KEELE PROJECT HIGHLY COMMENDED IN GREEN GOWN AWARDS

Project Green, the University's Sustainable Business Programme to assist unemployed graduates back into work, was highly commended at the prestigious Green Gown Awards, which were established to find the UK's most sustainable universities and colleges.

The project, run by Research and Enterprise Services and the School of Physical and Geographical Sciences, was one of five institutions shortlisted in the Skills category, which recognises achievement in the development of skills relevant to sustainability.

The judges felt Project Green showed very impressive engagement from a high number of employers and observed a good rate of conversion of placements to ongoing work. This application, they said, had a positive influence on Keele's business.

OUTSTANDING FUNDRAISERS

The efforts of the Keele Telethon Team, supported by Buffalo Fundraising Consultants, were described as "an outstanding achievement" at the THE Leadership and Management Awards in London last week, demonstrating that even small development teams can be successful.

Following the record breaking telethon last November, the University's Development Team was a runner-up in the Outstanding University Fundraising Team section of the awards.

Fundraising Officer, Robin Cross, said it was pleasing to see Keele's fundraising efforts were as efficient, and even better, than some of the larger universities. He added: "Our fundraising costs per pound compare very favourably with the winners."

LIFELONG LEARNING NETWORK

Pro Vice-Chancellor, Kevin Mattinson, chaired this year's Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Lifelong Learning Network Conference at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum last week.
 
As the LLN enters into its final months, delegates enjoyed a varied mix of keynote speeches, thought-provoking workshops, live acoustic entertainment and inspired theatrical performance. 

The conference, opened by Network Director Jill Ward, began to look ahead in terms of planning how existing partners can maximise future opportunities to face the challenges ahead when the LLN ends in 2011.

Kevin Mattinson is pictured with Jill Ward at the conference. 

WATER HISTORY CONFERENCE

Dr Philip Morgan, History, was one of a small number of British scholars presenting papers at the Unesco sponsored water history conference held at the Technical University, Delft last week.

The multi-disciplinary conference drew hydrologists, engineers, political scientists and historians from all four continents, with interests in the history of water use and management from the ancient world to contemporary disputes. Dr Morgan's paper on ritual and medical uses of water in Lichfield, developed from an adult education class in the city.

KEELE APPRENTICE HIGHLY COMMENDED

CFM apprentice Steve Lewis was "highly commended" in the finals of the West Midlands Apprenticeship Awards 2010. Steve began work at the University in 1982 as a chef but changed direction in 2008 and joined the estates team, working on sports field maintenance. The 44-year-old took an NVQ in Sports and Amenities at Reaseheath College, studying alongside teenagers.

Steve is pictured with Kath Jones, Grounds Manager, at the awards ceremony.

DEGREE OF SUCCESS

CFM Business Manager Jean Wilshaw has graduated with a 2:1 BA (Hons) Literature degree from the Open University.

Jean has spent six years studying part-time, while working full-time. Her studies have included an introduction to Humanities, studying Art History, Literature, Music and Philosophy; texts from the 19th and 20th Centuries; the English Language; the 19th Century novel and the works of Shakespeare. Jean attended the Open University graduation ceremony in the Symphony Hall, Birmingham, last weekend.

MAJOR GRANT FOR SUSTAINABILITY TEACHING

Keele has won a prestigious National Teaching Fellowship Scheme Project grant of £200k from the Higher Education Academy, to develop the wider inclusion of environmental issues in undergraduate learning. The scheme is open only to proposals led by National Teaching Fellows, and three of these (Professor Pat Bailey, Dr Stephen Bostock and Dr Peter Knight) worked with Professor Mark Ormerod and Dr Zoe Robinson on the bid, entitled 'Hybrid PBL; a scalable approach to sustainability education?'.

Whilst Keele is the lead university, other strands of the project will be run at Staffordshire and Manchester universities, which have strengths that neatly complement those at Keele. The project will develop materials based on existing modules, but using a range of learning approaches to improve the learning experience and increase uptake by students.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND PUBLIC HEALTH ETHICS

Dr Angus Dawson, Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice, with Dr James Wilson (UCL), has been awarded £13,293 by the Wellcome Trust to fund a workshop on 'Human Rights and Public Health Ethics' to be held as a satellite meeting of the 10th World Congress of the International Association of Bioethics (IAB) in Singapore at the end of July. Angus is the Vice-President of the Association and the co-director of the IAB's International Network on Public Health Ethics. The workshop will focus on what a human right to health might be, some of the potential problems of applying human rights in the context of public health, and discussion of a set of public health cases from around the world. Speakers will include representatives from India, China, Canada and Europe.

GEARING UP FOR THE SUMMER

CFM is gearing up for another busy summer with a number of prominent events confirmed over this vacation period.

The British Association of Cleaning in Higher Education, the primary association providing support for building cleaning and associated services within the Higher Education sector, welcomed around 100 guests to Keele Hall for a week-long event that included workshops, presentations, a Gala Dinner and awards ceremony.

The Chancellor's Building complex was the venue for this week's Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development annual conference, which was attended by 250 delegates. Europe's largest professional institute for people management and development hosted a series of seminars on Human Resource practice.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

27 June 1985

The Keele Chapel Society presented a special concert in the University Chapel to mark the departure from Keele of Mr George Pratt, Head of the Music Department.