Partnership Formed: with young professionals

In April 08, the Premier of South Australia Mr. Rann attended the launch of an exciting new partnership between Carnegie Mellon Heinz School Australia and a volunteer group from the public sector known as ‘Oxygen’. Described as the first of its kind in Australia – Oxygen is a ‘virtual village’ for young professionals in the public sector. Stemming from the tagline “a breath of fresh air” Oxygen taps into the trends of social networking and work-life integration and attempts to encourage innovative thinking through its informal management structure and philosophy of open participation and personal responsibility.

At the network event, held at the Carnegie Mellon campus in Victoria Square, Adelaide, Mr. Rann described the collaboration as “…providing the perfect fit with the vision outlined in the SA Strategic Plan, about improving the overall level of skills. Now our commitment is to a more collaborative and outward looking Public Sector and is further strengthened by this partnership between Oxygen and Carnegie Mellon”.

Ania Karzek from the Oxygen Management Team further explains that Oxygen is a “Virtual village for its young public sector employees and the Oxygen website provides an ideal vehicle for young professionals to share knowledge and ideas, voice their opinions, take part in discussions, and connect with their peers”.

Carnegie Mellon has agreed to support Oxygen on many levels, including providing opportunities for SA public servants to access the expertise of CMU students to assist in project work, and collaboration on special events such as high calibre speakers and visiting CMU (US) faculty. Alison Harris (Careers Manager) at Carnegie Mellon Heinz School Australia) said that “she was impressed by the number of Oxygen members who attended the launch and that she looked forward to supporting Oxygen in future events”.

In his closing speech to Oxygen members Mr. Rann said “I want to commend Carnegie Mellon to you…. and really encourage people whom are making moves up the public service chain to get involved with their Public Policy course. It’s big tick against your future career.”

To view the Premier's speech, click here http:\\202.158.217.15\heinz\oxygen.wmv or for more information about Oxygen visit their website www.oxygen.sa.gov.au

In this photo: Premier of SA Mike Rann and current CMU student Fahad Zulfiqar. Centre: Michael Meynell-James (DWLBC)