Author Archives: Charlotte Crooks

Meet Francesca Simon at first family-friendly In Conversation

Francesca Simon is universally known for the staggeringly popular Horrid Henry series and is at the Canterbury campus on Saturday 28 October for the first family-friendly In Conversation.

University Chancellor, Gavin Esler, will chat with Francesca Simon about her books, characters and favourite Horrid Henry moments, in an event suitable for young and old fans alike. Tickets for the talk cost £5 (£4 for staff/students/children).

Carry on the fun by joining us for a tea party. Following the conversation, there will be a Francesca Simon-themed tea party for all ages with an exclusive book signing and a chance to meet Francesca herself! Ticket prices are £3 per adult and £2 per child, inclusive of food and drink at the tea party.

Prize-winning poetry collection: A Scattering

Pilgrims Hospices, in collaboration with the School of English, will be hosting a reading with poet Christopher Reid as part of the Canterbury Festival. Lucinda Gane, Christopher Reid’s wife, died in October 2005. A Scattering is his tribute to her and consists of four poetic sequences, the first written during her final illness, and the other three at intervals after her death. Winner of the Costa Prize 2009 and Shortlisted for the Forward Prize and the T S Eliot Prize.

Christopher Reid reads from his Prize-winning poetry collection: A Scattering
Date: Saturday 14 October
Location: 2nd Floor, Waterstones, Canterbury
Time: 18.30 for a 19.00 start
Cost: Tickets £3 available from Waterstones. All proceeds to Pilgrims Hospices

Praise for A Scattering

‘Immensely moving. Reid is a first-rate poet and this is his best book to date’ – Wendy Cope

‘A lucid, cogent panorama of grief and loss’ – The Guardian

‘A moving, unsentimental record of loss’ – Independent

Following the reading we will invite the audience to join us in a discussion with Christopher Reid and Theresa Rowlstone, an Associate Nurse Practitioner at Pilgrims Hospices, about the poems and the wider issues they raise in dealing with grief and the death of a loved one. All are welcome to attend, but places are limited so please pop into Waterstones to book onto the event or email education@pilgrimshospices.org if you have any questions.

Fire alarm testing

Essential fire alarm testing will be carried out by an in-house engineer during October.

Each test will last no longer than two minutes. All rooms will need to be accessed, as this testing is a legal requirement.

Mandela Building – Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 October
The Venue – Wednesday 18 to Friday 20 October
Marlowe Building – Monday 23 to Friday 27 October

We apologise for any inconvenience. If you have any queries please contact the Estates Helpdesk on Extn 3209.

Academic Advisers: review and recommendations

Colleagues are invited to attend the Learning and Teaching Network session ‘Academic Advisers: review and recommendations’ taking place on Wednesday 18 October 2017, 13.15-14.30 in Cornwallis North West Seminar Room 6.

The session will be presented by Dr Alexander Hensby, Research Assistant, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research and Dr Louise Naylor, Director of Unit for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching.

The Academic Adviser system at Kent was first implemented in 2012 to all first-year students and then rolled out to all undergraduates from 2014-15 academic year. The system has been evaluated as part of the Student Success Project and overall, the report endorses the retention of the Academic Adviser system for its contribution to the delivery of undergraduate tuition and support, in the context of expanding cohort size, rising tuition fees and the increasing diversification of the student body.

In this session, a summary of the review and recommendations for improving the implementation of the Academic Adviser system will be presented to ensure that all undergraduates can benefit from the one-to-one support, subject-specific guidance and personal representation provided by Academic Advisers. Read the full report

Please email cpdbookings@kent.ac.uk to book a place.

Try a new board game for researchers

Be among the first to play The Publishing Trap, a fun new board game, during Open Access Week at Kent.

There are sessions at Medway on Monday 16 October, and at Canterbury from Tuesday 17 – Friday 20 October.

While you’re trying out the game and meeting other researchers, staff from the Office of Scholarly Communication and the Information Services Research Support team will be there to answer any questions you have about research support at Kent – especially about open access and open data.

Find out more and register your interest

Postgraduate-level literature courses

An advanced-level programme of short courses is being held at the University’s Tonbridge Centre in November. The centre is only a few minutes walk from the railway station, which offers good connections to Canterbury West (approximately an hour), Kent and London.

Literature
African-American Writing after 1960: from Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter
Wednesday mornings (1, 8, 15, 22 November).

This exciting course looks at core texts representing a significant moment of black writing in America:
James Baldwin, Another Country (1962)
Amiri Baraka, Poetry selections (1970s-1980s)
Toni Morrison, Jazz (1992)
Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric (2014)

The tutor, Claire Hurley, is highly recommended by Dr Michael Collins, Senior Lecturer in American Literature. He said: “Claire’s knowledge and understanding of the literature and politics of the late 20th-century US is simply extraordinary. She is one of the most talented, original and passionate lecturers working in her field and student feedback confirms that.”

Find out more or book online.

Please contact us with any queries.
Web: www.kent.ac.uk/tonbridge/postgraduate
email: tonbridgeadmin@kent.ac.uk

Memorial Lecture for Alf Smyth

As many will recall, Alf Smyth was Professor of Medieval History and Master of Keynes College. Alf died last year, and on Friday 27 October the School of History and the Master of Keynes College are organising a lecture in his memory. Tim Tatton-Brown will be lecturing on ‘Canterbury and the Domesday Book’ at 18.00, in Grimond Lecture Theatre 1, with drinks from 17.30

All are very welcome to attend.

Online rubrics and grading forms

Online rubrics and grading forms: Sharing practice across the University

This month’s E-Learning Forum (ELF), taking place on Thursday 26 October 12.00-13.30, UELT Seminar Room will be exploring how the additional feature of Turnitin Feedback Studio is being used by markers across the University.

Academic staff will be sharing their experiences of using both rubrics and grading forms to provide feedback to their students.

The event is an opportunity to find out how schools and centres are using these online tools and to get their tips on how best to employ them.

This is not a training session, but if you are interested in creating rubrics/grading forms, please contact your Faculty Learning Technologist before or after the event.

To confirm your attend at the ELF please email cpdbookings@kent.ac.uk

Teaching awards briefing

Considering an application for an individual National Teaching Fellowship or a team Collaborative Awards for Teaching Excellence? Come to a briefing session on Tuesday 17 October 2017.

Every UK university can nominate up to three individuals annually for a National Teaching Fellowship award, a process administered through the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA). The aim of National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) awards is to recognise individual excellence in teaching and/or supporting higher education learning. The HEA also recently developed an award to recognise the increasing importance of programme teams in teaching and student learning support: The Collaborative Awards for Teaching Excellence (CATE). While both NTF and CATE are very competitive (55 NTF and six CATE awards are made nationally), University staff have enjoyed success in both, including the 2017 round.

This briefing, presented by Fran Beaton, UELT, Academic Practice Team, is an opportunity to find out about the criteria, the application process, timescale and available support and hear about the experiences of previous NTFS and CATE winners.

Date: Tuesday 17 October 2017
Time: 13.05 – 13.55
Venue: UELT Seminar Room, Canterbury

Please confirm your attendance to cpdbookings@kent.ac.uk

Special Collections & Archives is on the move!

Our new dedicated space for Special Collections & Archives on the lower ground in Block A of the Templeman Library is now complete, and our collections are currently being moved into their new permanent home. All collections will be stored in the same space again, so it will be much easier and quicker to access material.

The Reading Room will remain open. However, as collections will be travelling between stores, we need as much notice as possible if you’d like to come in and see material, ideally a week.

If you’re a student booked in for a group visit, it’s still happening! All seminars, inductions and groups are going ahead as planned.

If you’re an academic who’d like us to host a group visit, please get in touch. We’re still taking bookings for seminars this term (and next year), but it may not be possible to host a session at the last minute unless it’s already booked.

The move is scheduled to take about three weeks. We’ll keep everyone updated on the Special Collections & Archives blog and on the website.

The Special Collections & Archives team will remain in their current office on the first floor in Block A, Templeman Library. If you have any questions or queries about the move, please get in touch.