Melba Group Luncheon in February

The first Melba luncheon club meeting of the year featured Professor Kate White as speaker. Kate was a co-founder of Melba Club which is a networking group for women of diverse backgrounds interested in social and professional issues.

She was also a one-time student resident of Graduate House and was married from Graduate House.

Kate is an Adjunct Professor at Federation University and has had a decades long career in gender leadership in Higher Education. She has co-edited four books on this topic for the network: Women in Higher Education Management ( WHEM ) of which she was co- founder and director from 2007 to 2022. This network now has representatives from fourteen countries.

The statistics she presented on women’s participation in higher education are alarming. While 50% of Universities population is female, women occupy 66.4% of professional administration, 44.7% of academic staff, but only 20.5% of vicechancellor positions.

Kate outlined multiple factors influencing this under representation, from the personal choice of some women to more satisfactorily combine work and family, to the finding that some University managers actively ignore gender inclusion policies.

She said that some managers are unsupportive of flexible work practices, particularly the requirement to travel between campuses at regional universities, while many women dislike the present blokey, cutthroat, organisational culture.

The meeting ended with a lively discussion on the issues she had raised, and also a very interesting anecdote by Kate on her choir connections for the name Melba Club.

by Elizabeth Owen

Join our committee today - we have 3 vacancies!

If you are interested in being part of the Student committee, talk to us or write to us at gradhousestudentgroup@gmail.com.

The following vacancies are available:

Secretary - The Secretary is responsible for taking minutes during meetings and circulating them among members. They also design the agenda for committee meetings and remind members of things that need to be discussed.

Sports Coordinator - The Sports Coordinator is responsible for organizing sports events for Graduate House members, ideally, at least one per month. Anyone who is enthusiastic and passionate about sport is strongly encouraged to run for this position.

Publicity Coordinator - The Publicity Coordinator is responsible for advertising events to Graduate House members. From making posters to promoting events on social media, we need a creative mind and keen salesperson to share the committee’s ideas and initiatives with residents.

The newly elected Student Committee 2023 (so far):

• President - Claudia Arce Ojeda

• Vice President - Vitoria Hagemann Cauduro

• Treasurer - Martin Veron

• Events Coordinator - Johanna Palazuelos-Krukowski

• Secretary - vacant

• Sports Coordinator - vacant

• Publicity Coordinator - vacant