WAITE, David

Ballarat University College

David Waite graduated from the Ballarat University College with a BA (Phys Ed) in 1991. In 1994 he was announced as the Volleyball Team Australia Best Player.

On Wednesday, 2 May 2001, the Ballarat Courier announced UB's decision to award an honorary Doctorate to Steve Moneghetti. The headline on its front page read:

"DR MONA - In many different ways, Steve Moneghetti has played an important role in our community. This week we salute him, first with a celebration dinner and then with an Honorary Doctorate. "In an accompanying interview, Mona expressed (in his usual modest way) the hope that he was being given the honour in recognition of the fact that he was a normal person who had worked very hard to fully realise the potential he was born with. "I am not that academically intelligent, but I am good at utilising the resources around me. I fit a lot into my day." However, his long-time coach Chris Wardlaw offered another more commonly held opinion: "Mona is an intelligent guy. It's pretty hard to be that good at anything - poet, runner or chess player without having some basic intelligence." Wardlaw credited Mona's intelligence with his success in running before learning of UB's decision to award him an honorary Doctorate. UB's decision to present an honorary Doctorate to Moneghetti also recognised the excellent ongoing working relationship it continues to enjoy with him.

The University is proud of the achievements of many of its graduates who have like Mona, joined the ranks of the world's most acclaimed and successful individuals, personally and professionally.

This biography compiled by Di Campbell, 2 January 2006