pResIdent’s MessAge Dear Fellow Members, Season’s greetings! I hope you had a good time over the festive holidays and are looking forward to the New Year. The last quarter of 2009 has been eventful for <strong>NUSS</strong>. We continued to build upon Intellectual Pursuit initiatives. In October, Professor Tan Eng Chye, NUS provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs), shared with our members on the challenges faced by NUS, and how the education at the University has evolved over the years. In November, we had the privilege of hosting His Excellency, Dato’ Md Hussin Nayan, High Commissioner of Malaysia to Singapore, as part of the Meet-The-Ambassador Series. The session with His Excellency was enlightening, as the topics centred upon issues faced by both Singapore and Malaysia. If you missed out on these dialogues, you will be pleased to know that there will be an upcoming dialogue with Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence on 22 January. In this session, Dr Ng will discuss the future of Singapore’s education. I am sure many of us will be keen to hear him speak. We had two significant sporting events in the last quarter. In October, we saw the finale of the ITIS-<strong>NUSS</strong> Games held at Singapore Polytechnic. This bi-annual event involves <strong>NUSS</strong>, NUS, NTU and other tertiary organisations in Singapore. In the same month, we hosted the 24th <strong>NUSS</strong>-PAUM games where our sporting members and Persatuan Alumni University of Malaya (PAUM) competed in seven different sporting events. Even though PAUM emerged the overall champion, the games were a great way to maintain the close ties between the Society and PAUM. On 5 November, we organised a special dinner with <strong>NUSS</strong> members who were recipients of the National Day Award 2009, to acknowledge their contributions to the nation. I am also pleased to announce the creation of two special <strong>NUSS</strong> awards, the Distinguished Member Award and the Outstanding Member Award, to recognise members who have contributed to <strong>NUSS</strong> as well as the society at large. The judging panel will be chaired by Mr Gerard Ee, <strong>NUSS</strong> Advisory Panel Member and I look forward to receiving your nominations of fellow members for these awards. We constantly try to reach out to the wider graduate community outside of <strong>NUSS</strong>. Through initiatives by the iConnect Sub-Committee and www.nuss.meetingplace. com.sg, we hope to engage this segment through relevant and interesting programs and events. At the last networking event themed ‘Prime for the Upturn’, held at Union Bar on 24 November, the feedback and turnout was very promising, and we hope to organise more of such functions in the near future. It is also our desire to support worthy causes. The Sails for Smiles fundraising dinner event on 13 November was organised in support of two NUS medical students, Jiang Lei and Yee Onn participating in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 09-10. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports honoured us with his presence as Guest-of-Honour. An auction on the same evening also saw over $12,000 raised for Club Rainbow. We are touched by the sailors’ bravery in testing themselves against the elements and their passion to do good for the underprivileged. I certainly hope this will motivate many others to step forward and contribute to society. More details of the event are available on page 13 of this issue of The Graduate. We also met with <strong>NUSS</strong>U leaders to strengthen bonds with our future potential <strong>NUSS</strong> leaders. At the meeting, we announced the signing of an agreement with the National Youth Council (NYC) to start the NYC-<strong>NUSS</strong>: Singapore 2010-ChangeMakers Grant. Funded by NYC and SYOGOC, this grant will allow both NUS undergraduates and <strong>NUSS</strong> members under the age of 35 to apply for a subsidy of up to $4,000 for community activities that promote and celebrate the upcoming Youth Olympic Games. We believe this initiative will not only enable us to reach out to younger graduates and undergraduates, but also encourage further activities centred on Singapore’s biggest sporting event in 2010. Further details of the grant are also available on page 16 of this issue. Looking ahead to 2010, I wish to update you that difficult site conditions have resulted in a slight delay to the completion of Phase 2 of the KRGH Re-development. However the project committee has been working very hard to ensure that we obtain our TOP within the first quarter of 2010. The year ahead is filled with much hope and many opportunities for us to strive for ever greater achievements. Just like a family, we seek your support to stay connected with us. Let <strong>NUSS</strong> continue to be your ‘home away from home’. I wish everyone a Happy 2010 ahead and all our Chinese members a prosperous Lunar New Year! Johnny Tan President 0