Category: College Announcements

College Leadership

The Council has begun the search for an individual to serve the College in the new position of Provost. The recruitment marks the start of the transition towards a new leadership model for the College, separating out the current responsibilities of the Rector.

The Provost will be responsible for the delivery of the College’s core mission: education, research and translation, and will report directly to the President & Rector, who will give emphasis to the College’s external affairs including development. The President & Rector and the Provost will together have responsibility for the strategic direction of the College.

In line with the beginning of the search for a Provost, from today Sir Keith O’Nions assumes the title of President & Rector. At the end of May the search will commence for a new President & Rector to succeed Sir Keith O’Nions following his retirement at the end of 2013, at which point the new leadership arrangements will be fully in place.

TOAST update – call for academics to participate

The College thanks academic staff who have already participated in the 2011-12 TOAST (Academic Staff Time) survey. Those who have not done so are strongly encouraged to participate. The current response rate is higher than the last survey, at 75.9%, but this is below the target of 80%.

The survey is anonymous. The information is used only at an aggregate level to determine the College’s costs of research, teaching and other activities. The results will be used to calculate the rates for research grants and contracts applications, supporting the College’s cost recovery.

Since the survey began in October 2011 seven of the 12 survey weeks have elapsed. All 1,200 staff who are required to be surveyed have been contacted to complete at least one of their three survey weeks.

All academic staff are asked to complete all of their remaining survey weeks. For more information, please visit www.imperial.ac.uk/planning/toast or contact TOAST@imperial.ac.uk.

Postgraduate Graduation Ceremonies – Wednesday 9 May

Over 2,500 graduands and their 5,300 guests are expected at the 2012 Postgraduate Graduation Ceremonies, which will take place in the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday 9 May.

In the morning ceremony, commencing at 11.15, graduands from the Faculties of Natural Sciences and Medicine and the Department of Humanities will be presented. Dr Martin Knight will receive a Fellowship of Imperial College in recognition of the outstanding contribution he made to the life and work of the College during his long association with Imperial, firstly as a member of the Council and subsequently as Chief Operating Officer.

In the afternoon ceremony, commencing at 15.30, graduands of the Faculty of Engineering and the Imperial College Business School will be presented. Professor David Lloyd Smith will receive a Fellowship of Imperial College in recognition of the outstanding contribution he has made to developing the student experience at Imperial. Ray O’Rourke will be awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science (Engineering) DSc (Eng) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to engineering and to the UK construction industry.

Academic staff are asked to register to attend by 23 April, completing the form at: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/graduation/staff/robing.

Receptions will be held at venues across the South Kensington Campus following the ceremonies.

Staff open meetings – roles of President & Rector and Provost

Representatives from Perrett Laver, the recruitment consultants appointed to assist with the search for the President & Rector and Provost, will be holding meetings to seek input to the process at the end of April. Staff attending will hear about the recruitment process and will have the opportunity to guide the consultants on the attributes and experience required in the College’s most senior leadership positions.

Staff are invited to attend the meetings on Wednesday 25 April:

11.00-12 noon – Hammersmith Campus – Lecture Theatre 1, Wolfson Centre

14.00-15.00 – South Kensington Campus – Pippard Lecture Theatre, Level 5 Sherfield Building

Details of the move to the President & Rector and Provost model were included in Staff Briefing #69

College Teaching Day

The Management Board has approved the following changes to the College Teaching Day which will be implemented from 2012-13:

  1. For undergraduate courses:
    1. Teaching hours will remain from 09.00 to 18.00 on weekdays. Wednesday afternoons will remain free from teaching and education activities from 13.00 onwards.
    2. The 12.00 to 14.00 lunchtime slots on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday and Fridays will be phased out, beginning with first year students in 2012-13, and extending to second year students in 2013-14 and to third year (and above) students in 2014-15.
    3. From 2012-13, the timetables of all first year students will include a 2 hour slot for co-curricular activities from 16.00 to 18.00 on Monday afternoons. All Departments must keep this time free for co-curricular teaching, which will be organised by the new Undergraduate Co-Curricular Committee, reporting to the Strategic Education Committee.
    4. From 2013-14, the timetables of second year students will include a 2 hour slot for co-curricular activities and, from 2014-15, third year students too. The exact times are to be agreed by Faculties, but must be kept free for co-curricular teaching.
    5. All Departments must ensure that the teaching day incorporates a lunch break of a minimum of 1 hour’s duration.
  1. For postgraduate courses:
    1. Departments have discretion to run courses at times appropriate to the needs of students, which may in some cases be in the evenings (e.g. Business School executive education courses), but not normally after 20.00.
    2. Wednesday afternoons will remain free from teaching and education activities from 13.00 onwards.
    3. Departments must ensure that the teaching day incorporates a lunch break of a minimum of 1 hour’s duration.
  1. In exceptional circumstances (e.g. major travel disruption), undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and examination activities may take place at the following times:
    1. Between the hours of 08.00 to 19.00.
    2. On weekends and Bank Holidays subject, where necessary, to staff contractual arrangements.
  1. In setting exam timetables, the following principles should apply:
    1. Students will not normally be expected to take more than one examination in any one day; exceptionally they make take two. Under no circumstances should a student be expected to take three examinations in one day.
    2. If a student is to be required to sit two examinations in one day, approval must be received from the appropriate Studies or Postgraduate Quality Committee. A minimum gap of 30 minutes between examinations must be provided for all students, including those granted extra time for health or disability reasons.
    3. Students should not normally be expected to sit an early morning examination after having taken a late afternoon examination the previous day.
  1. The opening hours of the Early Years Education Centre (EYEC) will remain unchanged.

Co-curricular education: implementation plan

The Management Board approved plans to implement the provision of co-curricular (‘beyond the curriculum’) education within the new framework for the College Teaching Day, both announced in Staff Briefing 69.

Key points agreed were:

  • The roll out of the new programme will be phased. The programme will be offered to first year undergraduates only in 2012-13, extending to second year undergraduates in 2013-14, then to third year undergraduates in 2014-15 and so forth.
  • The timetables of first year undergraduates will include an allocated slot for co-curricular activities from 16.00 – 18.00 on Monday evenings. Any departmental-specific co-curricular activities will be scheduled at other times throughout the week.
  • An Undergraduate Co-Curriculum Committee to include representatives of all Faculties and ICU will be established as a sub-committee of the Strategic Education Committee. The Committee will be responsible for consulting with departments to determine what co-curricular programmes are required, and overseeing the commissioning, approval and quality assurance of courses.

London Olympics 2012 – briefings for staff

Planning is underway to manage the impact of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the College’s operations. The Olympic Route Network, which will restrict usage of some main roads in London, will be in force between 15 July and 14 September. The period that is most likely to cause disruption to the College’s activities runs from 28 July to 5 August when the Olympic Games take place. The College intends to operate as usual throughout. Guidance for staff will be published over the coming month.

Staff interested to learn more about the impact on the College of the London Olympics are invited to briefings on the following dates:

St Mary’s Campus – 27 March, 10.30 – 12.00 Bannister Lecture Theatre

South Kensington Campus – 29 March, 10.30 – 12.00 Pippard Lecture Theatre

Hammersmith Campus – 30 March, 14.30 – 16.00 Lecture Theatre 3, Wolfson Education Centre

Update on proposed redevelopment of space on Level 0 Sherfield Building

The feasibility study examining the proposed redevelopment of Level 0 of the Sherfield Building was completed in mid-February. The Portfolio Review Board (PRB) reviewed the findings at a meeting on 24 February, alongside feedback received from staff and students across Imperial and a paper submitted by the Holland Club. At this meeting, the PRB agreed:

  • to change the space to offer a broader range of social and catering amenities for members of the Imperial community;
  • to fund the next stage of design work once the requirements for the space have been agreed by the Management Board.

Following that meeting, the Rector asked the Deputy Rector:

  • to form a task group to guide plans for the use of the space (as detailed below) which will make recommendations to the Management Board by the end of April;
  • to initiate a tendering process, inviting bids from groups within the College to run any catering and/or pub facilities included in the space, following agreement by the Management Board over the use of the space.

The Deputy Rector is in the process of appointing a task group to guide plans for the use of Level 0 of the Sherfield Building. The task group will review the feedback received from staff and students across the College during the feasibility study and make recommendations to the Management Board on the following points:

  • what catering, pub, social and other facilities should be included in the redeveloped space on Level 0 of the Sherfield Building;
  • who should have access to use these facilities;
  • the opening hours of any catering, pub and social facilities.

Membership of the task group will be as follows:

  • the Senior Dean (an elected member of academic staff) – Chair;
  • a member of the Holland Club Committee (a member of non-academic staff);
  • the President of the Imperial College Union.

 

College Tutor

Dr Lynda White, Senior Lecturer in Experimental Design, has accepted appointment as College Tutor with effect from 1 January 2012. She joins the team of existing College Tutors – Margaret Cunningham, Mick Jones and Simon Archer. College Tutors advise on student welfare matters, reporting to the Dean of Students, Learning and Teaching.

Dr White joined Imperial as a PhD student in 1969 and was appointed as Lecturer in Statistics in the Department of Mathematics in 1971. Subsequent promotions followed, and she held the positions of Mathematics Admissions Tutor from 1980 to 1987 and Senior Tutor from 1995 to 2011.

Acting Principal of the Business School

Professor Dorothy Griffiths OBE FCGI FRSA, Deputy Principal of the Business School, has accepted appointment as Acting Principal with effect from 18 February 2012, following the retirement of Professor David Begg. The search for a successor to Professor Begg, who has served as Principal of the Business School since 2003, is underway. Professor Griffiths will lead the Business School until the new Principal takes up appointment.