Ann Ashton is about to bring the two halves together in a new role.
The North Lakes resident has finished five years of postgraduate studies at The University of Queensland and is about to start a teaching role at the Southern Institute of Technology in Invercargill, New Zealand.
She was conferred on March 10 after completing her PhD on hotel and restaurant co-branding at UQ’s School of Tourism and will officially graduate on July 23.
Until then, Dr Ashton will tutor students at UQ and prepare for the move to New Zealand to teach hotel management.
“I am a bit sad to leave UQ, but I get to make new connections and meet new people,” she said.
“I would like to give my new students as much knowledge as I have. I like to read and to learn. That won’t go until you die. I enjoy sharing that knowledge, talking to people about my own experience.
“I have experience in hotel management. I also have the theory from my studies at UQ. I can combine the two. It gives you vision. It’s perfect.”
Dr Ashton used to be a physical education teacher in Thailand, before starting a career in hotels and working her way up to human resources manager.
“When I came to Australia in 1998, I looked for a job. People said further study might help me get there, so I started studying,” she said.
“I had a hotel background. I was not an academic. I learned so much at UQ, such as how to do research.
“I got through the challenges that presented themselves. There is a lot of support at the school and everyone is very knowledgeable.”
PhD supervisor Dr Noel Scott had been very supportive and proved to be a role model for Dr Ashton.
“If I become a PhD supervisor, I will know how to do it because I learned it from him. He would not solve the problem for me. It was for me to solve. But I knew he was there and ready to work with me through a challenge.”
One highlight of Dr Ashton’s time at UQ came earlier this year, when the Council for Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education presented her with two awards at its annual conference for her PhD paper.
Media: Erik de Wit (0417 088 772)
