AUA Blog

AUA national office staff welcome Alison Robinson

AUA staff welcome our new executive director Alison Robinson to the AUA national office. We wish her all the best in her new position and look forward to working with her.

Sheila Aynsley Smith MBE!

We are delighted to report that Sheila Aynsley Smith has been awarded an MBE for services to higher education in the New Years Honours list.

Sheila was a very active and enthusiastic AUA member for many years until her retirement from Manchester Met in August 2007. She served on AUA’s Executive Committee, Perspectives editorial board and Corporate Planning Forum steering group. She acted as a mentor to participants undertaking the PG Cert and was a regular speaker at the annual conference and other events.

Sheila has had a long career in education, starting in the early 1970s. She held various positions and was appointed as a Head of Student Services at MMU in 1995. She was an active member of AMOSSHE and a member of its Executive.

Sheila is highly respected in the higher education field and well known for her work, in particular with regard to disabled students, issues relating to student retention and learning support, and to enhancing the student experience.

We are very pleased that Sheila has received appropriate recognition for her work and send her our warmest congratulations.  The photo shows Sheila's investiture at Buckingham Palace on 1 May.

AUA Regional Coordinator Vacancies

We are looking for three new Regional Coordinators to take over in Anglia, Midlands-East and North-East Regions.

This is an ideal opportunity for any member wanting to become more involved in the AUA at a national level. The Regional Coordinators’ Steering Group is strategically placed to represent the views and opinions of all members.

With the recent appointment of a dedicated membership services coordinator at the AUA National Office, and the rolling out of a new programme of services and support for the regions, this is an ideal opportunity to contribute to the development and growth of the association.

Please see the RC Remit, and Appointments process for more details. For informal queries about the positions, contact Sara Dixon (RC Steering Group chair) or Felix Mussell (Membership Services Coordinator).

Please submit expressions of  interest to by  23^rd October 2007.

Felix Mussell

AUA Executive Director

The Executive Director post has now been advertised, with a closing date of 21 September.  You can find details of this through AUA's new jobs noticeboard at http://www.aua.ac.uk/jobs/.

If you have a vacancy to you want to advertise there contact Felix Mussell on (0161) 275 8061 to find out how you can do so.

Bruce Nelson
Chair       

 

News from the AUA national office for members ….

I’m delighted to announce that the office has two new members of the team.

Kath Morgan joins the Events Team – replacing James Haden – and Kath will be responsible for booking speakers for our professional development programme and for the annual conference, among other things. She will be working with Matthew and Paul over the coming year to make sure that our 07/08 events programme runs to plan!

We also now have a Membership Services Coordinator in post – Felix Mussell, recently graduated from the University of Leeds. Felix will be working closely with Sara Dixon (RCs’ Coordinator), and directly with BCs and RCs, not only to support their promotional work for AUA, but also to develop a role description, an appointment process, and to improve communications within the BC network / national office. He will also be contributing to regional activities, so if you have local events where you would like office involvement, or presentations, let Felix know!

It’s great to have two more enthusiastic, interesting, energetic people joining us during this busy year in the national office, and I hope that you will be in touch to say hello to them over the coming months!

Details of both our new colleagues are on the website if you would like to make contact.

Liz

AUA Executive Director

Liz Bromley is leaving AUA at the end of September to become Director of Student Services at Salford.  This is a big promotion for her, and we wish her all the best for her future career.  The fact that she's got such a promotion so quickly in my view confirms what an excellent appointee she was, as has also the impact she has had on AUA in such a short space of time.

Caroline Auty is being appointed Acting Executive Director from 1 October until Liz's successor takes up her post.  We are delighted that Caroline has agreed to take on this role.  I know that she will do a really good job, supported by the excellent team in the office.

The Executive Director post will be advertised shortly.  We hope to complete the appointment process by the end of October, with the new Executive Director taking up his/her post early in the New Year.

Bruce Nelson
Chair