Lumen Wirltuti:Warltati 2025 - Flipbook - Page 36
World
Our University has more than
175,000 alumni living locally,
nationally and internationally –
a family which will grow to
more than 400,000 for
Adelaide University.
Their lives, after graduation,
are as incredibly varied as the
numerous places their careers
lead them.
Here, three of our special
“foreign correspondents”
report back to Lumen to
share their stories.
News
Glenn was inspired to become a writer
after reading Kafka’s The Metamorphosis in
college. He recalls “being struck by how it is
able to concretize an idea as slippery to me
then as alienation and in such a moving and
sort of funny way. The capacity of fiction
has stayed with me”.
He often explores politics through
personal stories, noting “our experience
of politics is rarely discursive and always
mediated”. He suggests that “systems
manifest to us via feelings of alienation at
our jobs, or the drudgery of commute, or
asymmetrical relations within our families
etc”. As a result, “personal stories may also
exceed the theoretical limits of politics and
can be more slippery and complicated”.
With a passion for building gender
equality and equal access into policy,
Sarantuya has been working as a social and
gender specialist since 2022. She serves
as a member of the Gender Committee,
overseen by the State Secretary, and hopes
to ensure that educational reforms are
informed by data, aligned with long-term
national goals and responsive to the actual
needs of students, teachers and institutions.
One of the greatest challenges he has
faced is being a writer in a capitalist world.
“I’ve always known that I’d want to build a
life around writing, and the challenge of
fulfilling this is simply the challenge of living
in a society that has a very specific notion
of what it means to be valuable and
productive.”
Glenn earned his PhD at the University
of Adelaide (supervised by University
Chair of Creative Writing and noted
author Professor Brian Castro) which he
chose for its supportive environment that
nurtures independence, calling it “a truly
life-changing three years”.
Dr Glenn Diaz, Philippines
Dr Glenn Diaz is an award-winning writer
living and working in the Philippines. Both
his first novel, The Quiet Ones, and his
second, Yñiga, won the Philippine National
Book Award, with Yñiga also shortlisted
for the 2020 Novel Prize. As Associate
Professor in the Department of English and
Comparative Literature at the University
of the Philippines, Glenn nurtures a new
generation of writers while continuing to
create his own works.
When asked what he enjoys most about
being an author, he says: “The actual act
of writing, the labour of putting together a
sentence, how this procedure allows you to
think through the most complicated political
idea or pay attention to the most banal,
unremarkable experience.”
He names The God of Small Things by
Arundhati Roy as his favourite book for its
“terrifying distillation of violence and
history and love; dark and so politically alert,
also funny and bold and even hopeful”.
Sarantuya Tumurtogoo,
Mongolia
Sarantuya Tumurtogoo graduated from
the University of Adelaide in 2015 with a
Master of Education. She remembers the
experience as “both enriching and deeply
meaningful to my personal growth”.
The year after graduating, Sarantuya
participated in the Women’s Leadership
Program through the Australia Awards
Scholarship Program, which provides
training and opportunities to connect with
great modern leaders and work as a team
on community projects.
Sarantuya (pictured wearing traditional
Mongolian clothing) then returned to
Mongolia to work at the Ministry of
Education and Science on the National
Program for Developing Research Universities
in Mongolia, a major milestone in advancing
research capacity and institutional
development for Mongolian higher
education.
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ALONGSIDE HER POLICY
WORK, SARANTUYA IS PART
OF A PROJECT DEDICATED
TO BUILDING SCHOOLS
AND KINDERGARTENS IN
MONGOLIA TO ENHANCE
EDUCATIONAL
ACCESSIBILITY.
THE PROJECT HAS
CONSTRUCTED 21 NEW
FACILITIES, WHICH ARE
DESIGNED TO BE INCLUSIVE
BY CATERING TO CHILDREN
WITH DISABILITIES AND
ACCOMMODATING UNIQUE
REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO
AGE AND GENDER.
To future students, Sarantuya says:
“It is important to understand that the
significance of your work extends beyond
individual achievement. Always consider the
broader impact of your actions. Ask yourself
‘how does this task or project, or decision,
contribute to the well-being of others?
How does it align with the needs and
aspirations of my community or society?’
By cultivating a sense of social
responsibility, young professionals can
become not just successful individuals,
but ethical leaders and catalysts for
positive change.”
