PERFECT LIFT OFF FOR KEY FUND TELETHON 2009

The 2009 Keele Key Fund telephone campaign was launched this week and organisers report that promises and pledges are already above target.
 
Twenty-eight current students have been trained as callers for the University's third telethon campaign. Callers need communication skills and the ability to build relationships but, more importantly, they have to have genuine passion for Keele.

The Keele Key Fund offers a way for alumni to make a real difference to students and to the University. The aim is to strengthen links with Keele and share information as well as to invite contributions to the Keele Key Fund. Organisers, Fundraising Officer Robin Cross, and Alumni Officer John Easom, are delighted by the early responses of our alumni - not only in terms of donations but also for offers of support in other ways.

KEELE APPRENTICE IS ONE OF THE BEST

Third year electrical apprentice, Ashley Mollart, CFM Estates, has been named as one of the top apprentices in the country. Ashley has won a prestigious award for being assessed as 2nd place winner of the JTL West Midlands Apprentice of the Year

The JTL West Midland Regional Awards, honour the best electrical and plumbing apprentices in the region and Ashley has been assessed in the top 20 of 10,000 apprentices across England and Wales.

Each apprentice was assessed against the four key elements of the apprentice framework:
. Practical work on site
. Underpinning theory
. Key skills
. Industry test scores.

Ashley was presented with a plaque and cheque for £500 from JTL Chief Executive, Denis Hird, at Aston Villa Football Club.

NEW SCHOLARSHIPS TO FUND POSTGRADUATE COURSES FOR NORTH AMERICAN STUDENTS

Alumni Mark Hill (1974 Politics & Sociology) and Rick Levak (1971 History & Politics) hosted a beach party weekend in Del Mar, near San Diego, California to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the foundation of Keele.

The University was represented by Simon Morris (Secretary and Registrar), John Easom (Alumni Officer), Robin Cross (Fundraising Officer) and Annette Kratz (Head of Centre of International Exchanges and Development) and The North American Foundation for Keele University (NAFKU) was represented by several alumni Board members, including Neil Smith (President), Tim Gibbs, Mark Kalisch and Mark Hill.

The Keele team launched a new NAFKU Scholarships scheme, which will help to fund postgraduate courses for American and Canadian students at Keele. NAFKU has pledged to support annual awards of US$ 4,000 per scholar and an immediate $6,000 was raised at the reunion to launch the first scholarship in 2010. Further donations will be invited from other alumni in North America to extend the programme each year.

TELLING THE MANY STORIES OF DORA MONTEFIORE

Professor Karen Hunt, History, this week gave the latest lecture in the University's programme of Inaugural Lectures for 2009/2010. The title of her lecture was "Telling the many stories of Dora Montefiore (1851-1933): history and lifewriting".
 
She explored some of the issues that face the historian-biographer: not only how historical understanding can be enhanced through biography but also how the insights of the historian expand the possibilities of lifewriting. The curious relationship between history and lifewriting were explored by examining the life of suffragette, socialist, journalist and poet Dora Montefiore, and how the many stories of her life might be told.

Few remember Dora Montefiore but Professor Hunt's research rescues her from relative obscurity. Attending the lecture was Dora Montefiore's great grandson, Graham Broad, who presented Professor Hunt with a medal, which had belonged to his great grandmother, as a thank you for her work. The picture shows Professor Hunt receiving the medal from Mr Broad.

The other lectures in the series are:

Tuesday, 8 December 2009, Professor David Hoole, Biology, "From fish to chips: understanding fish diseases"; Tuesday, 16 February 2010, Professor David Maxwell, History, "Researching the Luba Soul: The Production of Colonial Knowledge in Belgian Congo"; Tuesday, 30 March 2010, Professor Coel Hellier, Astrophysics, "Discovering new planets"; Wednesday, 12 May 2010 Professor David Shepherd, "The Theory of Culture and the Culture of Theory".

BUSINESS BOOST HIGHLY COMMENDED

A partnership between Keele University Science and Business Park, Newcastle Borough Council, Aspire Housing and Business Brokers has been Highly Commended in the Regen West Midlands Awards 2009.  The partnership created a business competition, "Business Boost", for early stage Newcastle-under-Lyme companies, which came second from a field of 10 regeneration projects in the region this week.The "Business Boost" competition not only rewards local companies for past performance but also runs workshops to improve business planning.

Chair of the judging panel, Rosi Monkman, from Keele Science Park, is delighted with the progress the partnership has made - "The Business Boost competition has only been running for two years but has raised the profile of a number of local SMEs which would have otherwise not attracted much-needed media attention. This acknowledgment by Regen West Midlands is very rewarding for members on the partnership committee, pictured above, who now face the task of putting this competition on a more sustainable footing".

THREE COUNTIES OPEN ART EXHIBITION

The Vice-Chancellor praised the high quality of the work submitted for the annual Keele University Three Counties Open Art Exhibition which opened in the art gallery in the Chancellor's Building this week.

The Vice-Chancellor, pictured with the winning entry, said there had been a record number of entries from artists in Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire. A total of 151 artists had entered, with 71 being successful in having work included in the exhibition. There had been 446 pictures submitted and 112 selected for showing.

First prize went to Amanda Latham, of Chester, for "The 3 Graces"; second prize to Joan Darlington, Newport, for "Novice Waiter" and third prize to Rose Perry, Ellesmere, for "Wot u c is wot u get".

KEELE HALL HOSTS HALLOWEEN WEDDING

Marie Cooper, who works at Cobra on campus, and Nick Cusworth, pictured, made sure their wedding was one to remember, adopting a Halloween theme for every aspect of their big day.

Pumpkins lined the stone steps into Keele Hall to welcome guests and Marie walked down the aisle in the Great Hall as the groom's brother played electric guitar. Sixty-eight guest enjoyed a meal in the Salvin Suite, which had a black and red theme to match the bride and groom's attire; tables were draped with black cloths and finished with red napkins, while the cake had blood icing, with corpse bride and groom figures (from the film, Corpse Bride) to decorate the top.

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENT FOR MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

Dr Jeremy Crowe, Group Planning Director of London based online marketing agency Altogether Digital, has joined Keele Management School as Honorary Senior Lecturer, in recognition of his long-standing support of e-commerce and internet marketing teaching in the School.

A board-level digital strategist and technologist with a portfolio ranging from financial services to the public sector, he will share his wealth of experience with students on the new Master's programmes in Management and International Business, as well as working with Matthias Klaes, Professor of Commerce in the School, on a new internet marketing textbook.

STUDENTS' UNION SCORES TOP MARKS FOR LEGAL SERVICES

KUSU's Independent Advice Unit has received high praise in a recent Community Legal Service Quality Mark audit. 

The IAU has been offering a full range of advice services to Keele students for the last seventeen years, including advice on housing, debt, immigration and academic and personal issues. The Unit's three advisors offer trained professional, free, independent advice that is confidential and non judgemental.   

The IAU is a member of the Community Legal Service, which awards the Quality Mark.  The Quality Mark ensures that organisations which provide legal services to members of the public have achieved quality assurance standards that assure the quality of information and advice provided. 

Whilst the unit has held the full award for the past seven years, the post award monitoring audit highlighted its 'very good strategic planning process' and its exemplary documentation process.

RESEARCH GRANT

Dr Raphael Hirschi, Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics, pictured above, has been awarded £10,530 by the Royal Society for an international joint project titled "comprehensive study of nuclear reaction rate uncertainties for massive stars".

GOLD MEDAL CAKE

Keele Hall chef, Chris Corbishley, pictured above, won a Gold Medal and was Best in Class for his Wedding Cake at the International Cake Competition at the NEC, Birmingham, last weekend.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

The following academic appointments commenced in post this week:

Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine

Dr Paul Roach has been appointed a Lecturer in Biomedical/Cell who was previously a Research Fellow, University of Nottingham Engineering.

Keele Management School

Professor Christos Agiakloglou, Senior Lecturer in Economics, who previously at the University of Piraeus, Greece.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

In this new feature in the Week At Keele we take a look at the archives to see what was happening at Keele this week in previous years:

A call for resources and equipment to be made available to geologists at Keele was made in the House of Commons on 9 November 1988, in the wake of a Stoke-on-Trent earthquake. Joan Walley, MP, stated that detailed monitoring and analysis were needed to find the cause of the tremor, the third to hit the area in a year.