On 4 January 1994, Professor Zenon J. Pudlowski took up the post of Associate Professor, Director of the then UNESCO Supported International Centre for Engineering Education (USICEE) and Associate Dean (Engineering Education) in the Faculty of Engineering at Monash University in Melbourne. During the 900 km journey from Sydney to Melbourne by car and on his arrival at Monash University, he gradually felt like he was approaching and landing in another world. Coming from the sand stone buildings of Jagiellonian University of Cracow (established in 1364) and the colonial-era University of Sydney, he immediately knew that Monash was a distinctively different university in terms of its infrastructure, its mentality and its culture. A lot has changed since that day. In particular, Monash’s physical infrastructure has been improved substantially, and the University has become a progressive, modern and vibrant institution. The recently-snapped picture shows a new and impressive building at Monash University.

His work, innovative activities and determination resulted in UNESCO granting the USICEE the status of a fully-fledged UNESCO centre with the name of the UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education (UICEE) in 1997, and Monash appointing him as a Professorial Fellow in February 2000. After 15 successful years, the University’s management unexpectedly usurped the Centre's substantial savings, leading to the loss of staff and, finally, the Centre's closure. Professor Pudlowski spent the next five years in an honorary position as an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, initially at the Monash Asia Institute, and later, in the Faculty of Arts. This has allowed him to finalise the supervision of three doctorates (PhDs) and one Master of Engineering Science by Research (MESc) that commenced during the final years of the UICEE.

After this long period of 20 years service to Monash University, Professor Pudlowski decided not to seek an extension of his appointment. Friends and colleagues who used to correspond with him using his Monash e-mail address are kindly asked to send their messages to his WIETE e-mail address: zenon.pudlowski@wiete.com.au