When we moved into our new faculty structure on 1 August, four of our Deans left their roles to follow new paths and return to their successful academic careers.
The Internal Communications team asked each of them: what next and what did you enjoy most about your role as Dean?
Professor Iain Cameron
“It was immensely rewarding to lead Medicine for 14 years as Head of School and Dean, and wonderful to see the completion of the Centre for Cancer Immunology this year.
“Having left the University at the end of July, I’m pursuing a non-executive career in the health and charity sectors and, of course, continuing to follow the University’s successes.
“It was a huge privilege to work with so many dedicated and talented students and staff in the Faculty of Medicine and across the University, and a particular pleasure to celebrate the achievements of new graduates each year and to see colleagues flourish as their careers developed.”
Professor Anne Curry
“Being Dean of Humanities was a real privilege. I enjoyed working with colleagues from all disciplines in the Faculty and beyond, and I particularly cherish the opportunities I had to develop the careers of the next generation of teachers and researchers.
“As I go forward, I’m delighted to be able to dedicate more of my time to academic pursuits. I’ll be teaching a first year module on Agincourt in semester 2 this academic year, and in my research, I’m working towards completion of a major study of the English army in the fifteenth century for publication by Oxford University Press in 2019-20.
“I’m also involved in an exhibition in Troyes in 2020 commemorating a treaty of 1420 which established a union of England and France.
“Externally, I will continue to be active in the Worshipful Company of Fletchers, the Historical Association, the British Commission on Military History and The Battlefields Trust.”
Professor Mandy Fader
“I have a fascinating combination of roles in the new structure – as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Internal Partnerships, Head of School for Health Sciences and as Professor of Continence Technology.
“As Pro Vice-Chancellor, I will be continuing to lead on bringing about the benefits of the new structure and moving forward university-wide projects that will make a real difference to staff and students in the years ahead. There are also many opportunities for the Health Sciences in the new Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences and I’m looking forward to working on these with Professor Rachel Mills, the Faculty Board and my terrific team of colleagues in Health Sciences.”
Professor William Powrie
“I’m looking forward to establishing the UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC), through which the new National Infrastructure Laboratory at Boldrewood has been funded, as Convenor of its Coordination Node. Recent tragic events in Italy have highlighted how much we take the safety of infrastructure for granted, and the importance of developing a multidisciplinary approach to the way in which we plan, design, build, use and maintain it. This is UKCRIC’s core mission, which aligns perfectly with my EPSRC programme grant “Track to the Future” and leadership of the Centre of Excellence in Infrastructure within the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network.
“I’ll also continue to contribute to soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering teaching; and research in support of the Dutch National Landfill Remediation Trial, for which we have recently been awarded a further EPSRC grant. And in October and November, I will be delivering four major keynote lectures in the UK, China and Egypt.
“What did I enjoy most about being Dean? It’s tempting to say that it was coming top in engineering for research power in the 2014 REF; or realising the vision of the Boldrewood Innovation Campus, funded for the most part by grants and contracts from outside the University. But above all, it has been the day-to-day inspiration of working with the colleagues and students who made Engineering and the Environment such a wonderful faculty. Those interactions made being Dean a pleasure, a privilege and a really rather glorious experience all round.”
Our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Christopher Snowden, commented:
“Our outgoing Deans have made an important contribution to the life of the University and I would like to thank each of them for their commitment both to their faculties and more widely to the University through their roles on the University Executive Board. I would also like to recognise our other colleagues who left the University at the end of this academic year, many of whom had long and significant careers in our community.”
