Early Career Award Finalists
Awarded to an individual staff member who commenced at the University in the previous 5 years, and who has demonstrated outstanding capacity to contribute meaningfully within the early stages of their career at the University.
Lauren Crask, Human Resources Services
Lauren has reimagined the University’s Celebrating Success Awards, turning a long-standing program into a modern, engaging, and inclusive platform for staff recognition. She introduced the Award Force system to streamline nominations, rebranded the program, and implemented a communications strategy that increased engagement by 20 percent across Colleges and Divisions. In 2025, 130 nominations recognised 630 staff members. Lauren also coordinated the University’s first Indigenous-focused recognition event following NAIDOC Week.
Claudia Fuller, Student Central
Claudia Fuller joined the University in 2024 as a Student Success Officer, responsible for delivering orientation. Within weeks of joining, she was presenting Welcome Sessions to hundreds of commencing students with energy and enthusiasm. Since then, she has enhanced Welcome Week with engaging activities, introduced targeted interventions based on student feedback, and partnered with DTS to integrate MyUni as a digital orientation tool. This initiative drove a 40 percent year-on-year uplift in student attendance at Welcome Week and has been shortlisted in this year's Student Experience Network (SEN) awards.
Cordelia Prangley, Student Central
Since joining the Student Systems and Business Enablement Team within Student Central in July 2022, Cordelia Prangley has made a significant impact on the way we operate. She created the Student Feedback Community of more than 200 students to enable student-informed development. This has become a trusted resource for targeted data collection by many departments across the University. Cordelia led the multi-award-winning Digital Day in a Student’s Life project, which secured HEPPP funding to research the digital experiences of over 350 equity students, and established Student Central’s design and research function. Her leadership spans major initiatives including Program Planner, TUX projects, and sector engagement through HEUG conferences.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.