PENINSULA ONLINE
Issue 10
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Big Race an Aussie Experience!
 Andrea McCall gave Peninsula Monash College students an insight into Aussie culture on Melbourne Cup day. Joining many campus staff for the screening of the big race in the Seahorse Tavern, the group enjoyed the food, fun and frivolity of the occasion.
Andrea got into the spirit of things with this fetching hat!
New Student Recruitment Coordinator for Peninsula
The campus welcomes Hemant Kokularupan from the Prospective Student’s Office (PSO), who recently commenced as Peninsula’s new Student Recruitment Coordinator. Hemant joined PSO in mid November and will spend two days each week based at Peninsula. Hemant comes to us from the Faculty of Law where he also worked in marketing and recruitment.
In what is traditionally a very busy and rewarding role, the Student Recruitment Coordinator leads the campus’s interactions with secondary schools and runs events for a range of prospective students.
Staff are encouraged to contact Hemant with any updates on Peninsula courses and services they would like promoted to Careers Advisers’ networks and other Prospective Students Office staff.
Hemant will be based in Building C on his Peninsula days. Please make him feel very welcome.
International Inspiration
Peninsula international student Hsiang-Yun Chou takes ‘getting involved’ to a whole new level. Completing her third year of an Early Childhood Education degree, Mandarin speaking Yun has taken on a role as bilingual translator for the Free Kindergarten Association (FKA). “I work in early childcare settings usually in the Frankston Area” says Yun, who originally volunteered at the FKA helping with admin work before her language abilities were discovered. Now she assists children from migrant families to adapt to the kindergarten setting and advises parents on maintaining their native tongue at home while helping their children to embrace English.
Yun also volunteers at Frankston Hospital, doing art and craft with young patients. “Even something as simple as blowing bubbles with them makes an impact” on their day she says. Yun was put onto the volunteering opportunity by retired Education Lecturer Bob Greaves, who himself volunteers regularly at the hospital.
Born and schooled in Singapore, Yun moved to Australia to undertake tertiary study three years ago. As an international student she says that stepping out of her comfort zone was extremely valuable in making a good transition. “Become part of the community rather than isolating yourself”, she recommends. It’s all about “finding your interest – I like to help people”.
And help she does. In addition to her multiple volunteer roles, Yun also tutors local school students through the tutor registry at Monash Careers and Employment. Though studying Early Childhood Education, Yun also wanted to work with older children and teenagers. “I didn’t want to limit myself to only working in early childhood settings. A lot of things we learn are linked to education at all levels.”
 Further broadening her tertiary experience, Yun undertook a teaching placement in the Cook Islands earlier this year. Third year Education students at Peninsula are able to apply for the unique Cook Islands program and must go through an interview process before being selected.
Yun’s goal after completing her Monash degree is to study Speech Pathology. Her energy and attitude is without doubt something to inspire us all.
Billycart Bob – Crafting Woodwork and Smiles at Mahogany Rise
Well known Monash Education identity Bob Greaves, has undertaken a billycart project with a class of Year 5 students at Mahogany Rise Primary School. 
Volunteering through the Ardoch Foundation, Bob visits the school once a week to engage students in an integrated learning project involving the design and construction of four billycarts. The students are involved at all stages; completing concept drawings, adding up the cost of the components, building the carts and best of all, racing them in a school rally!
The billycarts also featured in the recent ‘I love Frankston’ parade.
As an additional project, Bob runs lunchtime woodworking sessions where students can pick up the tools and let their imaginations run!
Ardoch aims to increase learning opportunities for children through placing skilled volunteers in specially selected partner schools. Mahogany Rise Primary is located in the Frankston Pines area – a neighbourhood undergoing a phase of renewal with the help of Ardoch, community youth forums and the Schools Access Monash (SAM) program.
 The school “needs a boost in the eyes of the local community” says Bob, who earlier this year was awarded an OAM for "Service to the community through the provision of therapeutic play activities for children in hospital, and to education". Judging by the smiles of the Grade 5 students, Bob’s “teaching through doing’” approach has been well received.
Karen White, a former Peninsula student is one of the Ardoch Volunteer Coordinators.
Click here to learn more about the Ardoch Foundation.
10,000 Steps Winners!
This year’s Peninsula winners of the 10,000 Steps Challenge are the Campus Cruisers!
One of 14 teams representing Peninsula in 2007, the Cruisers completed the virtual walk from Cape York Peninsula to Katherine Gorge National Park on November 15th. The team of Sue Webb, Graham Webb, Lauren Webb, Tanya O’Brien, Catherine Thorne, Ray George, Tricia Thorne and Britta Morrison, received their trophy at a campus morning tea on the 6th of December.
 In a magnificent effort, the Cruisers undertook a range of activities, from gym visits and bike rides, to hefty walks and footy training sessions to achieve their goal.
Tanya O’Brien and Ray George topped the team’s step count with over 700,000 steps each!
The average daily step count per person across the whole of Monash is currently 13,778 – well in excess of the 10,000 step target.
Well done to everyone at Peninsula who participated in this healthy initiative! And a special mention to Tony in the Peninsula Works Department who joined the ‘Million Milestones’ club for individually completing in excess of 1,000,000 steps!
Staff interested in pursuing further challenges can sign up on the 10,000 Steps website.
Peninsula’s Work with Secondary Schools in 2007
Monash Peninsula has been on show in 2007, with thousands of young visitors keen to check out the offerings of our beautiful campus. Through the Schools Access Monash program, Campus Management initiatives and a range of Prospective Students’ Office events, Peninsula has been able to offer a range of experiences and services to local secondary school students and teachers.
Activities have included:
• Three ‘At Monash’ Seminars in May, which had record attendances in 2007
• Open Day in August
• The ‘Experience Peninsula’ school holiday event in September
• Expansion of the Schools Access Monash to now include three Peninsula schools
• A High Achievers Program run throughout the year
• Five ‘Monash Prizes’ awarded to Peninsula schools in 2007 so far, with more to come
• Peninsula Tertiary Information Service, a two day on-campus event attended by 18 local schools
• Mid Year and End of Year VCE Revision Lectures, with a record number of
subject offerings in 2007 and wonderful attendances
• Membership of the Peninsula Careers Teachers’ Association - one meeting being hosted on-campus by Monash College
• Attendance at school careers evenings
• 17 inbound and outbound school visits
• and a Peninsula information table at the Monash Change of Preference event at Caulfield campus in December
Thankyou to all the faculty, venue, catering and service area staff who contributed to the success of these programs. And many thanks to the Onshore Student Recruitment team for their ongoing commitment to promoting the campus.
Award for Peninsula’s Landscaping Makeover
The new ‘plaza’ between Buildings C, A, D, B and the library, has won a 2007 Victorian Landscape Award in the category of ‘Commercial Landscape Construction – Civil’. The awards are presented by the Landscape Industries Association of Victoria (LIAV).
Click here to learn more about the awards.
Capping off an Award-Winning Year for DCEHPP
 Academics Brett Williams (left) and Mal Boyle (below) from the Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, have been awarded best paper at a recent conference held at the University of Melbourne’s School of Rural Health in Shepparton.
The paper, entitled ‘Should undergraduate paramedic clinical placements be a learning lottery?’ argued that clinical learning opportunities are currently too unpredictable and variable, particularly in low case-mix areas. Results suggest that alternative delivery of providing paramedic clinical education be considered, thereby providing better linkage between theory and practice.
Undergraduate paramedic students undertake clinical placements in a variety of locations. Placements are considered an essential element of paramedic undergraduate education; however, evidence now suggests that students are unlikely to experience certain cases e.g. significant trauma, particularly in rural locations. The paper presented results from recent clinical education and trauma prediction studies.
Congratulations Brett and Mal.
Library Farewells
The campus will see a run of retirements from the Peninsula library at the end of 2007. Judy Hopley, Wendy Rutzou and Joyce Jenkins have made a wonderful contribution to our campus.
Judy began her association with Peninsula Library in 1987 when it was Chisholm Institute of Technology, later becoming Monash University. Since then she has also worked at the Caulfield Library, the Sir Louis Matheson Library, and was seconded to the Donald Cochrane Library for several years. She has been Deputy Branch Librarian Caulfield/Peninsula Branch Library, Subject Librarian for Business and Economics and then Peninsula Library Manager and has excelled in all her roles.
In 2001, when Monash took a lead role in the Olympic Knowledge Transfer project (investigating the transfer of knowledge from one Olympic Games to another) Judy was seconded to Office of the DVC (Resources) to run the project. The role included visiting cities like Turin and Salt Lake City to understand what had been done previously. Her exceptional information and organisational skills made it an interesting and successful project, if unusual for a librarian at Monash!
Wendy commenced at the Peninsula Library as a Lending Services Assistant in 1991 and has had an unbroken service record of 17 years. Wendy’s impeccable attention to detail has meant that her work in the loans and serials sections of the Peninsula Library has not only ensured a high level of service for students and staff, but has also resulted in Wendy being held in high regard by her colleagues.
Joyce commenced at Caulfield as a Reference Librarian in 1989 and at Peninsula as a Subject Librarian in 1993, a total of 19 years service. During the years she has worked at Monash libraries, Joyce has willingly undertaken a variety of tasks, including working with academic and general staff on numerous initiatives for new courses, immersing herself in all aspects of information literacy and keeping herself, students and staff up-to-date with the changing technologies in information provision and dissemination.
Best wishes from everyone at Peninsula!
More Farewells!
The campus will also be saying fond farewell to Owen Mckenzie and Lee Tierney from Facilities and Services this year, and Adela Abu-Arab from CALT. These staff are familiar faces to many at Peninsula and will be missed.
Peninsula Business and Economics Students Honoured
Five Bachelor of Business and Commerce students from the Peninsula campus were named last week in the Business and Economics Dean’s Honours list for the highest achieving graduating students. Pictured amongst the students acknowledged at the Business & Economics Faculty award ceremony last thursday were Kris Delaney, Shannon Grundmann and Yang Xiang Lin Ivy (absent were Leisa McGuinness and Lucas Chick).
In the BBusCom, Shannon, Ivy and Lucas completed the Accounting major, Leisa completed the Management major, and Kris completed the Marketing major.
The students are pictured here with the Dean, Professor Jill Palmer, and Deputy Dean (Education) Professor Owen Hughes.
In total, 37 undergraduate students (from 1895 undergraduate completions) were included in the Dean’s Honours list for the Faculty of Business and Economics, so having five students acknowledged from Peninsula campus represents an outstanding achievement. Congratulations to the students involved.
Research Seminars in 2008
Semester 1
Wednesday 12 March, Ethics, 12.15pm – 1.15pm, Struan Postgraduate Centre, Seminar Room
Wednesday 9 April, Getting Published, 12.15pm – 1.15pm, Struan Postgraduate Centre, Seminar Room
Semester 2
Wednesday 30 July, Qualitative Research, 12.15pm – 1.15pm, Struan Postgraduate Centre, Seminar Room
Wednesday 20 August, Research Teams: Learning to play with each other, 12.15pm – 1.15pm, Struan Postgraduate Centre, Seminar Room
Staff and students are encouraged to bring lunch to the seminars. Tea and coffee will be provided.
Congratulations Ruth and Robert!
 Congratulations to Ruth Powell from Business and Economics on her December 1st wedding to Robert Elliott.
The couple were married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Ormond and jetted off to Phuket for their honeymoon.
Best wishes to you both.
Season’s greetings to all Peninsula staff! Have a happy, safe and restful break.
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