Administration
I have a wide range of administrative experience.
This experience falls under the general headings of University level, Faculty
level, Departmental level and generic experience.
In terms of University level experience, I have been a
member of the Senate of Lancaster University for four years. Beyond Senate, I
have been co-opted onto a large number of University committees established
either by Pro-VCs or the deputy Vice Chancellor. These have included committees
which have evolved policy for the approval of Senate on matters such as:
- Mechanisms
to incentivise researchers to bid for and win external research funding;
- The
development of a University policy on equal opportunities related to
sexual orientation;
- The
development of strategies for increasing Lancaster’s media profile;
- The
grounds for the shift of fixed term staff to indefinite status;
- The
reorganization of the academic structures of Lancaster University.
At Faculty level I have been a member of the following
committees:
- Policy
and resources committee;
- Faculty
area promotions committee;
- Finance
and general purposes committee.
I have been a key player in the Faculty of Social Sciences
at Lancaster, initiating and pursuing, with the support of or in conjunction with
my Dean, a number of Faculty level initiatives including:
- The
closure of the Institute for English Language Education (Lancaster
University);
- The
establishment of a dedicated Faculty IT support team.
At the departmental level, I have been active in establishing
good governance in my Department, and the vigorous pursuit of new degree
schemes and other sources of income. In this period of time, my key successes
have been:
- To
establish LAMEL as Lancaster’s top PGR recruiter;
- To
establish a range of overseas collaborative schemes with partners in China
and Eastern Europe;
- To
establish new undergraduate schemes which have seen our student enrolment
increase from 2000-2004 from 61.5 to 104 FTEs per year while the average
A-level score of students being admitted has also increased (from an
average of 21.9 in 2000/2001 to 23.7 in 2003/2004);
- To
expand the range of income for the Department away from an over-reliance
on PG and RAE income to achieve a balanced portfolio of UG, PG, RAE,
Research Council and non-HEFCE income;
- To
expand the number of both PGT and PGR students enrolled in the Department
by the diversification of the mode of delivery and structure of PG degree
offerings;
- To
expand the research overheads attracted by the Department, from around 40K
per annum in 2000 to nearly 180K per annum in 2004/5.
- To
increase the size of the Department from 17.5 to 27 members of academic
staff while increasing the surplus on activities in the Department from
32% of revenue to 40% of revenue;
In sum the Department’s development over the past four years
have enabled it to pursue a much more vigorous research and teaching programme
than would otherwise have been possible. This must stand is in good stead for
the RAE.
With reference to generic experience, I have direct
experience of:
- acting
in a diplomatic role, representing the University and establishing new
contacts or fostering existing contacts abroad (notably in Australia,
China, Greece, Poland, Russia and South Asia);
- arbitrating
in staff disputes;
- establishing,
fostering and exploiting UK and overseas research and teaching links;
- head
hunting senior academic staff;
- introducing
and prosecuting redundancy and redeployment cases;
- making
and deciding upon academic promotion and appointment cases at all levels
(probation, A to B, Senior Lecturer, Reader, Chair and Pro-Vice
Chancellor);
- negotiating
research contacts with industry;
- quality
assurance reviews and other work related to associated institutions (I
have worked in such a capacity for Lancaster at both Blackburn and Blackpool
colleges);
- researching
and exploring new degree scheme proposals (UG, PGT and PGR);
- reviewing
departments, both at Lancaster and in other Universities (as part of
periodic quality reviewing or research council reviews);
- the
development and support of research strategy (at departmental, Faculty and
national levels);
- the
process of developing and presenting business cases for investment;
- the
review of departmental and Faculty budgets.
Beyond these achievements I continue to innovate. For example, I am currently working with the
Pro-VC for Research at Lancaster to assess the feasibility of establishing a
Humanities Computing Unit at Lancaster. I am also in the process of negotiating
a new UG exchange scheme with Moscow State University and a PG student exchange
scheme with both Macquarie University and the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences.
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