Pharos Alliance is now a registered not-for-profit organisation, dedicated to the promotion, maintenance and expansion of Greek.
Recently, the group completed their registration with Consumer Affairs Victoria, following a vote from members of the Working Party in favour of this next step. Professor Emeritus Joseph Lo Bianco AM was elected as President. Professor Lo Bianco has been facilitating Pharos meetings since the very first meeting.
Yiota Stavridou was elected as Vice President. Denise Diakodimitriou and Vasso Zangalis were elected as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Assistants to the Secretary and Treasurer are Dr Stephie Nikoloudis and Eva O’Hehir, respectively.
“It’s an honour to be elected President of the Pharos Alliance,” Professor Lo Bianco said.
For the members of the Working Party, Professor Lo Bianco seemed a logical choice, as the name of the organisation is taken from the research he undertook for the Modern Greek Teachers’ Association of Victoria in 2017, and which was then published in the book ‘Pharos-The Vitality and Presence of Modern Greek in Contemporary Australia.’
On Sunday, December 1, the Pharos Alliance is organising its inaugural Symposium. It will take place at La Trobe University, from 12pm to 7pm. The Symposium is an important opportunity to discuss Pharos Alliance’s systematic effort to revitalise Greek language teaching, usage and promotion, also to reflect on the outcomes of these efforts, compare with and discuss other language revitalisation activities, both in Australia and abroad, and project Pharos Alliance’s work into the future. New research findings will also be discussed.
Participation is free, but those interested in attending are asked to register here. Participation is open to all, educators, parents and interested individuals.