FIRST KEELE DEGREE CEREMONIES IN MALAYSIA

The University last week awarded degrees to more than 100 students at two special ceremonies in Malaysia.

It was the first time Keele had awarded degrees to students at ceremonies in Malaysia following the launch of a collaborative programme three years ago between KDU College and Keele.

Professor David Shepherd, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, represented the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, at ceremonies in Penang and Petalying Jaya, KL, at which over 100 students received BA Honours Degrees from Keele's School of Management.

Professor Shepherd, who was accompanied by Keele's Director of Marketing and Communications, John McCarthy, met with the  with the Vice-Chancellor of KDU University College, Professor, Dr Teoh Kok-Soo, and his senior team to discuss further developments and collaboration between the two institutions.

The Keele delegation also included Professor Matthias Klaes, Head of Keele Management School, and Dr Matthew Brannan, the School's Director of International Partnerships &  Development.

The Vice-Chancellor of KDU, Professor Dr Teoh Kok-Soo, said: "It is clear that the students have worked hard and enjoyed their studies and we are particularly proud that four students have achieved first class honours degrees. We look forward to further high quality collaboration with Keele as we seek to develop our partnership."

The picture shows Professor Kok-Soo receiving a commemorative gift from Professor Shepherd.

PRESTIGIOUS NATIONAL TEACHING FELLOWSHIP FOR KEELE LECTURER

Dr Patricia Black, Director of Postgraduate Studies and Postgraduate Courses Development Manager in the School of Pharmacy, has been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy (HEA). She officially received her award at a ceremony in London on Wednesday.

She is one of just 55 lecturers and learning support staff to be awarded National Teaching Fellowships, the most prestigious awards for excellence in higher education teaching and support for learning. The award winners were chosen from over 200 nominations and each will receive £10,000, which may be used for professional development in teaching and learning or aspects of pedagogy.

Dr Black has overall responsibility for a portfolio of postgraduate Master's courses for health professionals working in or with the NHS, principally pharmacists practising in the key areas of the profession. An internationally renowned pharmacy practice academic has described Pat as being "in the top three leading edge developmental academics within the world of pharmacy education."

During her career at Keele, Dr Black has built a rare combination of skills around knowledge of health care, pedagogical issues and experience of constructing courses via distance education.  She has a record of leadership and innovation for her work, reflected in achievements both within the Faculty of Health and in national and international indicators of esteem.

FIRST AUTHOR IN PRESTIGIOUS JOURNAL

PhD student, Stuart Jenkins, from the Research Institute for Science and Technology (ISTM) in Medicine, has had a paper  accepted as first author in the prestigious journal ACS Nano, winner of the Best New Journal in the Science, Technology & Medicine category in 2009 and currently ranked in the top five Nanotechnology journals (Jenkins SI, Pickard MR, Granger N, Chari DM. 2011. Magnetic Nanoparticle-Mediated Gene Transfer to Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cell Transplant Populations Is Enhanced by Magnetofection Strategies. doi 10.1021/nn2018717).

This is a noteworthy achievement as Stuart had no experience of the area or methodologies prior to joining the ISTM and has developed the methods used in the work during the course of his PhD.

Professor Trevor Greenhough, Director of Postgraduate Research, said: "This is a highly significant achievement at any level and I would like to pay tribute to not only the dedication and ability that Stuart has shown in acquiring and applying new skills and techniques to further his research, but also to the emphasis ISTM and our excellent team of supervisors place on the training of all our Postgraduate Research students. This training aims not only to achieve excellence in research but also to equip our students with the tools for a successful transition to their chosen career."

The picture shows authors Stuart Jenkins (right) and Dr Mark Pickard (left).

BRANDED LIVES BOOK LAUNCH

This week saw the launch of a new book 'Branded Lives: The Production and Consumption of Meaning at Work' edited Matthew Brannan and Liz Parsons (Keele Management School) and former Keele colleague, Cinzia Priola, now at Aston University. 

The book explores the increasingly popular concept of 'employee branding' as a new form of employment relationship based on brand representation, and draws upon series of organisational case studies.

The book highlights the ways in which the production and consumption of meaning at work is increasingly mediated by organisational brands and how employees are now, more than ever, being asked to 'live the brand'. At a time when many organisation are redesigning their brand image, this book is a timely reminder of the full complexity of brands at work.

The noted American Organisational Theorist, Mary Jo Hatch said about the book:  "(it) explodes the myth that a brand must, or even can stand for one unified, easily communicated message. While warning of the dangers of managing to preserve this myth, the book also celebrates the plurality of brand meanings generated by those employed to serve both the brand and the customer. I recommend reading this book in its entirety".

NEW ACADEMIC APPOINTMENT

The following academic appointment commenced in post this week:

Keele Management School

Dr William Lee has been appointed Professor of Accounting and was previously a senior lecturer in Accounting and Financial Management at the University of Sheffield.

VISITING PROFESSORSHIP IN HAMBURG

Dr Luis Lobo-Guerrero, SPIRE, has been appointed Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg for the Spring Semester 2011-2012. During the period of leave, Luis will be advancing research on a project on the problem of 'interest' as the principle of formation of contemporary liberal governance.

COST MANAGEMENT IN CHALLENGING TIMES

Geoff Heath, Fellow in Accounting, Keele Management School, and Mr. Paul Koumi, a well known local accounting practitioner, gave a presentation, "Cost management in challenging times", to members of the local branches of both the Association of Accounting Technicians and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants at Staffordshire University.

The presentation concerned the use of techniques such as activity based management, target costing, kaizen budgeting and life cycle costing in cost management programmes; along with issues around the implementation of such techniques. It was emphasised that cost management is not simply about cost reduction but also about adding value.

WORLD RANKING FOR KEELE

Keele has been placed, for the first time, among the top universities in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which were published yesterday.

The University is positioned in the band 301-350 for the world  and  130th equal in Europe. The tables present a broad view of institutional performance. It is the eighth year that the Times Higher has published its global university rankings.

Keele University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, said: "This is an excellent result for Keele and congratulations must go to the whole Keele community. It shows that our commitment to providing a high quality educational experience for students, shaped by outstanding research contributing positively to social, environmental and economic agendas, is being recognised not only locally and nationally but internationally."

Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, said: "Higher education which has always had a peripatetic, institutional aspect, is becoming an ever more global undertaking and these rankings help us to see and make sense of the rapid changes afoot."

NERC NEW INVESTIGATOR

Dr. Brian O'Driscoll, Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics, has been awarded a NERC New Investigator Grant of £81,550 for a project entitled 'Scales of preservation and root causes of mantle heterogeneities in the Iapetan Ocean convecting upper mantle'.

The project, in collaboration with scientists from University College Dublin, the University of Maryland (USA) and SCRIPPS Institute for Oceanography (USA) will examine the manner in which evidence of the formation and destruction of an ancient ocean (Iapetus) is preserved in the underlying oceanic mantle.

To achieve these goals, very precise measurements of platinum-group elements (including osmium isotopes) will be made on samples of ophiolites (which represent fragments of ancient oceanic mantle) that occur in both Scotland and Norway.

MOLECULES OUT AND ABOUT

The Molecules Out and About team had a busy summer which included three days at the Great Yorkshire Show for the 'make it molecular stand', followed by a return booking at the Greenman Music Festival.

Then it was north to the Orkney International Science Festival where Dr Graeme Jones also gave a lecture and set up a molecules trail through Kirkwall, with Science at Cwaben, our Scottish partners. 

The Mega Mols have also been out and about with a visit to the Eisteddfod in Wrexham where they hung from the roof of the Science Pavillion and were off to Limoges in France this week on a special invite to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry.

FORTHCOMING KEELE CONFERENCE

Viv Bennett, Deputy Chief Nurse at DH and lead for Public Health and Commissioning in the Professional Leadership Team, will be speaking at a conference organised by Keele Clinical Leadership Academy, entitled Widening Engagement in Clinically-led Commissioning: Minimising Health Inequalities, on Tuesday, 25 October, in Keele Hall.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

This week 58 years ago The University College of North Staffordshire, Keele, commenced the fourth year of its Foundation course. There are now 525 students, all resident at the College. Of this number, 150 are first year students. 7 October 1953.