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Home >
About Us
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CLV Committee Biographies and Qualifications
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Mr Tassos Douvartzidis, President
Tassos I. Douvartzides was born in Greece and came to Australia in 1975. In 1984, with
the assistance of a team of parents and his wife Matoula, they founded Omiros College,
which grew to become one of the largest Greek Language Schools in Australia. Since
1991 he has been a member of the Standing Ministerial Advisory Council on Languages
Other Than English and English as a Second Language and Multicultural Education
(MACLEM). He often advises academic bodies and government authorities on issues
pertaining to language education . His involvement with Community Languages
Australia, of which he is a co-founding member and Chairperson, has earned him the
appreciation of the wider community. Through the years, he has published a number of
articles. He has given radio talks and lectures and presented papers at conferences
concerning community affairs and education, both in Australia and overseas. His work
includes the co-ordination and the publication of a number of textbooks for the
teaching of Greek. He is the co-author of the Mediterranean Europe Phrasebook,
published by Lonely Planet. Mr Douvartzides holds a BA Degree in Modern Greek and
Sociology, Graduate Diploma of Education and Masters of Education (Curriculum and
Administration).
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Emilija Simic, Vice-President
School Coordinator at Serbian Orthodox Church School, Holy Trinity
Secretary at Committee of Community Languages Victoria
Emilija holds a Master and Bachelor of Economics. She has a large number of
professional development courses in Education, Finance and Finance Management. For
more than 23 years, she was working as a Senior Finance Officer, and Finance Manager
at RMIT University, School of Engineering, School of Education, School of Arts, School of
Architecture and Urban Design. For more than 25 years, Emilija was teacher and
coordinator at Serbian Orthodox Church School responsible for school accreditation,
curriculum design and delivery.
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Takavada Zivave, Secretary
Mr Takavada holds a PhD in Education from Federation University Australia. His 35+
years of professional experience is extensive and includes international educational
exchanges, teaching and researching in Australia, Zimbabwe, Germany, Finland and the
United Kingdom. He did his educational leadership training at Exeter University (UK) and
is a recipient of the British Council Zimbabwe Leadership Scholarship. Takavada has
presented at several international conferences and his most recent presentation was at
the WFATE conference (2023) held at the University of Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada
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Philip Chui, Treasurer
Kai-Sing (Philip) Chui, JP from Nanhai Province in China immigrated to Australia with his
family in 1985 and has spent more than 30 years in Australia engaging in various
business trading enterprises and media business to serve the Victorian community.
Philip has served as the President for the Chinese Fellowship of Victoria and Chairman
of the Chinese Fellowship Chinese School over the years. He has served in public office
such as the Australia-China General Chamber of Commerce and Economic Cooperation,
the Asian Chamber of Commerce in Whitehorse, the Rotary Club of Australia, and the
Victorian Chinese Federation Australia Inc. He has also served as a consultant to a
number of organisations, and as a "bridge" between Australia and China in cultural,
educational and commercial exchanges. Philip was a founder of Asian Multimedia
Enterprise with friends in 1997. From there the enterprise business has expanded and
diversified, including weekly and annual published magazines, website designs, printing
and media promotion services.
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Murugesu Paramanathan, Ordinary Member
Principal of the Victorian Tamil Association - Tamil School with 8 campuses across Melbourne
with around 950 students and employing over 70 teachers.
Director and Chairman of the Victorian Tamil Community Centre Pty Ltd - UT
Executive Committee member of the Victorian Tamil Association.
Director and Chairman of the Padimurai Tamil Ontrium (a Canada based global
organisation to promote Tamil language among the Diaspora Tamils)
Graduated from University of Moratuva, Sri Lanka (Telecommunication)
Worked for Cables & Wireless (UK) for 10 years as Telecommunication Engineer
Worked for Telstra (Australia) for 32 years in various positions and retired as a Senior
Business Analyst in 2018
Currently full-time volunteer with the VTA Tamil School.
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Stella Lambrou, Ordinary Member
Dip Lib, Grad Dip in Education
School Principal at AHEPA GREEK SCHOOL
Stella holds a Diploma of Librarianship from RMIT (majors in Sociology and Library
Studies) and a Graduate Diploma in Education from Monash University with methods.
Teacher Librarian (Information Literacy, ESL. Methodology in LOTE Modern Greek from
UOC (Greece) and from CLV. VIT registered (current)
Stella led school libraries with (DET) for 17 years until retiring in 2022. She taught
language methodology for 43 years.
Stella created the school charter and upgraded to meet new requirements. Developed
the curriculum for the school.
As Principal of a Community Language school Stella’s leadership defines the success of
this school having pronounced improvement in three vital areas: student numbers,
teacher professional excellence and curriculum innovations.
Stella’s teaching philosophy is in her words: “I value effort, I am fair and consistent,
embracing a growth mindset. I am committed to create challenging, interactive and
nurturing learning environments where students are encouraged to develop and
cultivate cultural awareness, embrace diversity, explore and reflect on their learning to
achieve success”.
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Thomas Wu, Ordinary Member
Mr. Thomas Wu has been active in the activities of Chinese communities since he came
to Melbourne, Australia in the 1990s. He has been the host of the annual Chinese New
Year party held in Chinatown, Melbourne for more than ten consecutive years. He is
also the program host and public relations director of CH31, Australia Asian National
Television Station, and the Secretary General of the Federation of Chinese Associations
of Victoria for four consecutive years. He is so much welcomed by everyone in the
community.
In 2019, he served as host for the Bohua Pacific 2019 "Autumn of Melbourne"
International cultural Week in Melbourne, and hosted the 70th anniversary celebration
of the Australian Chinese Liaison Association and the second Melbourne International
Martial Arts Festival in the same year. In 2020, He was the host of the "Madam World"
Australia Finals.
Mr. Thomas Wu is now the deputy president of the Melbourne Spring Arts Multicultural
Association, the head of the managing board of the JNU Chinese Language and Culture
School and the educator of several choirs. He has led his team, performed excellently in
many concerts and festivals and won many praises
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Mahbub Amin, Ordinary Member
General Secretary, South East Bangla School
Portfolio & Program Management (Construction Management - NBN Fixed Wireless) in
Ericsson Australia
Mr Mahbub Amin is an Enterprise Solution and Project Management Professional with
more than 18 years experience in Telecom/ IT industry and with comprehensive
knowledge of technology products. He is PMP certified with ITIL® and Lean Six Sigma
White Belt certification. He is a ERICSSON Global Certified Senior Network Engineer with
work exposure at multinational companies in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Australia. He
has under his belt research and teaching experiences in university. His education
qualifications include a B.Sc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and an MBA in
Finance. He is currently volunteering in Australia with Bangladeshi community language
schools, and organisations like CareerSeekers, RMIT, Emergency Telecommunications
Cluster, and Community Languages Victoria.
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Roman Sawko, Ordinary Member
Mr Roman Sawko is trained and worked as a Mechanical Engineer, in both the private
and public (Commonwealth) sectors before retiring in 2020. In his career as an
Engineer, he developed various skills beyond the traditional Mechanical Engineering,
including analysis of systems and training of adults (and children). He manages the
Polish School in St Albans where he has been involved for over thirty years.
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Xiaoyuan (Cathy) Bu, Co-Opted Member
Cathy holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in the University of Melbourne. She has
previously worked at ANZ developing client services and collaboration skills. She is
currently passionate about teaching language to children in the community language
school in which she serves.
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Dr Oksana King, Co-Opted Member
Dr Oksana King is the Principal of the Ukrainian Community School in Noble Park and coordinates and teaches the VCE VET Ukrainian program. She represents the interests of multicultural communities in the City of Monash as a member of the Multicultural Advisory Committee.
Oksana taught Russian, German and Ukrainian in various community language schools since arriving to Australia from Ukraine in 2001. While completing her PhD in Language Education at The University of Melbourne in 2010, she worked as a lecturer in Linguistics and Sociolinguistics at Melbourne University and taught English to migrants at Monash College and through the Adult Migrant English Program.
Oksana is deeply passionate about language education in Australia and believe that languages are an essential part of schooling.
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