Committee Positions
President
The President is responsible for the overall running of MESS. They set the direction for the society's development and growth and oversee the running of the Executive and, by extension the Portfolios. They are also the primary representative of the society to external stakeholders including MSA Clubs and Societies, the Faculty, other University bodies and sometimes external bodies. Ultimately, the President needs to have a vision and a plan for how MESS can be the best club that it can be.
Vice President
The Vice President is also responsible for the smooth operation of MESS as a whole. They work closely with the President to ensure the development and growth of MESS, and assist with anything that is outside any of the other portfolios. They are the secondary representative of the society to external stakeholders and require in-depth knowledge of MESS and its operations. The Vice President also oversees the General Portfolio, consisting of the two General Representatives, the First-Year Representatives, as well as any sub-committees that are formed within MESS.
Treasurer
The Treasurer ensures the financial viability and compliance of the club to help ensure MESS can function as the great club it is. This includes budgeting, approving expenditure, managing income, grants, and completing two audits annually. Additionally, they have a valuable role in the executive decision making of the club and liaise with Clubs and Societies, our overseeing body.
Secretary
The Secretary is responsible for ensuring MESS is an organised society that is compliant with its own Rules of Association and the MSA Clubs & Societies (C&S) body. Their tasks include scheduling and minuting executive and council meetings, managing MESS’ general correspondence, and keeping our membership register up to date.
Academic Director
The Academic Director oversees the MESS Academic Portfolio, including the Academic Affairs Officer, Education Officer and 2 x Mentorship Coordinators. This involves advising and monitoring the progress of the members of the Academic Portfolio, acting as a member of the executive committee, acting as the student representative of the Engineering Education Committee and ensuring that MESS is offering academic support where it is needed.
Industry Director
The Industry Director leads the MESS Industry Portfolio, comprising the Careers Guide Coordinators and Industry Officers. The responsibilities of this role include providing MESS members with high quality industry events, leading and organising MESS' annual sponsorship drive and ensuring healthy relationships with our industry partners.
Marketing Director
The Marketing Director manages our Marketing Portfolio of 4 Marketing Officers and our Publications Officer. The responsibilities of this role include managing our social media platforms, including our website, promoting all events held by other portfolios, communications with our members and, expanding our audience and outreach to promote MESS and our mission to as many students as possible.
Social Director
The Social Director oversees the Social Portfolio of the Major Events, BBQs & Activities and Camps Coordinators, to ensure MESS offers brilliant social events for our members. They also organise two minor events throughout the year. The minor events are typically a Trivia Night and a Bingo Night, one in each semester. There's a lot of room for new ideas in this position.
Wellbeing & Equity Director
The Wellbeing & Equity (W&E) Director leads the W&E Portfolio composed of 2 W&E Officers. The responsibilities of this role include assisting in the of organisation our ‘Destress with Mess’ events, running and managing our MessyTalks Podcast, collecting and distributing helpful resources to our members and promoting a safe and healthy space for all Monash students.
Academic Portfolio
Academic Affairs Officer
The Academic Affairs Officer supports Engineering students inside the classroom, by designing, coordinating and running the mid-semester feedback survey across the Faculty and helping students resolve academic complaints and grievances. A big part of the role is liaising with Faculty and Department staff to implement initiatives and represent students where needed.
Education Officer
The Education Officer supports students outside the classroom, by increasing the availability of academic resources to all Engineering students, especially for those who are new to university. They also organise our annual Education Guide, the First Year Specialisation Selection Seminar in September, study sessions and other academic events.
FaME Coordinators
The two FaME (Friends and Mentors in Engineering) Coordinators oversee the mentorship program for first year Engineering students. As FaME Coordinator, your role is to organise and oversee the program and work with the Senior Mentors. Please note this position is elected through an interview process shortly after the MESS AGM in September.
Industry Portfolio
Careers Guide Coordinators
The Careers Guide Coordinator is responsible for the end-to-end production of the annual MESS Careers Guide, a 100+ page publication which contains information such as company advertisements, opportunities available at Monash, advice on jobs and resumes, and other useful content for Engineering students. They will work extensively with the designer, and with multiple internal and external contacts (within Monash and the MESS Sponsorship Team, across different companies/industry partners, with printers/publishers, etc.). They will also organise the annual Careers Guide Launch event, a networking event in March with the industry partner firms featured in the Guide.
Industry Officers
The two Industry Officers work with the Industry Director to handle MESS’ sponsorships. They maintain relationships with trusted sponsors and source new sponsors who are an asset to our members. The Industry Officers also organise our major Industry events such as Beers With Engineers and Industry Showcase.
Marketing Portfolio
Marketing Officers
The Marketing Officers coordinate MESS social media, email and website marketing activities. This includes the creation of social media events, social media posts, website maintenance and email newsletter distribution. Each of our four Marketing Officers are assigned to one of our event portfolios to manage the marketing of their events and communicate with our Publications Officer.
Publications Officer
The Publications Officer designs and produces any visual graphics required for Facebook events, social media posts, posters and newsletters. They work closely with all Portfolios and marketing officers to ensure MESS’ events, publications and communications with members are engaging and eye-catching.
Social Portfolio
Major Events Coordinators
The Major Events Coordinators are responsible for organising and running the largest social events of the year, including The O-week party, the infamous Cocktail Night and MESS Ball. This involves correspondence with venues and deciding everything from theme to DJs to decorations, as well as promoting your events and making sure everything meets Monash policy and OHS requirements.
Camps Coordinators
The Camps Coordinators’ role is to organise and run the MESS Orientation Camp, for first year Engineering students. This includes keeping in contact with the venue, booking buses and other equipment needed, planning lots of fun activities to do, and ordering food for everybody. It also involves finding volunteers and ensuring that the Camp meets safety and OHS requirements, as well as falling in line with University policy.
BBQ and Activities Coordinators
The BBQs and Activities Coordinators are responsible for running MESS’ on campus BBQs, as well as any other MESS social events that occur on campus during a normal university day. These include Welcome Back BBQs at the start of each semester and ticket launches for MESS’ major events. The organisation of a BBQ includes sourcing all the necessary supplies, providing the food and drink for patrons and ensuring that the BBQs comply with Monash policy and food safety requirements.
Wellbeing & Equity Portfolio
Wellbeing & Equity Officers
The Wellbeing & Equity Officers are responsible for carrying out the mission of W&E and ensuring a safe and happy community for our members. They work closely with the W&E Director to run events and initiatives with a focus on promoting mental health and celebrating diversity within engineering. They also assist with the creation and management of our MessyTalks Podcast.
Treasury Portfolio
Assistant Treasurer
The Assistant Treasurer assists the operations of the Treasurer, and manages the grants given to MESS throughout the year. Grants reduce MESS’ expenditure, making for better events and opportunities. They also organise merchandise creation and distribution.
General Portfolio
General Representatives
The General Representatives work to support and offer help to all the different portfolios of MESS. This can include, working within the sponsorship team and organising industry, academic and social events.
First-year Representatives
Similar to General Representatives, First-year Representatives are there to offer support wherever is needed to the MESS committee. These are the only positions elected at our OGM in March.