Strengthening the University's top team

Mar 13 2007 By The Journal

The University of Teesside has strengthened its team at the top to support Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Henderson, as the Middlesbrough-based University builds on its growing reputation for combining excellence with widening educational opportunities.

Two new deputy vice-chancellors will work alongside Professor Henderson and senior deputy vice-chancellor (Academic), Professor Leni Oglesby.

They are Professor Cliff Hardcastle, who has taken up the post of deputy vice-chancellor (Research and Enterprise) and Professor Cliff Allan who becomes deputy vice-chancellor (Development).

Professor Allan, from Harrogate, was formerly deputy chief executive of the Higher Education Academy, based in York.

He studied Politics and International Relations in Coventry and gained a Masters in African Studies from Birmingham University before working as a lecturer and aid-worker in the Sudan during the Ethiopian refugee crisis of the mid-1980s.

He then worked in fund raising and education for the development agency Action Aid before returning to higher education to work for the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council, which later merged with the Universities Funding Council to form the Higher Education Funding Council for England. He was Head of Learning and Teaching Policy.

In 2000, he helped set-up the Learning and Teaching Support Network which combined to form the Higher Education Academy, where he was deputy chief executive.

Professor Allan said: "I'm looking forward to working in a dynamic and vibrant university with a can do, will do ethos. Teesside has a tremendous number of strengths and is continuing to build on the many achievements already made in terms of its access mission and regional purpose."

Professor Hardcastle, from Blyth, Northumberland, was previously Dean of the School of Built and Natural Environment at Glasgow Caledonian University.

He originally worked as a site engineer before gaining a BSc (Hons) in Building at Lanchester Polytechnic and lecturing in Built Environment at Newcastle Polytechnic.

He then moved to the University of Westminster to head the School of Construction, Housing and Surveying before joining Glasgow Caledonian University, where he held various senior school and cross-university positions, including Dean of the School of Built and Natural Environment and Assistant Principal for Knowledge Transfer and Commercial Development.

Since 2002, he has been visiting professor to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and is engaged with the universities of Dundee, Loughborough and St Andrews in a major £1.25m research project.

Professor Hardcastle said: "I am delighted to be joining the university. I believe strongly in its underlying ethos, its inclusiveness, its commitment to the region and of course in its dedication to excellence. Its students are entitled to and deserve to have access to the best possible research and an education that fits them for their future careers."

Other new faces at Teesside include Dr Keith Brown, the university's new director of the Centre for International Development. He is the former director of the international office at the University of Sunderland.

Dr Brown, from Durham, said: "I think off-campus delivery for international students is the future. It's not just about bringing students into the university itself, although that is very important. The key message is that success is not just measured by students attending here, it's also measured by the profitable overseas delivery of our courses."

In addition, Jack Dees, from Newcastle, has been appointed director of the new Institute of Criminal and Forensic Investigation. He enters the academic world after a 30-year police career.

He said: "There is excellence in the university connected with criminal and forensic investigation. The institute will bring this quality together, in terms of research, enterprise, teaching and learning and marketing and business growth. There will be a real opportunity to improve students' learning through a cross-fertilisation and sharing of ideas and methods."

Teesside has also launched an Institute of Digital Innovation, with Dr Jim TerKeurst as its director. Originally from Michigan in the USA, Dr TerKeurst previously lectured at the University of Abertay in Dundee after a career in media production. He specialised in corporate makeovers for major businesses, including advertising campaigns.

He said: "The university is a fantastic place to be as there is a great depth of talent and skill in key areas for digital growth, both across the region and wider afield. I hope to bring together talented people across all of the university's schools and departments to create new ideas and concepts and to take advantage of the way technology is developing."

Professor Henderson said: "I am delighted by these new appointments. They will strengthen and provide leadership to areas that are key to the future growth and development of not just the university but the whole of the Tees Valley and wider region."