KEELE ANNOUNCES NEW CHANCELLOR

Jonathon Porritt, the eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development, will be Keele University's new Chancellor.

He will be the University's fourth Chancellor and succeeds Professor Sir David Weatherall, who has retired after nine years.

Jonathon Porritt's installation as Chancellor will take place on Thursday, 9 February – the first official event in Keele's 50th Anniversary year.

He said: "I am hugely honoured to have been asked to become the next Chancellor of Keele University.  I have enjoyed many contacts with the University over the last 15 years, and have been very impressed at the commitment shown by the Vice-Chancellor and many other members of staff in demonstrating real leadership on sustainability issues.
 
"But to be Chancellor of Keele is obviously about the whole University, not just one aspect - however important that may be!  And this is the challenge that I'm really looking forward to."

Keele's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, said: "We are delighted that Jonathon Porritt has agreed to become Chancellor of Keele University at a time of unprecedented change within the Higher Education sector.

"Jonathon is a highly respected environmentalist and author, not only within this country but around the world. We believe he is the ideal choice for an institution that places sustainability research, education and practice as one of its core aims in the next 10 years.

"Through our interdisciplinary curriculum we encourage our students to challenge convention and with Jonathon we will have a Chancellor who is hugely respected by his peer group, and the wider community, but is prepared to be outspoken on issues about which he is passionate. We believe he will inspire our students and help them to become ambassadors for social responsibility and sustainability."

Jonathon Porritt is the Co-Founder of Forum for the Future - the UK's leading sustainable development charity.  He is also Co-Director of The Prince of Wales's Business and Sustainability Programme, which runs seminars for senior executives around the world, a Non-Executive Director of Wessex Water, and of Willmott Dixon Holdings.  He is a Trustee of the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, and is involved in the work of many NGOs and charities as Patron, Chair or Special Adviser. He received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.

KEELE KEY FUND TELETHON 2011

The fifth Keele Key Fund telephone campaign was launched this week.
 
Twenty-eight Keele student ambassadors completed in-depth training last weekend to become callers for the Keele Key Fund Telethon for 2011.

Nearly all are new to the role and have added to their communication skills to enable them to call alumni, to share their experiences and good news from Keele, to describe the successes of the Keele Key Fund and to invite ongoing support.

This year the aim is to raise a further £100,000 and to pass the half-a-million pound mark for pledges to the Key Fund since 2007. So far the Key Fund has supported over forty projects that benefit students and enhance the Keele experience.

EURO PERSPECTIVE ON SHALE GAS

Keele this week welcomed Ed Hough, a British Geological Survey geologist and a scientist in the multinational, inter-disciplinary Gas Shales in Europe research project, as part of the prestigious European Student Lecture Tour run by the European Association for Geoscientists and Engineers.

His lecture on "Shale Gas Perspectives" was well received by an audience of over 40 Keele undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Keele University Sustainability Hub. Ed is pictured above with Hub Manager, Dr Sharon George, and Professor Peter Styles.

EMERGING SECURITIES WORKSHOP

The Emerging Securities Unit (SPIRE/Research Institute for Social Sciences) this week hosted its research workshop 'Epistemologies of the Political, the Global and the International'.

The event was co-funded by the Poststructuralist Politics Working Group of the British International Studies Association. Professor Michael Shapiro, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, delivered a keynote address entitled 'Against Explanation: Thinking Politically after the Aesthetic turn'. As an invitation to reflect collectively 'on the ways we know our world as object of research', participants intervened in a wider debate on the need to make explicit the epistemologies that support authoritative ways of imagining politics.

The event was convened by Dr Luis Lobo-Guerrero and supported by Dr Barry Ryan and Dr Peter Adey, with the logistic support of Corey Walker-Mortimer and the staff of the RISS.

FUTURE-PRO NETWORKING EVENT

Careers and Employability, in collaboration with Finest and Future/Finest, held a unique evening networking event and buffet for students at the Keele Management Centre.

Students from a variety of degree disciplines heard presentations on graduate skills and opportunities in North Staffordshire from successful professionals and young professionals representing companies such as Reels in Motion, Baker Tilly and KJD Freeth.

The students then spent time networking with professionals from areas which included accountancy, science, law and banking.  Hardly distinguishable from the guests, the students, in smart business dress, impressed by making the most of the opportunity to find out more about specific roles, employers and career skills, as well as making valuable contact for their future careers.

Shirley Johnson, Compliance Manager, Hanley Economic Building Society, is pictured talking with undergraduates.

MEETING OF COUNCIL - 10 NOVEMBER 2011

The first meeting of the University Council for the 2011-12 academic year was held yesterday.

The meeting considered and approved a report from a Joint Committee of Senate and Council to assign the responsibility of Secretary to Council to Dr Simone Clarke, Director of Planning and Academic Administration, pictured, from 1 August 2012.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost will assume this role on an interim basis from 1 January 2012 until 31 July 2012. Council members expressed their gratitude for the support that Simon Morris, Secretary and Registrar, had given to Council during his 14 years at Keele and wished him well for his retirement.

Council approved revised plans for the investment of £4.5 million into the refurbishment of the Students' Union building and Union Square to provide improved services, upgrade the appearance of the building and surrounding area and to create a central plaza at the heart of campus with clearer pedestrian routes. Council noted that this was essential to maintain and enhance a high quality student experience.

Additionally Council approved proposed tuition fees for postgraduate students and the statutory accounts for the year ended 31 July 2011 and received an update on student admissions, brand developments and reports from the subsidiary companies.

Councillors welcomed the accounts showing a surplus of just over £4 million, which was attributed to increased student fee income. It was reported that it remained important for the future to generate surpluses of up to £5 million in order provide the funding to undertake capital projects.

Council also received reports from Senate and from Council committees on the business conducted since the last meeting of the Council.

The publicly available minutes of the meeting can be viewed by campus users at the following link: http://www.keele.ac.uk/councilminutes/

THREE COUNTIES OPEN ART EXHIBITION

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, officially opened the Keele Three Counties Open Art Exhibition this week and presented prizes to the winning artists.

First prize was awarded to John Skinner, of Stone, for "Becky", and second prize went to David Gleeson, of Stafford, for "Anna". The Arthur Berry Prize, in memory of the highly-regarded Potteries' artist and writer, was awarded to Philip Dare, of Haslington, Crewe, for his painting "In the studio".

The exhibition, in the Art Gallery in the Chancellor's Building, runs until 13 December. More than 400 works were submitted and 140 were accepted for the exhibition.The Vice-Chancellor is pictured with John Skinner.

More photographs from the exhibition can be found here:  http://keele.photoshelter.com/gallery/Keele-University-Three-counties-Open-Art-Exhibition-Preview-7-November-2011/G000081Jadecz_j8

KEELE AND MANCHESTER UNITED TOP LEAGUE

Keele and football club Manchester United share top spot in the UK Environment Agency's new energy efficiency league table.
 
They are among the 22 companies placed at No 1 in the league table, which is the first ranking of the UK's 2,000 largest energy users under the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) energy efficiency scheme.

Companies and organisations have to sign up to the scheme if they use over 6000 MWh of electricity a year.

The league table then ranks them according to what they have done to measure energy use, such as installing smart meters and complying with the Carbon Trust.

Phil Butters, Director of Estates and Development, pictured above, said: "This is a fantastic result and I am delighted on behalf of my team. Keele scored 100% in the "Early Action Metric" and as a result the
University is positioned joint 1st in the league table."

CARBON TRUST STANDARD

Keele has been successful in regaining the Carbon Trust Standard.

A score of 90% was achieved within the qualitative assessment, demonstrating effectiveness in carbon accounting and management - it was the highest score in the region (including private and public sector bodies) and the highest achieved in the High Education sector.

The Carbon Trust Standard was developed to encourage good practice in carbon measurement and reduction by private businesses and public sector organisations.

Keele was one of the first Higher Education Institutions to be awarded the Carbon Trust Standard in 2008. The re-certification report states: "This is an outstanding assessment with much commendable forward planning".

PREDICTIONS ON NEW SATELLITE

Dr John Taylor, Astrophysics, was an invited speaker at a conference at the Paris Observatory preparing for the GAIA satellite, which will be launched into space next year by the European Space Agency.

He said: "It will do stunningly high-precision measurements of the positions of billions of stars. Their brightness will also be measured many times, so huge numbers of variable stars will be found.

"Many of these will be eclipsing binary stars, which are my special interest. My talk was a review of eclipsing binary stars plus a few predictions about the impact of GAIA on their study."

Further details can be found here.

THE INFORMED LIBRARIAN

Professor James Hartley, School of Psychology, has had an article featured in Informed Librarian Online.

His article "Making the Journal Abstract More Concrete" is the 'featured article' in the November 2011 issue.

NEW ACADEMIC APPOINTMENT

The following academic appointment commenced in post this week:

School of Law

Ms Yoriko Otomo has been appointed a lecturer in Law and was previously a Teaching Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

TOMORROW

UK Premiere at Keele Chapel

Keele Concert Band, with the Phoenix Singers, from Leek, will perform the UK premiere of Missa Katharina, composed by Jacob De Haan, as part of a concert in the Keele University Chapel on Saturday, 12 November at 7.30 pm.

NEXT WEEK

Authorfest at Clayton Library

Author Phil Emery and three of his Keele class students will be reading from their books at Clayton Library on Wednesday, 16 November at 7.15 pm.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Fifty-eight year ago -

Sir John Cockcroft, Director of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, and one of the first men to split the atom – in 1932 – officially opened the first two stages of the new Physics laboratories at the University College, Keele. 6 November 1953.