Penn State hosts strategic partner university’s president

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State welcomed President and Vice-Chancellor Margaret Gardner of Monash University on Sept. 13.

The visit was coordinated by Penn State Global and the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research and cemented the already strong strategic partnership between the two universities, culminating in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between President Neeli Bendapudi and President Margaret Gardner.

The visit entailed meetings with the Penn State Provost and Senior VP for Research, Penn State deans, directors of Penn State’s interdisciplinary institutes, and Penn State Global, in order to discuss synergies and collaborative goals in research, education and service.

“We were delighted to host Monash President and Vice Chancellor Gardner,“ said Jenni Evans, director of the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences. “Throughout her visit she highlighted new opportunities for our researchers and students through shared university resources and external engagement.”

The two universities have successfully collaborated for many years and have enjoyed a multi-faceted connectivity between faculty and students. To increase the impact of this active collaboration, the two universities agreed to work toward a university-level strategic partnership in late 2017 (penn-state-welcomes-monash-university-guests-university-park-forum). 

The first significant action towards this vision was a bilateral university workshop at Monash University in April 2018. A key outcome of this workshop was the creation of a Collaboration Development program to provide seed monies for establishing long-term programs for collaborations among faculty and junior researchers from both universities. 

Over the period 2018-22, outcomes from the Collaboration Development program have reinforced the value of this partnership. The seed monies resulted in a return on investment of almost 10:1, securing joint external support for research across a wide range of areas. Meetings among university leadership in 2019 and 2020 affirmed the value of these research endeavors and expressed the joint interest investing towards a more encompassing partnership.

The strategic priorities of Monash University and Penn State highlight research and cultural synergies between the two universities which can be summarized under the umbrella of Global Challenges: Climate Change (Stewarding our Planet’s Resources); Thriving Communities (Precision Health in Context); Geopolitical Security (National Security); and AI and Data Science (Empowering through Digital Innovation). 

The shared prioritization to a wide range of medical research, and to collaborations across Law and Business schools are also noteworthy. A common commitment to the student educational experience and to staff training and development are additional elements of the shared intellectual culture of the two universities. Throughout President Gardner’s visit, meetings underlined support for these global challenges and commitment to capitalize on the two universities‘ expertise.

“Over the last few years, I have committed to building a university-level partnership between Penn State and Monash University, my alma mater in Australia,” said Evans. “The intellectual vibrancy and the culture of these two universities are so well aligned, and their strategic priorities reflect a common vision towards building a vibrant society, so that building this partnership is natural.”

“It was wonderful hosting President Gardner here and be able to celebrate our joint successes, while at the same time, looking ahead to what we can do together. There is a reason we call Monash University a strategic partner, given the synergies, but also support [and] enjoy the partnership from throughout the universities. For a strategic partnership to exist, we depend on such a strong endorsement by leadership, faculty and staff,“ said Alexandra Persiko, assistant director for Europe and Oceania Partnerships.

The six years of joint workshops, faculty visits, seed-funded research and new educational initiatives have built strong ties between the two institutions, resulting in high levels of faculty excitement for the continuing partnership. Leadership discussions highlight the close alignment of institutional objectives and strategic priorities. The Monash partnership is clearly poised to move to the next level of strategic engagement.

“Monash University exemplifies the strategic partnerships we hope to build in regions around the world for Penn State,“ said Sabine Klahr, associate vice provost for Penn State Global. “We are grateful for Vice Chancellor Gardner dedicating her time and financial resources to continue to expand collaborations between our universities.“

For more information on the Penn State-Monash partnership, contact Alexandra Persiko at axp1225@psu.edu.