WELCOME ADDRESS BY MR JOHNNY TAN, NUSS PRESIDENT

AT CELEBRATORY DINNER
29 OCTOBER 2010, 7.30PM, KENT RIDGE GUILD HOUSE

Fellow NUSS Members

Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Welcome
A very good evening to all and thank you so much for joining us this evening.
Tonights dinner is specially organised to celebrate the achievements of our members who are recipients
of this years National Day Awards; as well as to welcome our senior Members who have become Life
Members this year.
To our National Day Award recipients, our heartiest congratulations --- and I hope your actions and
achievements will inspire more to go beyond the call of duty and step forward to serve our society and
our nation. We are proud to have you as our members.
I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to our new life members. You have joined an elite
group of members who have helped contribute to the progress of NUSS in the past 25 years. NUSS
would not have grown to become what it is today without members like yourself.
And on this note, I would like to say, Thank You!
Happenings at NUSS
2010 has so far been another exciting year for us. I thought I should take this opportunity to give you a
brief update on what has been happening at NUSS, just in case you have not been following our
developments in recent months.
Membership
1. We embarked on an island-wide membership recruitment campaign before our membership
entrance fee increased from $4,000 to $10,000 in March this year. The campaign was a
resounding success as we recruited close to 1,000 members in the early part of the year. Our
total membership has officially crossed the 15,500 mark, reaffirming our position as the largest
graduate society in Singapore.

NUSS Awards
2. In April, we hosted our Annual Appreciation Night to acknowledge and thank members for their
contributions and services to NUSS, NUS and the wider community. A major highlight of the
evening was the conferment of the Societys Honorary Membership on Dr Tony Tan in
recognition of his many and distinguished contributions in public service as well as to NUS and
NUSS.
On the same evening, two newly created awards the Distinguished Member Award and the
Outstanding Member Award were presented out to four deserving members. We will be giving
out these awards again in the early part of next year and Mr. Gerard Ee will continue to be the
Chairman of the Judging Panel.
You will soon be receiving the nomination form together with your monthly SOA. I urge you to
support his initiative and nominate suitable candidates for these awards. The nomination form
is also available on our NUSS website.
S & R Complex Opening
3. The opening of the Sports and Recreation facilities at Kent Ridge Guild House in June was
officiated by NUS President, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan. Close to 1,000 members and their
families and friends joined in the celebration.
This marked the completion of the entire redevelopment of Kent Ridge Guild House. I
encourage you to take a tour of our sports complex after dinner if you have not already visited
the facilities.
Together with our other existing facilities at Suntec City, Bukit Timah and Adam Park, NUSS is
well positioned to cater to the varied needs of our 15,500 members and the wider graduate
community.
Partnership with NUS
4. Over the years, NUSS has had the good fortune of receiving strong support and encouragement
from the University for which we are most grateful. We have responded by giving back to NUS
and the alumni community whenever appropriate, by way of financial contributions and
synergistic partnerships.
This year, among other things, we set up the NUSS Medal for Outstanding Achievement. The
Medal is aimed at recognising achievements beyond academic excellence and will be presented
yearly to each of the 14 schools/faculties. The Medal winners much have proven track records

of active participation in student activities and impactful contributions in community service and
voluntary work, preferably in leadership capacities.
And as part of our CSR towards the environment, we collaborated with the NUS School of
Design and Environment in July to establish the NUSS Scholarship for the Master of
Environment Management. Two scholarships will be awarded to deserving students enrolled in
the programme.
We will continue to work together with NUS to advance the Universitys vision of becoming a
leading global university centred in Asia.
At this juncture, as most of us here have benefitted from our education at NUS, I would like to
appeal to you to actively lend your support to the University and NUSS in whatever ways you
can, and help build a stronger University and alumni community that we can all be proud of.
Caring for the Community
5. Community service is also becoming an integral part of our NUSS culture.
Among other things, NUSS collaborated with the South West Community Development Council
to launch the NUSS Groceries on Wheels in July this year. Thanks to the generosity of our
members, sponsors and help from some 450 volunteers, the event was a resounding success as
we delivered more than 2,000 grocery bags to needy households in the district and St. Lukes
Hospital.
Every year, we also organise Chinese New Year Lo Hei celebration for residents in old age homes
and invite the less privileged children to our Childrens Day Party. We also support beneficiaries
from the Boys Brigade Sharity Gift Boxs project by adopting wishes in the Adopt-A-Wish
programme.
Engaging the Young
6. In a bid to reach out to the younger and wider graduate community, we have set up our very
own social networking site, nuss.meetingplace.com.sg, aimed at providing an online platform for
our younger graduates and undergraduates to interact with one another as well as exchange
ideas and insights on current and pertinent issues. The response so far has been very
encouraging.
We have also created an online job connect portal (nussLINK) within nuss.meetingplace.com.sg
to proactively connect our members and the graduate community to career opportunities
targeted at graduates. We have also organised a number of off-site job connect events which
were very well received. The latest of such events focused on Engineering and Technology was
held last month and attracted close to 200 participants.

We are also on Facebook and Twitter , with groups set up for the Society and the various F&B
outlets in our Guild Houses so members have an extra channel to get updated on our latest F&B
promotions and events.
Intellectual Pursuit
7. In our continued efforts to grow NUSS as an intellectual body, we actively promote intellectual
discourse among our members. We continue to invite our politicians, ministers, ambassadors
and leaders from the academic world, business sector and social service organisations to share
their insight into and stimulate discussion on topics relevant to our members and our society as
a whole.
Early this month, we had a Ministerial Dialogue with Dr Yaacob Ibrahim who shared with
members about Singapores Approach to Environmental Sustainability.
And just last evening, we had our Meet-the-Ambassador series where His Excellency David
Sevigny, High Commissioner of Canada, discussed about Canadas Changing Asian Priorities and
its relations with Singapore. Both sessions were very well received and if you have yet to attend
any of such events, I encourage you to do so in the future.
Zest for Life Programme
8. We are also actively promoting lifelong learning and have recently recast our existing
programme as Zest for Life Programme covering a more comprehensive and expanded range
of courses, workshops and activities. Zest for Life is developed around five pillars Culture &
Community, Intellectual, Kids, Lifestyle and Wellness.
All of you would have received the brochure, titled ZEST, together with your latest issue of The
Graduate and I encourage all of you to support and participate in this new programme.
Closing
9. Well I think I have spoken long enough and I do not wish to be accused of making long speeches
again. Before I leave you to enjoy your dinner, I would like to once again, congratulate all our
National Day Awards recipients, and welcome our new Life Members.
10. Thank You, and Bon Apptit!