Issue 18, Monday 9 December 2002

Farewell to John White

Peninsula campus director Mr John White is retiring from the university at the end of the year after 36 years of service.

John started his career at the Caulfield Institute of Technology (which later became Chisholm Institute of Technology) in 1966 as a lecturer in computing. When Chisholm merged with Monash in 1990, he took on the role of associate comptroller and was later appointed deputy general manager before taking up the position of campus director in 1997. 

During his time as campus director he has supported and encouraged the academic, research and community pursuits of staff and students, and has provided strong direction and leadership for the campus.  

His reputation throughout the university is synonymous with fairness and his 'open door policy' has allowed many people to vent frustrations and to discuss concerns and issues to which he gives equal and fair consideration.  

He is open to all suggestions - including donning a Santa suit for the campus Christmas party - and has a rare and valuable talent for listening, thinking and getting the job done.

John will be greatly missed at the Peninsula campus, and by the university as a whole, but we wish him all the best in his retirement.

The campus Christmas party on Thursday 12 December is an opportunity for the campus to say farewell to John. It will be held in the Seahorse Tavern from 12 noon. The cost is $13 for staff club members and $16 for non members. 

Drinks are on John!

Please contact Michael Mirra (extn 44214), Jo O'Reilly (extn 44327) or Paul de Lange (extn 44361) to book your place at the lunch.

All staff are also invited to a university farewell for John on Wednesday 18 December in the Clayfield Room at Caulfield campus from 4 pm.

Staff wishing to attend should contact Christel Kent on extn 44396. Contributions towards a gift can be forwarded to Christel in the Campus Director's Office.

Students given a career start

Students in their penultimate year and those who recently completed
their final year were given some invaluable tips on preparing for graduate positions during MONSEACS' Career Start 2002 program at the Caulfield campus recently.

Seventy four students representing all disciplines and campuses took part in workshops on resume writing, identifying skills and abilities, psychometric testing, presentation and teamwork skills as well as interactive sessions on interview practice and assessment centre activities.

The program ended with two graduates, Samantha Hall (Caulfield) from Grant Thornton and Melanie Brouwer (Peninsula) from Pitcher Partners, giving the students some great insights on 'how to get that job' and how there is not always a clear cut pathway.

The main focus of the program was to expose the students to as many employers as possible and the response was excellent with twenty four employer representatives participating. 

These included: Connell Wagner, Accenture, Robert Bosch, SHL, ComputerPro, Expert Information Services, Grant Thornton, DST International, WMC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ford Motor Company, ANZ and Pitcher Partners.

These high-profile companies in the graduate recruitment market provided real-life situations and input from their personal experiences in the graduate recruitment process.

The seventy four students will be now be ready to start their careers when the next graduate recruitment season starts in 2003. Many of the above companies will also be participating in the Careers Fairs being held on the Clayton campus on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 April 2003.

Mary Gordon and Marian Longmire from MONSEACS would like to thank all staff members who may have recommended the above program to their student.

Parking for 2003

PARKING PERMITS

There will be no increase in charges for red and blue parking permits for 2003 – these will remain at:

Red            $127.60 (GST inclusive)
Blue           $  50.00 (GST inclusive)

The number of red and blue permits will remain the same for 2003, which allows all staff and students who seek a permit to be able to purchase one. 

CAR PARKS

All car-parks will remain the same as for 2003 with the exception that the H1 car-park (near the Hockey Pitch) will now allow blue permit parking in addition to the existing meter parking and residents parking – in 2002 there was insufficient blue permit parking space, particularly early in each semester, while the H1 car-park was under utilised.

All sealed car-parking areas will be line-marked in the colour of permit required to park in that area.

VISITOR PARKING

The charge for hourly metered parking will remain at 50 cents per hour, which is the same as the 2002 rate.

Staff visiting from other campuses should use the laminated yellow inter-campus parking permits purchased by budgetary units, and park in inter-campus permit parking areas.

Handwritten yellow visitor parking permits should be used only for genuine visitors to the campus who are attending for short term one off visits such as meetings. Charges are normally made for these permits at other campuses but have not, to date, been made at Peninsula Campus. From 2003 onwards only 75 blank visitor parking forms will be issued free of charge to each budgetary unit. Additional permits will be provided at a charge of $1 each.

Budgetary units should purchase a number of staff (red) parking permits to be shared between casual and sessional staff members – although this is contrary to University directives regarding budgetary units paying for parking permits, Peninsula Heads of Schools have agreed that an exception should be made in this instance.

DESIGNATED PARKING

In line with practice on other campuses, there will no longer be designated parking places for specific staff members. Instead there will be reserved parking areas set aside (in the same locations as the current designated parking areas) where staff who have purchased reserved (red) parking permits will be able to park in any of the spaces available.

The vice chancellor has advised that budgetary units are not to pay for parking permits for staff. As a result, only personal cheques, personal credit cards or salary packaging may be used to purchase parking permits.  A copy of the directive from the Vice-Chancellor on this matter is included below.

CROSS CAMPUS STUDENTS

INTER-CAMPUS PARKING PERMITS

Faculties/Departments are reminded that the 2002 Inter-campus permit
expires on 31 December 2002 and that a 2003 permit will be required to
park in the yellow signed inter-campus parking areas at Clayton and
Caulfield from that date.

Application forms for the 2003 Yellow Parking Permits are available from
Security and Traffic Office at Clayton. The cost of the permit for 2003
is unchanged at $200.

Notice board

A NTEU meeting will be held on campus on Monday 16 December at 11 am in the Conference room C1.02 followed by a free BBQ. The meeting is open to all staff. Please advise Michael Mirra on extn 44212 if you are attending by Friday 13 December.

Authorised by the Office of the Campus Director - Peninsula 

Contributions can be emailed to julie.ryan@adm.monash.edu.au by 5 PM Thursdays.