A campaigner in the field of women’s sexual and reproductive health is the winner of Waikato Management School’s award for management communication alumni who are excelling in their profession.

Alice Clements, PR and communications manager for Marie Stopes International Australia, received the 2007 Ted Zorn Alumni Award at a ceremony at the University of Waikato this week.

Presenting the award, Prof Ted Zorn said the selection committee was impressed by Alice’s consistent success in her various positions since graduating seven years ago. “It was obvious from speaking to her former supervisors that Alice strives for excellence in her work, in every undertaking. She also exemplifies a strong focus on ethical practice, one of the explicit criteria for the award,” he said.

Clements graduated from Waikato Management School with a Bachelor of Communication Studies in 2001. Since then she’s worked in corporate PR, researched and written a 100,000 word book on the history of Auckland airport and lectured in PR and communication at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University.

At Marie Stopes, she’s responsible for everything from advocacy issues to condom sales. Vixen condoms are a fundraiser for the Melbourne-based sexual health charity, and are designed to appeal to women. Produced in partnership with feminine hygiene company Cottons, the condoms come packaged in a discreet tin without the lurid or overtly masculine packaging of most condom packs.

One dollar of the purchase price goes to help fund Marie Stopes programmes in ten Asia-Pacific countries including Indigenous Australia.

“For me the personal and professional have to be aligned,” said Clements. “I’m passionate about the potential of PR to effect genuine change."

Forty-one current management communication students also received certificates of excellence at the event.

The inaugural doctoral student excellence award went to Vikram Murthy, programme director of the Hargreaves Institute in Sydney, a leadership learning organisation, and principal associate of Managed Innovation International, a consultancy practice that works with executive teams. He also teaches on the Waikato Management School MBA programme.

Waikato Management School dean Prof Frank Scrimgeour said management communication students were taught by some of the top academics in the world. He noted that staff in the department had won six international awards in the past year and five Waikato teaching excellence awards.