Please enter your username and password to log in:
SVM Inaugural Graduation Ceremony
The School of Volunteer Management held its inaugural gradation ceremony on Wednesday, 3 September to acknowledge the hard work, commitment and achievements of its Accredited Course students who recently met the requirements of their diploma of certificate courses.
The achievements of the following four graduates were acknowledged at the ceremony:
|
|
Guest of Honour at the graduation was Professor Tracy Taylor, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Faculty of Business, University of Technology Sydney. Professor Taylor is a member of the Schools Advisory Committee and, until recently, was a board member of The Centre for Volunteering. In her address to the graduates Professor Taylor said:
"Graduation is a time-honoured process of certification, ceremony and celebration. I join everyone here today to offer my warmest congratulations to you, the graduate, and wish you well for the future. I also extend my congratulations to parents, friends and families who have supported you through your studies
This afternoon we gather to mark the official celebration of your academic achievement - I have some thoughts I'd like to share as you.
An insightful Chinese proverb states, ‘A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
The learning you achieved in your study is paramount and demonstrated that you have mastered a body of knowledge and a practice of analysis and action that will make you effective business leaders.
Think about how you will use your skills in examining new angles, challenging assumptions. The certificate is a recognised and valued brand and you now possess a higher set of skills, and a broad knowledge gained from your study, analysis and experimentation. However, ‘True learning’ that will give the credential of your degree lasting value requires ethical and thoughtful application.
Currently over 40 percent of fulltime employees work more than 45 hours a week. This is contrary to all the predictions in the 1970s. My generation were told we would experience a ‘leisured society’ where our key challenge was going to be how to spend all this extra leisure time we would find ourselves with; however, reality proved quite different.
Juliet Schor, a Harvard economist, in her book, ‘The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure’, says that each year our work year increases by one day. Working hours are longer today - not shorter - than they were 40 years ago. Schor notes that we are willing victims of this erosion of leisure as we pursue promotions, bigger salaries, and conspicuous consumption.
Countries today with the highest average work hours are also those with the highest overall levels of television-watching. When time is scarce, it is harder to commit to more active types of leisure activity which, while they may be more personally satisfying, also require much more time, planning, and skill.
This has implications for volunteering - an area that competes for an individual’s leisure time – but there is always a way to turn a challenge into an opportunity.
The practice of volunteering requires more than substantive knowledge of the how of volunteering—how do you maximise involvement, increase participation, design effective strategy and management solutions, for example. As a leader you must also have a firm grasp on the why of volunteering—why and for whom we do what we do in the sphere of volunteering.
Volunteering is essentially about serving others and about making their lives better – and it is about service and trust and morality.
Your academic work must take place against the backdrop of this reality. By the privilege of your education, you will become stewards of the global social economy. That system must be inclusive, enhancing opportunities for everyone on the social scale.
In offering my final congratulations I urge you to honour your commitments as a member of this community and to the great responsibility we all bear for the future of our global community."
The next graduation is planned for early in 2009, most probably in March or early April. Details of the graduation will be advertised on the Schools website.
