Vice-Chancellor Trevor McMillan OBE retires after a decade at Keele

The outgoing Vice-Chancellor of Keele University has reflected on his time in the role as he prepares to step down after 10 years.  

Professor Trevor McMillan OBE joined Keele in January 2014 as Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, taking up the appointment of Vice-Chancellor the following year. He will be replaced by Professor Kevin Shakesheff, who will take up the post from September 1st after joining from the Open University. 

Reflecting on his time at Keele, Trevor described being the University’s Vice-Chancellor for the last 10 years as the ‘privilege of my lifetime.’ 

He said: “Keele is a special University with very special people, and we have all worked very hard to ensure that the education we provide for students and the research we do are of the highest quality.  

“The global pandemic and the current financial crisis in the university sector have meant that progress has not always been easy, but I am enormously grateful to all our staff for the effort they put in on behalf of the University, their fellow staff and our students. 

“None of this would have been possible without the partners we have in Staffordshire, across the Midlands and around the world.  One of my aims when I arrived was to make the University less inward looking than we have perhaps been in the past.  The impact we now have in our region and the partners we have in other academic institutions, the NHS, local authorities and the private sector are all an important part of this. Likewise, we have expanded our international network to a scale that we have not had before. 

“All of this continues to make Keele a very important part of our society and I would like to thank all the people who have supported me personally, and the University more broadly, over the last 10 years and wish you all every success for the future.”