Issue 4, Monday 10 March 2003

Welcome to new head of Services on campus

Rod Rodway has been appointed as the new Services Manager at the Peninsula campus overseeing security, cleaning and the mailroom.

Rod arrived in Melbourne from the UK 32 years ago and has never looked back claiming he is "English by birth but Australian at heart", despite the fact he has never managed to master the Australian accent. Prior to coming to Australia, Rod spent 12 years in the British Army and two years in the British Police Force.

On arrival in Melbourne Rod undertook some factory work and later worked for Melbourne City Council before joining the police force. 

After 15 years with the police force Rod had another career change working at a dye casting and engineering factory before joining Monash Clayton as a security officer.

Rod is looking forward to increasing security initiatives at the campus and is keen to hear from staff and students about anything of concern on campus. He can be contacted on extn 44108.

Introduction to uni life 

Hundreds of new students took part in a broad range of academic and social activities as part of Orientation over the last two weeks.

The official start to Orientation was attended by about 400 students who enjoyed morning tea followed by welcomes by Professor Liz Kendall on behalf of the campus and university, Cr Cathy Wilson on behalf of the City of Frankston and Ms Cassie Monahan on behalf of the student body on Wednesday 26 February.

Following the official opening ceremony, campus tours coordinated by MONSU gave new students an opportunity get a feel for their new environment.

Free food and drinks were a key aspect to many Orientation activities with the humble snag and veggie burger proving to be favourites over the last couple of weeks.   Staff didn't miss out on the fun and frivolity of Orientation taking part in the annual Faculty Challenge with the winners . . .

. . .Campus Admin for the second year in a row. Pictured Rod Rodway, Greg Brown, Pauline Nelson, Julie Ryan, Laura Thorne, Kathryn Thorne and Michael Mirra (kneeling).

International Women's Day lunch

Monash academic features in International Guitar Festival exhibition

Geraldine Burke, studio arts lecturer in the Faculty of Education, will exhibit work  created by the Refluxus art group of which she is a member as part of an exhibition that accompanies the International Guitar Festival at the Frankston Cultural Centre. 

Four guitars that have been transformed using found objects, toys, paint, recycled plastic and mosaic will be included in the exhibition. Refluxus create playful and unconventional artworks by means of collaboration and take much influence from the Surrealists, Fluxus movement and current art practices. 

Refluxus consists of Geraldine, Pamela Irving, Maria Luisa Nardella and Heather Shimmen. The show is on until 23 March.

Campus soccer team hits the big time

The Peninsula campus is entering a soccer team in the local Bayside league this season.

The team, which is yet to be named, will be playing their home games on the synthetic multi-purpose pitch at Peninsula.

This is an exciting development not only for the campus but also for soccer as this is the first time in Australia that official games will be played on a synthetic pitch.

The team is open to all students and staff who wish to try out and although limited to a male only team this season Monash University Sport is confident of having a women's team accepted into the league next year.

Peninsula notes

Tutor award

Adelene Poh, from the School of Network Computing, was one of nine Faculty of Information Technology tutors to be awarded the FIT Certificate of Tutor Development recently. 

The tutors completed workshops and assessments, which included a student evaluation of their tutorial and a self evaluation of their work as a tutor. The course is run by the Facilitated Learning for Information Technology Education (FLITE) Centre and is available to all tutors within the faculty.

Professor Gopal Gupta, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of
Information Technology, presents Adelene with her certificate.

Fitness instructor is Australia's fastest

Mike Power, fitness instructor at MONSU Fitness Centre at Peninsula, won the Australian 5000 metre title at Olympic Park on Saturday 1 March 2003.

Mike, who has previously represented Australia on numerous occasions
including the Commonwealth Games and in Sydney 2000, will use his victory as a springboard for his Athens 2004 Olympic campaign.

Business Associates Program

The Faculty of Business and Economics and the Peninsula campus runs substantial breakfast seminar program during the year called the Business Associates Program. The first speaker in this year's seminar is Mr Paul Kirton speaking on 'Legal and practical issues in E-Commerce and online trading' on Tuesday 25 March.  For further information about the program including details of all speakers, contact Narelle Krueger on extn 44074.

Strategic Cost Management information sessions

All interested staff are invited to attend a Briefing Session about
Strategic Cost Management, the new financial management process being
undertaken at Monash.

Briefing sessions will be held at all the Peninsula campuses on Thursday 20 March, 10 am - 11.30 am and Monday 7 April 1 pm - 2.30 pm in the 
Conference Room C1.02

The session will be presented by  Alison Crook, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources), John Levine, Divisional Director, Financial Resources Management and Reynold Dias, Deputy Director, Financial Resources Management

Staff are wishing to attend must book into their preferred session with Elenore Videion on extn 56827.

Connecting Christians on campus - an invitation for students & staff

Peninsula Chaplains Reverends John Haig and  Phil Hurwood invite staff and students to a barbecue on Friday 28 March, 6.30 pm at Mt Martha. For more information and to RSVP please phone John on 0412 233298 or contact Julia on extn 44223.

Thanks to Monash Prize presenters

Many thanks to the Peninsula staff who gave up their time to visit local schools to present Monash Prizes late last year and this year. Staff included Ron Edwards, Tom Jeavons, Paul de Lange and Julie Ryan.

Tom Jeavons (second from left) presented Lucien McCathy from Mt Eliza Secondary College with his prize recently. Also Pictured are Mr John Goodall Assistant Principal MESC and Lucien's Mum and Day Joyce and Brian.

Staff Social Club

The next major staff club activity will be diner at Bunarong Restaurant at Chisholm TAFE on Friday 4 April. Cost is $16 for staff club members and $19 for non-members. Places are limited so book early with Joanne O'Reilly, Paul de Lange, Kate Boyle, Pauline Nelson or Bernard Hornblower.

Changes to paper recycling

Paper recycling bins will now need to be placed out the night before collection rather than the morning of collection as reported in the last edition of Peninsula Online. Bins need to placed out on Monday evenings as collection will be between 6 am and 10 am Tuesday.

The Frankston blood challenge

Frankston now has a permanent donor centre located 20 Davey Street. Donors can make an appointment to donate five days a week and the centre is currently running a bloody challenge with the aim of reaching 500 donations by 30 June. For information, call 13 14 95.

House for short term rent in Mt Eliza

A fully furnished and equipped 2 storey home in large garden at the edge of Mt Eliza close to the Peninsula campus with a flexible lease arrangement to fit in with requirements of staff member with family.

Four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, ( 3rd toilet), large sitting room, kitchen/family room, laundry, office, terrace. Large garden ( gardener provided weekly) Close to public transport. Everything supplied for suitable tenants. $400 per week. Email for further information.

Authorised by the Office of the Academic Director - Peninsula