20 July 2005
20 July 2005
One of Monash University's distinctive features is its multi-campus structure. Although other Group of Eight universities have more than one campus, none has such a complex network of regional, outer urban and international campuses.
I, and others, have written on previous occasions of the particular benefits to Monash and to Australia that come from our international campuses. In this column, I wish to concentrate on our Australian campuses.
I know there has been ambivalence towards our multi-campus structure. Some feel it places us at a disadvantage compared with other Group of Eight universities. It is certainly more complex to manage, but on the other hand, given our commitment to engagement and to admitting students of merit regardless of circumstances, our multi-campus structure provides us with opportunities to have a wider and more substantial beneficial impact.
To ignore this and to seek to go back to the pre-1990 situation with a single campus at Clayton is unrealistic and would be politically disastrous. Moreover, we are large enough to manage and benefit from the opportunities presented by our regional and outer urban campuses without prejudicing our ambition to achieve international excellence and reputation in research and education.
By and large, Caulfield is now accepted as a welcome addition to Monash. The campus is conveniently located next to a train station and is much closer to the central business district than is Clayton. It has become the centre of graduate/postgraduate coursework and also has the highest concentration of international students. It is recognised as the headquarters for three of our faculties and with the Stage 1 building nearing completion, together with its new multi-storey carpark, and the Stage 2 redevelopment of its western end in an advanced stage of planning, its transformation to a fully fledged high-quality campus is well under way.
Parkville is the site of our Pharmacy faculty (also known as the Victorian College of Pharmacy). This was the least-planned merger of the '90s, but one of the most beneficial. Its location in the heart of the ‘Parkville Precinct' allows it to be part of the Bio 21 consortium while remaining an integral part of Monash University . It plays a crucial role in developing the cross-Melbourne collaboration in biotechnology and drug development that will be essential if Melbourne is to become a significant centre in the highly competitive arena of biotechnology. It also provides critical research steps in the pipeline of new drug development, complementing the expertise in more fundamental steps in the School of Biomedical Science and the disease-specific and clinical trial expertise of our clinical departments.
But what of our regional and two outer urban campuses?
Monash Gippsland is strategically located in the heart of the Latrobe Valley. Its powerful Advisory Council has strong representation from local industry. It is key to the economic renewal of the region. There is strong political support for the campus and specific research funds available to help it to leverage this strong support. The move to give the campus greater autonomy to allow it to respond more speedily and flexibly to local research opportunities and educational needs recognises the especially close engagement it needs to foster with its local community. Industry internships are a particular feature. It has been argued that a stand-alone university would be better able to engage locally. But a small regional university would never have the critical mass in research or teaching to allow it to develop in a way that will bring maximum benefit to the local region. Being part of a large research-intensive university will allow it not only to take advantage of its local engagement but also to have the depth of research and education combined with reputation and prestige of Monash University.
Monash Peninsula is a beautiful, mature campus adjoining the headquarters of Peninsula Health at Frankston Hospital. It is an ideal location to develop specific strength in health sciences and in health and wellbeing. Physiotherapy and occupational therapy are starting there, to complement nursing and the Monash University Centre for Ambulance and Paramedic Studies. Early childhood education and sport and outdoor recreation, which will move there from Gippsland, also integrate well. Other courses with wide appeal in business and economics are also available but the emphasis will be around those areas integrating with the health sciences. Again, there is strong local community and political support for the campus, which will see particular opportunities for the campus.
Monash Berwick provides a different challenge. It is a very large site, and our current four buildings occupy only a tiny corner of it, so far with about 1900 students. An innovative proposal to develop the site as an integrated university village environment would see the infrastructure developing more quickly and the site becoming more attractive to students more quickly. This plan has yet to get ministerial approval. Again, specialisation of the campus to allow one or more specific areas of high appeal to serve as the theme of the campus is planned. Planning is still evolving, and themes around the built environment and community building are being explored. Given that Berwick is the centre of one of the most rapidly growing populations of young people, it is likely that over the next decade or so, demand for places at Monash Berwick will grow dramatically.
We will not compromise entry standards for our courses at our regional and outer urban campuses. To provide opportunities for bright young people from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds to enter Monash University , we will have to provide bridging programs, including articulation with TAFE, more mature-age entry and possibly the establishment of Monash College programs on the campus.
Each campus will develop research strengths relevant to their areas of specialisation and local needs integrated with the major research themes of Monash. Systems of matrix management that give sufficient local autonomy to allow maximum flexibility to take advantage of local opportunities and to respond to local needs and to retain the links to the faculty and central processes for quality control, curriculum development and research critical mass will be further developed. Line management responsibility must be unambiguous. Accountability for performance will inevitably be broader but must also be explicit. This is complex, but it is a challenge shared by every large organisation, particularly those that operate in multiple locations.
When we visit each of our campuses the particular strengths and opportunities presented by the campus are evident. If we realise all these opportunities, Monash University will indeed become a great and distinctive university, with its research and education considerably enhanced by its engagement with different communities and industry in multiple locations in Australia and overseas.
Richard Larkins
20 July 2005
Monash has appointed former Telstra director of strategic projects Mr David Pitt as the new vice-president, finance (chief financial officer).
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Mr Pitt (pictured), who has worked in several senior positions at Telstra, will take up his new position on 1 August.
During his time at Telstra, Mr Pitt developed and implemented the company's new superannuation scheme and developed the strategy for implementing the early rollout of Telstra's Pay TV cable network.
He said he was looking forward to his role at Monash.
"The role attracted me for a number of reasons. Firstly it brings together the various roles I have performed at Telstra over the past decade, including strategy, financial planning, management and accounting, financial control, portfolio management and project management," he said.
"Secondly, I think Monash is a highly exciting workplace to be in. Just like telecommunications, the university environment provides continual change and challenges, which makes for an interesting life."
Mr Pitt has worked in a range of positions at Telstra including controller and manager of financial systems development, financial analysis director and general manager of finance and strategy, commercial and consumer.
He said that while the role at Monash would require similar technical skills, the working environment was very different.
"This position will throw up many challenges, but will also provide opportunity for new experiences and new learning, particularly given the calibre of the people working here.
"When I reviewed the role at Monash, I was surprised by the breadth and complexity of the organisation. Like all universities it has its challenges, but I see its depth and breadth as providing lots of opportunities to meet those challenges," Mr Pitt said.
Vice-chancellor Professor Richard Larkins said the university was fortunate in securing such an outstanding appointee.
"Mr Pitt is a highly qualified appointee and brings a wealth of experience in the financial sector to Monash," he said.
20 July 2005
Australia's future leaders will be nurtured in a new program that aims to equip students with the intellectual and emotional tools to bring about positive change in society.
The Vice-Chancellor's Ancora Imparo Student Leadership Program has been introduced by vice-chancellor Professor Richard Larkins.
It is designed to give students an understanding of the visionary and inspirational principles that guide current leaders and have guided past leaders.
Under the program, 40 first-year students will be chosen annually from Monash's Victorian campuses and will undertake the program during their second year at Monash.
Professor Larkins said the program aimed to extend those students who displayed potential early and who may go on to become the leaders of the future.
"I envisage that the program will help inspire students and equip them with the leadership capacities to effectively take their place in society and contribute to making the world a better place," he said.
"Monash has a valuable role to play not only to educate students for their future careers, but also to help students develop into citizens who know how to bring about constructive and enduring changes in their communities."
The students will participate in a three-day residential program at Portsea before the start of the first semester of their second year and will attend monthly seminars in the city for 12 months.
The seminars will provide a forum for students to discuss some of the major issues that confront the world. Students will be encouraged to facilitate their own discussion topics within the seminar series.
Students entering the program are not required to have previous leadership experience and will be chosen based on their achievements and community interests.
For more information on the program, go to the Student Leadership website.
20 July 2005
The British Economic and Social Research Council has awarded Monash arts and law scholars, together with researchers from the University of London Institute of Commonwealth Studies, nearly $500,000.
The funding is a significant breakthrough for Monash's involvement in international social science research.
It comes under the umbrella and on the initiative of the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements.
Institute director Professor John Nieuwenhuysen said five senior Monash researchers and three UK researchers would operate together to investigate non-government agencies working in traditionally government fields.
The project aims to develop an understanding of how policy-making for issues spanning mostly 'North-South' concerns -- generally meaning Europe-Africa and Europe-Asia -- can be made more effective, inclusive and responsive to the needs and interests of non-government organisations.
"Apart from the internationally-recognised importance of the topic, the project will forge valuable international as well as cross-faculty links," Professor Nieuwenhuysen said.
"This is a major breakthrough that enables Monash social scientists to be part of internationally-funded, cooperative and interdisciplinary research."
He said it was often difficult for the social sciences to attract funding for international projects, as research interests were more likely to be confined to individual countries and regions.
"But we have identified a way in which Australian scholars can be successful in applications for UK and European grants, which bodes well for the future -- and that is an especially exciting aspect of the grant," Professor Nieuwenhuysen said.
Those involved are Professor Graeme Hodge from the Faculty of Law, Professor James Walter, head of the School of Political and Social Inquiry, and his colleagues Professor Carla Lipsig-Mumme, Associate Professor Colleen Lewis and Dr Susan Blackburn.
20 July 2005
An Iraqi academic has received an Endeavour Fellowship to Monash, where he is working on research that will enable him to contribute to the rebuilding of his country's damaged infrastructure.
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| Dr Al-Amery (right) receives his Endeavour Fellowship certificate from the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson. |
Dr Riyadh Al-Amery is one of six Endeavour scholars at Monash this year. The fellowships are funded by the federal Department of Education Science and Training for international scholars to undertake research in Australia.
Dr Al-Amery is working in the Department of Civil Engineering under the supervision of senior lecturer and Australian Iraqi Forum president Dr Riadh Al-Mahaidi, to find ways to reinforce and repair damaged concrete structures.
As a lecturer at the University of Technology in Baghdad, Dr Al-Amery said he would continue his research and share his knowledge when he returned home at the end of the six-month fellowship.
"This fellowship is very important to me because I will be able to use what I have learned to enhance the abilities of academics at home," Dr Al-Amery said. "Iraq is rebuilding itself with a new generation of engineers."
The other Endeavour Fellows at Monash this year are:
20 July 2005
Health and police representatives from China's Zhejiang Province last week visited the Monash University Accident Research Centre to examine Victorian road safety initiatives and discuss future research collaborations.
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| From left: Dr Chen La, Professor Joan Ozanne-Smith, Dr Wang Jianyu, Dr Liu Liqun, Ms Virginia Routley (front), Dr Yu Min, and Mr Zhang Heping. |
Professor Joan Ozanne-Smith, chair of injury prevention, and research fellow Ms Virginia Routley hosted the visitors, who toured MUARC's facilities and were briefed on research projects.
Professor Ozanne-Smith said a relationship already existed with the province, south of Shanghai, as Zhoushan -- an island in the province -- was one of two sites for Ms Routley's PhD study on seatbelt-wearing in China.
She said increased seatbelt use could be one key to reducing China's massive road toll of more than 300 deaths a day. Chinese authorities were keen for seatbelt use to be widely implemented by the time Beijing came under world scrutiny during the 2008 Olympic Games, she said.
Mandatory seatbelt use has been one of road injury prevention's great success stories, and Australia has been a leader in the field, with Victoria passing the world's first law to mandate their use in 1970.
"Seatbelts have been almost universally accepted as a highly effective, proven countermeasure for occupant protection in high-income countries," Ms Routley said. "So this is a very exciting and challenging project, because we can play a role in the adoption of seatbelt-wearing in China."
Dr Yu Min, from the Zhejiang Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said the trip had proved useful.
"We hope to establish a long-term relationship with MUARC to benefit our province and our country," he said.
The other visitors were Dr Liu Liqun, deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr Wang Jianyu, director of Zhoushan Centre for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr Chen La, director of the Health Bureau of Putuo District; and Mr Zhang Heping, deputy director of the Transportation Police Division in the Bureau of Public Security of Putuo District.
20 July 2005
A company that has emanated from Monash research into the treatment of pain associated with cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases has been launched in Melbourne.
CNSBio, a collaboration of Monash Commercial and the life-science business development seed finance company Biocomm, will develop novel approaches to pain management in sufferers of cancer and diseases such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
It is producing treatments including a lead compound developed by Monash professor of anaesthesia Colin Goodchild. The compound is in initial phase II clinical trials at Southern Health Palliative Care for the treatment of pain in late-stage cancer patients.
Professor Goodchild is an international expert in the development of combination therapies for pain management and has a well-established record of commercialising his discoveries with international pharmaceutical companies.
He said that as a clinician, he was reminded daily of the increasing number of patients with persistent pain and the small number of available drug treatments, which were only partially effective at best.
"As a scientist, I am aware of the large number of drug targets now identified by basic research in pain medicine. CNSBio will undertake research to bring the advances in our scientific understanding of the pain process to make more effective treatments," Professor Goodchild said.
Leading scientist Dr Ian Cooke has been appointed chief executive of CNSBio, bringing to the company strong scientific expertise in central nervous system research and commercial experience of start-up companies.
20 July 2005
The Engineering faculty at Monash has extended its education and research collaboration agreement with China's Central South University.
Senior deputy vice-chancellor Professor Stephen Parker and Engineering dean Professor Tam Sridhar signed an addendum to the existing agreement when a delegation from the Chinese university visited Monash earlier this month.
The original agreement, which was signed in May, allows for Central South students to study at Monash. After completing the first two years of their undergraduate engineering program in China, they can complete the last two years of their degree at Monash and graduate with an engineering qualification recognised in both countries.
The addendum means the current two-university agreement, which began with the Chemical Engineering and Civil Engineering departments, now extends to the Materials Engineering and Mechanical Engineering departments at Monash.
Central South University, in Changsha in the Hunan Province, is ranked 18th among China's top 100 universities. It is a multi-disciplinary university with strengths in engineering, science and medicine. Central South has 43,000 full-time students, including more than 8000 postgraduates.
As well as the expanded collaboration, the Central South University will conduct a bilateral research workshop with Monash in China in October.
20 July 2005
The Bell Shakespeare Company returns to Monash next month with a new production of one of William Shakespeare's earliest works, The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
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| From left: Proteus (Richard Sydenham) and Panthino (John Trutwin) -- take tea with the Duke of Milan (Arky Michael). |
The Alexander Theatre at Clayton campus will host evening performances on 1 and 2 August and a matinee on 2 August.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona is set in Verona, Milan and a forest near Mantua in Italy. The plot centres around two young gentlemen of Verona -- Valentine (James Saunders) and Proteus (Richard Sydenham) -- who are best friends. Their love for the same woman -- Silvia (Kate Box) -- threatens to come between them. Valentine and Proteus travel to Milan and learn about the world of courtship. Proteus' love for Julia (Anita Hegh) is eventually eclipsed by his new-found passion for Silvia -- his best friend Valentine's great love and the daughter of the Duke of Milan. But true love prevails and the friends are reconciled.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona is packed with comic devices -- a midnight rendezvous, serenades, betrayals, bandits in the forest, cunning disguises and a male friendship that is easily destroyed when an attractive woman gets in the way.
The highly acclaimed production is directed by Peter Evans and designed by Christina Smith, and combines fast-moving action with a driving jazz soundtrack and songs from 1980s band the Violent Femmes.
Ms Jan Clancy, Monash University Arts Centres director, said the Bell Shakespeare Company was renowned for its innovative and vibrant productions.
"Bell Shakespeare brings together a talented and energetic cast for this timeless and classic romantic comedy," Ms Clancy said.
"This is an outrageous story of love, friendship and marriage. Audiences will be entertained by the many twists and turns involving the two gentlemen of Verona who fall in love with the same woman."
For bookings or information, contact the Monash Box Office on extn 51111 or visit the Monash University Arts Centres website.
20 July 2005
A selection of sculptures, photographs and built structures created by Monash Master of Visual Art student Sarah Adams is on show at the Switchback Gallery at the Gippsland campus.
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Reasoning and the Great Australian Dream, on display until 10 August, features 16 works influenced by Ms Adams' past -- her family connections and experiences of growing into adolescence in a small country town.
Ms Adams (pictured) grew up in Paynesville, near Bairnsdale and completed an Advanced Certificate of Art and Design at RMIT before undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Art degree at Monash Gippsland. She combines her masters studies with part-time work as a customer services officer at the LaTrobe Regional Gallery.
"This exhibition explores the connection between our present and our personal history," Ms Adams said.
"My subject matter is the family home and the irony of our own domestic ritual. I look at the heaviness of the emotional past and reflect the reliable suburban monotony we all have, then reinterpret the past by making it palatable, funny and comical.
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| Sarah Adams, 'lil' one I love you', 2005. Black and white photograph, digitally manipulated. |
"I use images of people and references to places that are significant to me and model sculptural forms on much loved objects from my childhood."
Among the works on display are metre-square photographs of facades of the prefabricated 'Stawell' houses, which were among the first such houses to be built in Australia in the 1940s and '50s, and are still in abundance in Moe.
Ms Adams also has several mixed-media works in the gallery comprising stained wallpaper sourced from opportunity shops, as well as text, tapestry, items sewn from calico material and pieces knitted from strips of vinyl and plastic.
For further information, visit the Switchback Gallery website.
20 July 2005
Monash is playing a key role in the newly formed National Centre for Language Training, which will provide customised language and cross-cultural training courses for Australian businesses involved in international trade.
The centre is a consortium of Australian universities and TAFE institutes and is funded through the Department of Education, Science and Training.
It will provide services including language and cultural readiness assessments, short courses in practical business language, immersion-training programs for staff and management, as well as seminars and workshops on cultural awareness and intercultural communications and negotiations.
The centre is based at the University of New South Wales with branches at several universities and TAFEs, including Monash.
The Monash convenor, Ms Sally Staddon from the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, said Mandarin would be the first in a series of intensive weekend language courses to be offered by the university.
The first course is scheduled for 17 and 18 September. Courses in English covering intercultural communication and doing business in China would follow in October.
"Monash has one of the largest language schools in the country, and this is a terrific opportunity to promote its expertise," Ms Staddon said.
"Through the centre, Monash will be able to offer something that most individual education institutions and private language schools and consultants really can't. Our Chinese studies program is highly regarded and successful, and the staff have strong links with China, which will be of enormous benefit to business."
Ms Staddon said the courses were designed to appeal to businesses exporting, or planning to export, to China, as well as those involved in tourism and education that were seeking to enter the international marketplace.
The other partners in the centre are Curtin University of Technology, Griffith University, the University of New South Wales, the University of South Australia, TAFE NSW and the Australian TAFE Consortium.
20 July 2005
Dr Margaret Gearon of the Faculty of Education has won an inaugural international prize for her leadership in language education in Australia.
The senior lecturer received the International Federation of Teachers of Modern Languages Certificate of Honour, from the Lieutenant Governor of Victoria, Lady Southey AM.
Dr Gearon, who is president of the Modern Language Teachers Association of Victoria, received the award for her outstanding contribution to the quality of language teaching and learning, and professional development and contributions to policy. She lectures in languages education at the Clayton campus and is a former teacher of French and Italian.
The certificate was presented at the national conference of the Modern Language Teachers Association of Australia in Melbourne earlier this month.
The award recognises the 15 years of work Dr Gearon has undertaken with teachers in mainstream and community language schools.
She said she has more work ahead of her. "I will look at more innovative and creative ways of providing creative and professional development to teachers of languages," Dr Gearon said.
20 July 2005
A Koori smoking ceremony signaled the opening last week of the new offices of Monash's School of Rural Health's Bendigo Regional Clinical School.
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| From left, Mr Allardice and Mr Sam Kerr, from the Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-op and Dja Dja Wrung. |
The school's regional manager Mr Graham Allardice said the ceremony at the new offices in Lister House acknowledged the Koori stewardship of the land for many centuries.
"The Koori had the care of the land entrusted to them in a somewhat similar manner to the way in which our school has been entrusted with helping in the medical care of the people of this region," he said.
Lister House is the new administrative centre for the School of Rural Health and the Bendigo Regional Clinical School.
About 25 academic and general staff, including the head of the School of Rural Health, Professor Geoff Solarsh, will be based at the premises.
The Bendigo Regional Clinical School is part of a State and Federal Government initiative to make medical education in rural locations more accessible to students.
In the longer term we hope students will learn that medical practice in a regional or rural setting is a viable option for their careers, Mr Allardice said.
"To encourage this, some students already spend a portion of their clinical years in rural settings including the Bendigo Health Care Group and GP practices in Bendigo and towns such as Swan Hill, Kerang and Castlemaine."
20 July 2005
Monash Master of Fine Art student Deborah Bain-King is one of six emerging artists, and the only Victorian, selected to exhibit works at the Fresh exhibition sponsored by the Sydney Art on Paper Fair.
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| Fresh emerging artist and Monash postgraduate student Ms Deborah Bain-King. |
Possible inclusion in the Fresh exhibition is open to students across Australia who have recently completed, or are undertaking, postgraduate studies in visual or fine arts. Artists eligible to enter must use paper as an integral element of their work.
The exhibition provides an opportunity for emerging artists such as Ms Bain-King to exhibit alongside major Australian and international artists and to network with industry contacts.
Ms Bain-King completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (honours) at the Caulfield campus in 2004, and won an Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship to study for her Master of Fine Art (Research) degree.
Her winning submission, 'Deborah moves to Windsor', is a three-dimensional work on paper, cut and shaped from a double-sided digital print, then allowed to unravel.
"The inspiration for my work came when I moved from Upwey to Windsor to be nearer to Monash," Ms Bain-King said.
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| Deborah Bain-King, 'Deborah moves to Windsor', 2005, digital print on cartridge paper, 30cm x 10cm x 6cm. |
"The images on one side reflect the familiar and dependable everyday objects that accompany you when you move home such as a lamp, teapot and chair. The other side shows the unfamiliar, which reflects the new environment when the destination is achieved."
Mr Leslie Eastman, Department of Fine Arts lecturer and Ms Bain-King's supervisor, commended her selection.
"Deb is an original thinker who is very interested in cultural and psychological boundaries," Mr Eastman said. "This is a great opportunity for her to build a profile and have her work viewed by the wider arts community."
The Sydney Art on Paper Fair, established in 1989, is a biennial international event that specialises in, and promotes, works on paper.
Ms Bain-King's work will be on show at the Byron Kennedy Hall, Moore Park, Sydney from 27 to 31 July.
20 July 2005
Monash University's top management students were honoured last week in the Department of Management's annual student awards.
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Mr Barry Goldman receiving his award from Associate Dean Education, Faculty of Business and Economics Professor Tony Dingle. |
The awards at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne recognised the efforts of 21 undergraduate and 14 graduate students.
The top undergraduate and masters students were also announced, with awards going to Mr Barry Goldman and Mr David Mitchell respectively.
Mr Goldman, who graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Accounting)/Bachelor of Business (Management), also won the prize of top graduating student in his degree, sponsored by former head of the Department of Management Dr John Miller AO. He also shared the award for top student in the Strategic Management unit, the capstone unit in his degree.
Mr Mitchell's award was sponsored by the Grand Hyatt Melbourne. He was also recognised as the top graduating student in the Master of Management, a prize sponsored by Monyx.
The head of the Department of Management, Professor Julian Teicher, said the awards celebrated the academic achievements of management students in 2004 and the excellence of the staff who taught them.
"The Department of Management strives for excellence in teaching and research," he said.
"We do this by collaboration. We listen to our 'stakeholders', especially our students.
"The outstanding results obtained by the students is an example of how this works and displays the commitment of both the students and staff in the department."
"We are extremely proud of our students and look forward to them continuing their successes throughout their careers," Professor Teicher said.
Sponsors of the awards include The Grand Hyatt Melbourne, ANZ Bank, Australian Conservation Foundation, Australian Institute of Management, DaimlerChrysler, Greyhound Racing Victoria, GM Holden, John Wiley & Sons, McGraw Hill, Monyx, Palgrave Macmillan, Pearson Education Australia, Thomson and Work/Life Association Incorporated.