Appointments - 1 August 2013

August 1, 2013

Loughborough University
John Heritage

The new professor of conversation analysis at Loughborough University said he was delighted at the opportunity to work with British students once again after a quarter of a century in California. John Heritage, who will combine the position at Loughborough with his current role as professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said it was something he had long hoped to do, despite the “challenge” posed by the British weather. He described the prospect of building research links between the two institutions as “exciting and enticing”. “Conversation analysis is a worldwide field, and one of its preoccupations is with linguistic and cultural diversity, together with the universal aspects of interactional dynamics across languages and cultures,” he said. “Regular overseas contacts are vital elements in its development, and many of us travel widely in pursuit of these aims.” Professor Heritage took his BA, MA and PhD at the University of Leeds, where he then worked as a research fellow and lecturer before moving to the University of Warwick. He has taught at UCLA for 25 years.

Queen Mary, University of London/University of Warwick
David Schalkwyk

A renowned Shakespeare scholar named academic director of a research collaboration dedicated to the playwright’s global impact has said that he is not obsessed with the Bard’s work. David Schalkwyk, who will head Global Shakespeare – a partnership between Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Warwick – said he was delighted with the appointment, even though he confessed to being occasionally “irritated by Bardolatry”. “I’m not really a Shakespeare ‘devotee’. I recall being overwhelmed by a production of Twelfth Night when I was eight…[and] I enjoyed Shakespeare at school and at university. [But] I wrote my PhD on a philosophical topic, not Shakespeare, and I wanted to go into the theatre when I was a student.” Global Shakespeare has been set up with the aim of shaping the research agenda in 21st-century studies of the Bard across all platforms including criticism, performance, history and media from television to digital reproduction. Professor Schalkwyk said he was keen to establish collaborative networks with existing Shakespeare institutions in the UK and around the world. “This is going to be the most challenging, but also the most crucial, aspect of the job,” he said. “If the notion of Global Shakespeare is to mean anything, this cannot be a Eurocentric venture. We need to be open to all approaches to and appropriations of Shakespeare, and to engage in conversations and exchanges in which we learn from each other as equals.” Professor Schalkwyk was previously director of research at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC and head of the English department and deputy dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town.

The Open University
Keith Zimmerman

The newly appointed director of students at The Open University said he was thrilled to be offered the position but at the same time “a little daunted” by the scale of the role. The university “is the largest education institution in the UK with around 250,000 students to look after – significantly more than my previous experience”, said Keith Zimmerman, currently director of student administration and services at the University of Oxford. He said that although distance and flexible learning present challenges in providing support, The Open University is at the cutting edge of the field. Joking that he had “dreamed of nothing but a career in higher education administration as a small boy”, he said that, like many of his peers, he had to give up postgraduate study to earn a living. “I began my career in higher education teaching political theory and working as an administrator at the University of Exeter, where I progressed to the position of academic registrar before joining Oxford,” Mr Zimmerman said. “I am quite certain that I have been of more use to students and my employers as an administrator than I would ever have been as a political theorist.”

John Thompson, Anglia Ruskin University

Anglia Ruskin University
John Thompson

Anglia Ruskin University has appointed John Thompson to the post of professor of social entrepreneurship. Professor Thompson, who is also emeritus professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Huddersfield, is a leading scholar in the field of strategic management. At Anglia Ruskin he will work closely with Andy Brady, director of the 3rd Sector Futures department, to develop the university’s expertise in charities and the third sector. “Social entrepreneurship continues to grow in significance in communities everywhere and it is important that we understand more about the entrepreneurs themselves – who they are, what they do and what they achieve and contribute – and tell their stories,” Professor Thompson said. “But I also believe in practice-led research and teaching, and will look to develop relevant new initiatives.” He studied at Lanchester Polytechnic (which later became Coventry University), Huddersfield and Cranfield University, and was previously head of the department of management at Huddersfield.

Other changes

The University of Chichester has named Simon Barker head of English and creative writing. Professor Barker was previously head of humanities at the University of Lincoln, and has also worked at the universities of Winchester and Gloucestershire and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Helen Marshall, currently deputy vice-chancellor for academic and business development at the University of South Wales, has been appointed deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Salford. Ms Marshall studied law before proceeding to postgraduate research in corporate merger law at the University of Birmingham. In 2010, she became the University of Glamorgan’s deputy vice-chancellor, having held positions at the University of Central Lancashire and at the University of Cumbria. She has also worked on secondment at the Quality Assurance Agency.

The University of Sunderland has made two appointments to its Faculty of Business and Law. Maxine Craig, head of organisation development for the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Michael Macaulay, associate professor in public management at the School of Government at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, have been made visiting professors.

Amanda Jones is to become director of development and external affairs at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. Ms Jones will take up the post in September, joining from the Crafts Council, where she has been director of external relations for the past five years. She has spent her entire career in arts management, starting as a press officer in regional theatre before working in media relations for the Royal Ballet. She later became head of press for the Royal Opera House and has worked at the Barbican and at the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

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