The year in review - alumni events

January 2009

TeamMONASH 'Around the Bay in a Day' participants

In 2008, Monash University held a variety of events for graduates, ranging from well-attended professional development seminars to smaller chapter-based networking events.

In addition to activities associated with the 50th anniversary, the University held several events last year which attracted large alumni audiences. These include The Great Alumni and Friends Debate (part of Educate08 week), Open Day, and a series of activities staged during Research Month.

Among the successful professional development and social events hosted by Alumni Relations were two Monash Marketing Alumni seminars about digital media along with the Chancellor’s Cup golf day and Sir John Monash Stakes.

Outside Melbourne, there were a number of networking events in cities such as New York, London and Hong Kong, and members of the Monash Alumni Advisory Group joined its patron Chancellor Dr Alan Finkel AM (BE 1976, PhD 1981) at a productive summit in Singapore.

Faculty-organised events in 2008 included the annual Great Law Week Debate, won by a team of Monash law graduates including David Galbally QC (BJuris 1972, LLB 1974). The Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences hosted a variety of lifelong learning events for alumni with Dean’s Lectures and the Medical Research Breakfast Seminars.

From the Faculty of Arts, the School of Historical Studies introduced a popular Making Public Histories seminar series and the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation had an active year, hosting the Limmud Oz festival along with a range of other notable lectures.

Prominent alumnus Graeme Samuel AO (LLM 1977) spoke about competition policy at a Faculty of Business and Economics seminar while the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences continued to hold monthly meetings for retired pharmacy alumni.

Within the Faculty of Science, the Monash Chemical Society established a lecture series featuring prominent scientists and high-achieving Engineering alumni were honoured at the faculty’s Alumni of the Year Awards cocktail event.

In addition to its successful annual lunchtime art forums, The Faculty of Art & Design held its annual Art & Design Show exhibiting the work of final-year students. The Faculty of Information Technology hosted a seminar about MyLifeBits, a project that uses multimedia to record every aspect of daily life.

Alumni continued to support TeamMONASH in events including the Portsea Swim Classic, Mother’s Day Classic, South Africa’s Walk the Talk, Melbourne Marathon, Around the Bay in a Day and in the Singapore Marathon. Alumni were also attracted to exhibitions offered by the Monash University Museum of Art such as Premonitions and The Ecologies Project.

The University’s international chapters and groups in Australia and around the world held various events for local alumni. Active chapters included Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, London, Thailand, MBA alumni, and graduates of the Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management group.

The popularity of events in 2008 will help inform planning for 2009. Keep up to date with future events for Monash alumni by visiting the online alumni event calendar.