University of Wolverhampton,

Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton

West Midlands, WV1 1LY

Tel: 0800 953 3222 www.wlv.ac.uk MAC655

The Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Staff Excellence 2011

“An individual or team who have demonstrated outstanding commitment and professionalism in delivering a high quality service to our students, staff and stakeholders.”

Shortlisted nominees:

Excellence in Customer Service

The Employment Centre team is ‘a very hard working team and nothing is too much trouble for them’. They often work outside their normal working hours helping students and graduates alike. Furthermore, they are described by their peers as being ‘creative and inspiring’.

Wednesday 22 June 2011

A celebration of staff achievement across the University

Colleagues describe the Walsall Student Office as providing outstanding customer support across three schools on the Walsall Campus. They work to the highest possible standards, and they clearly enjoy providing exemplary customer care to a wide range of students and staff.

Employment Centre Staff, Careers and Employment Services – Anne-Marie Harrison, Kulwinder Manak, James McGlone, Jean Cooper, Kamaldeep Atwal, Kunal Swani, Lynn Banks.

Colleagues describe The Gateway as ‘continuously seeking new ways to engage with students and support the most vulnerable’. Amongst other things, The Gateway helps students and their families understand the benefits of a University education, even in these difficult times.

The Gateway – Monica Belhouche, Chris Evans, Jackie Nolan, Laura Powick, Ruth Round, Manjit Sangha, Meena Verma, Elaine Vinters, Liz Williams.

Walsall Student Office – Scott Dean, Kirsty Forth, Ian Maullin, Alison Wedge, Janet Orchard, Julie Evans, Sarah Guest, Neelam Paul, Sheena Ladbury, Emma Kent, Angela Mehta, Jayne Taylor.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Staff Excellence represent a new approach to recognising and celebrating the achievements of staff who have made an exceptional contribution to the student experience in its widest sense. It is the invaluable contribution of every member of staff that makes Wolverhampton an exciting and vibrant community for our students. In our busy day-to-day lives it is too easy to take that contribution for granted and I am therefore delighted to be hosting The Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Staff Excellence, which we hope to establish as an annual event in the University’s calendar.

All participants, whether nominators or nominees, should feel very proud to be part of the first awards ceremony of its kind here at the University of Wolverhampton. Staff awards in various forms have been presented at the University since 1992 on the basis of excellence or innovation in teaching, and the support of student learning. There have been many successes over the years and the awards have provided recognition of both creativity and hard work. This year’s awards are inclusive of all categories of staff, academic or support, full or part-time, who have made an exceptional contribution to the student experience in its widest sense over the past 12 months.

Please take time to look through this programme and familiarise yourself with the shortlisted nominees in each of the five categories: ‘Inspiring Teacher of the Year’, ‘Outstanding Manager of the Year’, ‘Unsung Hero’, ‘Innovation or Initiative of the Year’ and ‘Excellence in Customer Service’. I am pleased to say that we received a significant number of entries during the process and agreeing on a short list of three per category was not an easy job; a tribute to the talent and skills of staff across the University.

Whether you are an award winner tonight or not, I would like to thank you for your continued hard work and dedication to the University and I wish you all a pleasant and enjoyable evening.

Professor Caroline Gipps Vice-Chancellor

Welcome

The Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Staff Excellence

“An individual who has demonstrated their commitment to enriching the learning experience, through creative and stimulating teaching, learning and assessment methods.”

Shortlisted nominees:

Inspiring Teacher of the Year

Ian Hughes, Senior Lecturer, Wolverhampton Business School

Ian has been described by students as being one of the most helpful people that they have ever been taught by, and has inspired students by operating a blended learning aspect to his courses, as well as making information easily accessible to students to enable them to fulfil their potential.

Professor Roger Seifert, Wolverhampton Business School

Colleagues describe Professor Roger Seifert as ‘an inspirational tutor’ with a particular talent for putting situations into real life contexts. He also is seen as being a strong motivator and has a wide range of teaching skills to his credit.

Sue Kinsey, Senior Lecturer, Wolverhampton Business School

Sue has an approach to teaching that is extremely engaging, and is described by students as being ‘informative, well researched, critical, relevant, and fun!’ Her strong commitment to student welfare is also highly recognised and appreciated.

“An individual who has managed and motivated team colleagues to develop their potential and work together with purpose and professionalism to achieve the highest standards.”

Shortlisted nominees:

Outstanding Manager of the Year

Pam Cattell, Senior Administrator, Wolverhampton Business School

Pam is described by colleagues as being an ‘excellent listener, fair, encouraging, approachable’. She has remained dedicated to her team, reassuring them through times of change, resulting in a very happy and reassured team environment for everyone involved.

Linsey Duncan-Pitt, Head of Multimedia Unit, School of Health and Wellbeing

Colleagues report that Linsey has adapted to her new role extremely well and has a real understanding of and empathy with contemporary staff experiences and feelings. Her dedication to creating a successful new department in the Multimedia Unit is highly evident.

Lesley Carder, School Operations Manager, Wolverhampton Business School

Lesley has taken the recent relocation of the Business School ‘all in her stride’ according to her colleagues. As problems arose she has dealt with them effectively, calmed ruffled feathers, and prevented many more problems from actually occurring – a difficult project that was very well-managed.

“An individual who has made a substantial, but largely unrecognised, contribution to any work at the University. They may have been a role model, provided support, volunteered, and ‘gone that extra mile’.”

Shortlisted nominees:

Unsung Hero

Pat Clark, Senior Lecturer, School of Technology

Pat has been described as a ‘trusted’ person, who works quietly but effectively, and has made working in an ever-changing environment a lot less stressful than it potentially could have been. This is in addition to her dedication to students and teaching – an ‘excellent team member’.

Lynda Birch, Demonstrator in Biological Sciences, School of Applied Sciences

As a dedicated and long-standing member of staff, colleagues have described Lynda as ‘tirelessly helping students and staff members alike’ whether their problems are personal or professional. She listens attentively and always has a smile on her face.

Christine Dudley, Deputy Unit Manager, Registry

Christine is described by colleagues as being ‘a role model and an inspiration’ – she always stays calm in spite of the challenges that she has to face on a day-to-day basis. No task is too much for Chris, and she still manages to find the time to help her team whenever they need it.

“An individual or team who have identified and delivered imaginative solutions or ways of working which have enhanced the student experience and service delivery, delivered efficiencies and/or have successfully generated income.”

Shortlisted nominees:

Innovation or Initiative of the Year

School of Health and Wellbeing Multimedia Unit – Linsey Duncan-Pitt, Gemma Witton, Aneka Bartley, Himesh Patel

The Multimedia Learning Unit is described as having a ‘unique’ skillset and has made a significant contribution since its formation. In particular, it has been commended by the School of Technology Placement Unit for providing a high quality placement experience for a Computer Gaming student.

Debra Wale, Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Course Leader, School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure

Debra has devised and introduced a new system and process for collecting and evaluating student feedback on courses in the Leisure Department. She has also gone on to devise a ‘student voice’ process, which due to its significant success, is now going to be rolled out across the School.

Paul Buszard and Fedor Herbatchek, Lecturers and KTP Academics, Wolverhampton Business School

As well as providing invaluable support and ideas around Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP), Paul and Fedor have also led the development of a new MSc which is currently being validated at Wolverhampton Business School. They are both described as being ‘champions of innovation’