Family ties

All gifts, great and small contribute to the success of Monash students.  Brenda Wardlaw (BEc (Hons) 1975) gives a face to the many quiet Achieving Potential Fund donors whose recurring donations added together sustain the University’s student support initiatives.

A decade ago Brenda Wardlaw was surprised to hear her mother say she was just off to pop a cheque in the post to Monash University’s Library Fund, evidently as she had done since the 1970s when Brenda and her brother were studying at Monash.

“From that moment I felt compelled to follow in my mother’s footsteps, and chose to donate to Monash’s annual giving appeals.” 

A strong Monash tradition winds through Brenda’s family.  Her older brother Dr Peter Jackson completed his Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree and PhD at Monash. Recently his two children, Adrian and Melinda completed Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and Bachelor of Laws (Hons) / Bachelor of Arts degrees respectively.

Brenda harbours fond recollections of her time at Monash, including “being lucky enough to be employed by industry”, as a new graduate on the 'Impact Project'. She is proud of this first professional job under the tutelage of Professor Alan Powell.  The cooperative economic modelling ‘Impact Project’ continues to this day and remains associated with Monash through the Centre of Policy Studies.  Brenda is currently a Director at international credit rating agency, Standard & Poor’s.

To date, Brenda’s yearly contributions have supported students via bursaries, scholarships and grants in the Arts, Business and Economics, and Information Technology faculties. Donations to student support initiatives assist students with their fees, study resources or living expenses, as well as international exchange program expenses, often inspiring talented young people to pursue professional careers they may not otherwise have been able to consider.

Brenda chooses to channel her yearly donation into those areas where she feels a connection. 

“The first opportunity I had to meet Indigenous Australians was when I was studying at Monash in the ’70s. I had already been donating to the Indigenous Literacy Project [a partnership of the Fred Hollows Foundation] and then I read about Monash University today being very active in Indigenous programs.  I hope my contributions to the Indigenous scholarships will help provide for greater participation of Indigenous students at the tertiary level,” she said.

When Brenda heard that some of her Business and Economics peers had set up the Econometrics Honours Memorial Scholarship in memory of the tragic events in the Department of Econometrics in 2002, she was motivated to contribute to this as well. 

Universities need to be able to offer students financial support, as well as academic guidance and leadership.  Donors are vital to bridge the gap in the shortfall that government assistance provides each year to faculties. Recurring gifts ensure faculties can forward plan and sustain financial support to students, to give them every chance of success.