Monthly Archives: September 2014

50th anniversary launch

The University is launching its 50th anniversary celebrations with ceremonies at its Canterbury and Medway campuses.

The ceremonies, which will take place at Canterbury on 1 October and at Medway on 2 October, will mark the beginning of a year-long programme of special projects and events across the institution, including at the University’s postgraduate centres in Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.

These include:

Innovative projects designed to shape the University’s direction over the next 50 years;
A series of inspiring lectures by University staff;
Student led history projects to showcase the University’s first 50 years;
A community open day at Canterbury in March 2015;
A public debate about Europe, hosted by the University’s Chancellor, Gavin Esler;
An alumni reunion weekend in September 2015.

The centrepiece of the celebrations will be a 33m tall Ferris wheel at the Canterbury campus. Open from 24 September until 19 October, the ‘Kent Wheel’ will provide students, staff and visitors to the campus with a rare opportunity to view Canterbury and its surroundings from a bird’s eye point of view. The Kent Wheel will return to the campus again from 1 July to 15 October 2015. Further information on the Kent Wheel is available at http://www.kent.ac.uk/50/

By the end of its 50th year, the University aims to have raised £1 million for the Kent Opportunity Fund which supports students working through financial hardship, scholarships and extra-curricular activities.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Keith Mander said: ‘After considerable planning and consultation we will launch our anniversary celebrations with what we hope will be memorable ceremonies at our Canterbury and Medway campuses.

‘The University’s anniversary activities over the next year will also give everyone the opportunity to be involved in and reflect on Kent’s many successes and achievements over the past fifty years, as well as contribute to the course and direction of the next fifty.’

For more information contact 50years@kent.ac.uk

New bistro at Medway

This week Cargo, our new bistro at Medway, opened for business!

Cargo is a 15-minute walk from campus, situated in Liberty Quays’ Block T of Victory Pier and is open to students, staff and visitors.

With its industrial themed interior, Cargo provides a modern, yet relaxed feel, with four different areas – a bistro, soft lounge, a bar with standing area and a performance space with adjacent booths.

Cargo’s menu offers modern bistro-style lunch and dinner options, at prices that won’t break the bank! All dishes are cooked fresh to order. View Cargo’s menu.

Opening times: 12:00 – 23:00, Monday to Sunday (term time only)

Food served:

12:00 – 21:00, Monday to Friday
12:00 – 18:00, Saturday and Sunday

Theme nights include ‘Ruby Tuesdays’ and ‘Shipwrecked’ on Fridays.

Go Green Day – 24 Sept

Kent Union will be running its first Go Green Day on Wednesday 24 September in the plaza outside Essentials, Canterbury campus.

It is a great opportunity to introduce students and staff to our local charities and volunteer groups.

Thanet Farmers Market will be there with a large selection of locally produced food and drink.

Contact: email H.V.Close@kent.ac.uk

Win tickets to The Italian Job

Publishing Officer Pat King has come up with a fun way to raise money for charity.

As part of her fundraising campaign for Variety, the children’s charity, Pat has devised a Wordsearch competition based on the film starring Michael Caine. The winner will receive two tickets to a special showing of The Italian Job in the Gulbenkian on Thursday 2 October.

All you have to do is email P.L.King@kent.ac.uk to request a PDF of the Wordsearch. Print it out and complete the form by finding the words hidden in the grid.

Completed forms should be returned to Pat King, EMS, The Registry by midday on Tuesday 30 September along with your £1 entry fee.

Correct entries will be entered into a draw and the winner will be notified by the end of the working day. If the winner has already bought tickets to the film, an alternative prize will be offered.

Macmillan fete and coffee morning

Kent Innovation & Enterprise are supporting the Macmillan World’s Biggest Coffee Morning on Friday 26 September and we need your help to raise as much money as possible for the Macmillan Cancer charity.

How can you help? In a number of ways:

Come along to the coffee morning being held on Rothford Lawn from 10.30am to 1.30pm. Buy a coffee and cake and network while having fun taking part in our mini fete.
Donate bottles (not empty please) for our bottle tombola, alcoholic, non-alcoholic, bottles of food items (jams, pickles etc), beauty items.
Provide a cake(s) for sale on the day, homemade or shop bought.

We have already managed to secure prizes from businesses in support of the event but need more help. Bottles can be delivered to Rothford ahead of the event and if you are donating a cake(s) we would be grateful if you could deliver these to Rothford before 9am on 26 September.

We are going to be holding our very own ‘Macmillan Bake Off’ for the best homemade cake.

Valuing everyone – EDI Workshop

The all-staff EDI Workshop, ‘Valuing Everyone: Building and Maintaining an Inclusive Culture’ is being rolled out across the University, following pilot workshops in the spring.

The workshop focuses on the benefits of building and sustaining an inclusive culture at Kent and connects directly with other initiatives that encourage the development of mutual respect, shared values, and collaborative working with the goal of positively influencing staff engagement and organisational performance.

To date, a total 492 members of staff across 12 schools/departments have participated, and a range of themes for further development within the teams have emerged, including:

Career Development
Collegiality
Communication
Appreciation of Diversity
The importance of the work environment

Further workshops will be offered across 2014/15, and the Learning & Development and Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity teams will be contacting heads of schools and departments across the coming months to discuss the workshops and allocate suitable time slots.

New Master of Turing College

New Master of Turing College is Dermot O’Brien, previously Master of Darwin and Woolf Colleges. He will be helping to support students and establish the identity of Kent’s newest College, named after British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing.

Newly-appointed Master of Darwin and Woolf Colleges is Dr Jonathan Friday, formerly Head of the School of Arts.

For a full list of Colleges and Masters across the University, see:
http://www.kent.ac.uk/student/colleges/

Keynes pond competition

As of spring of this year, Keynes student committee, alongside the College Master, have been looking into the refurbishment of our beloved duck pond.

To get the ball rolling, we invited students to design proposals to a specified brief.

There are currently five beautiful designs exhibited in Keynes teaching foyer. Please come and see the designs and complete a feedback form.

Your feedback will be taken to the pond committee who will use it to make the final decision.

Thank you for your help in improving and sustaining an area that is treasured by all.

For more information email s.stevenson@kent.ac.uk

View your timetable

You can now view your stage 2 and 3 module timetable on the Student Guide.

You must be registered on a module to be able to see the events associated with it in your personal timetable.

Check your timetable regularly before the start of term and beyond, as amendments may be necessary. Your school will contact you by email or text if last minute changes are made.

If you are taking any stage 1 modules your full timetable will not be available until later:

Science and Humanities modules will be available by 29 September
Social Sciences modules will be available by 6 October

All timetables will be available in time for your first class if you are properly registered.

Questions about your timetable?

Read the timetabling FAQs which cover everything from finding classrooms to using a personal calendar and who to contact for specific queries.

Please contact your school about any other matters – if they can’t answer your question they can direct it to someone who can.

Jobshop has moved

Jobshop have moved premises and we are now located on the central Plaza between Essentials and Blackwell’s.

All staff are very welcome to pop in and see us at any time with your staffing requirements or just to say hello! Alternatively, jobs can be emailed to us at jobshop@kent.ac.uk or via our website.

More exciting updates:

Jobshop adverts are now free for all University staff and departments.
Students want to work on campus; to support this objective adverts placed via Jobshop from 1 August 2014 are free of charge for all University of Kent staff and departments wishing to hire paid staff.No matter how big or small the job that needs doing, we can promote the opportunity for you to registered students via our online Jobs Board, email, social media feeds and our new shop window.Jobshop Temps is a staff bank of fully registered student staff all ID checked to comply with UK employment law. Temps are managed by Jobshop and you just pay for the time they work for you.
Jobshop graduates have been signing up this year’s leavers in order to help those who want to stay in the area find work. We currently have around 500 graduates signed up to receive email alerts about temporary and contract roles based locally. If you have a role that needs doing that cannot be fulfilled by a student, please contact us as we may have a graduate registered who would be able to help.
Our Virtual Jobs Fair goes live from Monday 29 September. We’re really keen to have as many jobs opportunities on campus as possible so if you have anything suitable for students that you would like to include, please email jobshop@kent.ac.uk as soon as possible.