You may have noticed that last week...there wasn't an update from myself!
Wow it's been busy! Last week we had our formal introduction to Noel Morrison, the University's new Academic Registrar and Student Experience Director, and Georgina Kelly, the new Head of Marketing. It's always great to meet staff who are new to the institution and to shout about everything we do for our members, and I hope (and I'm confident) that we can work well together with Noel and George to get some great outcomes for Students.
The week continued with a great success. The University's Board of Governors decided to invite another Student Representative on the Board, meaning another Officer will become a Governor and direct student input into the accountability of the institution will be increased A very progressive step, and wholly positive from the entirety of the Board and Executive.
Friday drew last week to a close with the Holocaust Memorial Event. This saw local schools, religious leaders and residents coming into the University to join students and staff in remembrance of some of history's worst atrocities. The day was uplifting however, with the children taking part in workshops around the University and the fantastic story of the Stoke on Trent-Lidice partnership being reformed thanks to the hard work of Alan and Cheryl from Art Venue CIC; connecting with Stoke on Trent City Council and the University.
Monday and Tuesday this week saw the Students' Union Leadership Team (Trustees, Officer Trustees, Senior Management and Managers) coming together off-site to construct our 5 Year Strategy. Those days were the culmination of much hard work and focus, and were a great success. A positive and well informed process allowed this group to analyse stacks of data and research, identifying key areas of work and themes that will make up the SU's priorities and plans.
The next steps are finishing the one page plan through consultation with our full student and core staff, putting this one page to consultation with the whole membership online, and finally having the strategy approved via a referendum in March which runs alongside our Leadership Race - the elections to choose your new representatives.
For the meantime however, there's still lots going on. Kim will be attending Academic Board today, and the whole team will be meeting with University Executive for a liason meeting, and the rest of the trustees for a Board of Trustees meet. On Friday, we'll also be a part of the interview process for the new Finance Director. This person will succeed Neil Scott, who has been fantastic to work with during his time at Staffs and has been a close colleague of the SU. Gary will be prepping the final stages of Versus (the alternative Varsity), Emma will be representing at Nurse Council in Shrewsbury and Vic is working with the University on National Student Survey and others.