In November 2017, Professor Sir Christopher Snowden outlined plans to re-shape the University and move to a five-faculty structure from 1 August 2018.
We are posting regular updates on SUSSED, and a copy of this information is also being sent to senior managers, our Unions and our colleagues at the Students’ Union so that they can facilitate sharing within their own departments and networks.
Heads of Schools and Departments
We’re pleased to confirm that, at its meeting on 11 July, University Council approved the appointment of Professor Sarah Pearce as Head of the School of Humanities and Professor David Richards as Head of the School of Engineering.
Council also approved three new appointments in Medicine: Professor Philip Calder (Head of Human Development and Health), Professor Julie Parkes (Head of Primary Care and Population Sciences) and Professor Tim Underwood (Head of Cancer Sciences).
This means that all Heads of School roles in our new faculties have now been confirmed. Individuals will take up their posts on 1 August.
Heads of Departments have also now been confirmed. In most cases, existing Heads of Academic Units and Departments have taken on these new roles.
You can find a full list of our new Heads of Schools and Departments in our updated faculty organisational charts here. We will be updating these charts in the lead up to 1 August as more individuals are confirmed.
Director of Faculty Operations and Faculty Managers
Following a competitive internal interview process, John Kness has been appointed as the new Director of Faculty Operations. John is currently the Head of Faculty Operations for Business, Law and Art. You can find out more about the role and responsibilities here.
The Director of Faculty Operations will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer and line manage the five new Faculty Managers. Interviews for these roles will take place in the next two weeks.
Ian Dunn, Chief Operating Officer, said:
“With 25 years employment in the university John has extensive knowledge of faculty operations and central professional services. He has experienced a number of changes in how we operate during his time here and will bring this to bear in the new role.
“John has a great awareness of our strategy, our academic objectives and our focus on delivering the best possible student experience and will provide strategic leadership to our invaluable Faculty Operating Service colleagues.
“In addition to seeking enhanced effectiveness and efficiency, John will be a strong advocate for the FOS teams at the University’s Professional Services Leadership Group and with the wider University.”
Student and Academic Administration (SAA)
Faculty Academic Registrars have been working with their SAA colleagues to confirm an interim solution for how teams will support our new faculties after 1 August, and the outcomes have been communicated to SAA staff and wider professional services.
Wherever possible, the aim is to ensure that SAA staff are aligned to the programmes and schools that they have specialist knowledge of. This will help to minimise disruption during the change – especially during Confirmation and Clearing.
Systems
From 17:00 on 20 July until 12:00 on 31 July, it will not be possible to submit Online Staff Request Forms to the University’s staff recruitment system – e-Recruit. When the system goes live again on 31 July it will reflect the new faculty structure and approval chains. Find out more about this change in the announcements section on the SUSSED homepage.
For more information
You can find our previous restructure SUSSED updates here.
During this change programme, some information that is sensitive for external audiences or considered commercial in confidence will be posted on SharePoint and require a staff log-in. To meet our commitment to transparency with our student community, wherever possible this information will be shared with the Students’ Union President and Sabbatical Officers.
If you have questions about the Faculty restructure, please email: [email protected] (colleagues in the Change Portfolio Office manage this mailbox.
If you would like to contact a member of the executive team about the restructure, you can email either Professor Mandy Fader ([email protected]) or Ian Dunn ([email protected]).
