“Now we get a lot of students from Business and Economics, which reflects the growth of enrolments in that area.”īoth reflect that the issues graduate students faced in the 1990s were not that different from now. “We used to get a lot of students from Arts wanting to join our committee,” says Jenny. There were very few graduate coursework degrees in the ‘90s, so the team supported a student community made up of mostly research students. When Jenny went on maternity leave, Zuzana applied for her position temporarily and then never left. She was a graduate student herself, half way through her Master of Laws. Zuzana joined the team a few years later in 1993. However, Jenny says, these conditions actually gave the staff and committee a feeling of camaraderie and the impetus to lobby hard to promote the needs of the graduate student community. The four staff members were squashed into a tiny office space where chairs had to be moved every time someone needed to get out of the office. “There were only three other staff members: a Project Officer who started on the same day as me a secretary, and a wonderful Executive Officer Margaret Sloan, who was one of the most passionate, ethical and dedicated people I have ever met, and from whom I learned a lot about persistence, lobbying, integrity and kindness.”Īt the time, the organisation was woefully under-funded and under-resourced. Jokes aside, Jenny reflects what the organisation was like when she began as a part-time Off-Campus Development Officer when it was known as the Monash Postgraduate Association (MPA). Jenny adds, “and can we please just forget the shoulder pads, shiny materials and crimped hair… forever?” “Back when the MGA was called Mesopotamian Student Association.” “That was in the pre-Cambrian era,” jokes Zuzana. When it comes to understanding the evolution of the organisation for at least half of those sixty years, there are no better people to ask than two of our longest-serving staff members: current MGA Executive Officer Jenny Reeder, who began in 1991, and Senior Advocate Zuzana Quinn who started in 1993. Now, after many executive committees, staff transitions, lobbying campaigns and a few name changes, we are still going strong as the Monash Graduate Association and this year, we are proud to celebrate 60 years supporting graduate students at Monash University. Academic, General & Research Misconductīack in 1961, a small group of Monash graduate research students saw a need to start up an organisation that would shine a light on the specific needs of graduate students.Off-campus and Distance Education Officer.Vice-President & Caulfield Representative.