Congratulations to Alison Mansell, Student Conduct and Complaints Manager, and James Redmond, School and Business Manager, SSPSSR, who have both been made Fellows of the Association of University Administrators.

They join a growing list of AUA Fellows at Kent, which also includes: Wayne Campbell, Director of Student Services; Chloé Gallien, Master of Keynes College; Melissa Mulhall, Head of Administration, Social Sciences; Linda Lough, Head of Administration, Sciences; and Helena Torres, Centre Administration Manager, Brussels.

The AUA is the professional association for University professional services staff, with over 4,000 members drawn from all levels of University administration and management. AUA Fellowships are awarded based on criteria including continuing professional development, professional knowledge and capability.

Kent has 65 AUA members drawn from schools, faculties, Student Services, Information Services and Academic Division. Kent is joint 6th nationally in terms of its membership numbers. Earlier this summer, Kent Business School hosted the second AUA South Regional Symposium attended by 57 AUA members and non-members representing 13 Universities.

Our VC and President, Professor Karen Cox addressing the AUA South Regional Symposium 

A re-launch of the AUA@Kent network is planned for the autumn term as part of our aspirations to develop a wider range of local activities and events and raise the profile of the AUA across the University

Watch this space for more details!

Work on the University’s Athena SWAN gender equality charter now includes Professional Services and involves shining a light on some of the established practices that impact the experience of our Professional Services colleagues.

One issue that has been raised with the Athena SWAN team is the use of the term ‘non-academic’ to describe Professional Service roles. It may not seem immediately obvious or important but defining colleagues by what they are not has a negative impact on their identity.  Words matter and this is an example of everyday behaviour that can easily go unchallenged. We are asking all colleagues to avoid using the negative term ‘non-academic’ and instead describe roles whether they be Research, Academic or Professional Services by what they are, rather than by what they are not.

Please keep your feedback coming to athenaswan@kent.ac.uk

A reminder that our Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox, will be holding an Open Forum at Medway campus this Friday (6 July).

The Forum, from 10.30-11.30 in Pilkington Lecture Theatre, is open to all University of Kent staff. It’s an opportunity to share your thoughts on the University – what works, what doesn’t work and how you’d like to see things done differently. Your feedback will help to shape the review of the University strategy and priorities over the next few years.

If you are able to attend the Forum, please register your attendance here.

This week KMTV begins a brand new exciting TV schedule – 24 hours a day of KMTV and a new lunchtime bulletin! And a fresh look at Kent with the live outside broadcast show ‘Kent Goes Out’ on summer Friday evenings.

You can see the link to view the new schedule and listings now available for everyone on the KMTV website.

The new look brings Vintage Comedy mornings with The Lucy Show, Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney Show, a Food Morning on Wednesdays, weekday western afternoons with Bonanza, The Lone Ranger and Hawkeye and The Last of the Mohicans, and new guaranteed times for films (Midday Movie for musicals, comedies and classics, 2pm Films including popular sci-fi creature features, Midnight Movie with horrors and 1970s classics, and 9pm Films at the weekends).

At lunchtimes every weekday there is a NEW lunchtime news bulletin at 13.45. And Kent Tonight remains KMTV’s flagship show at 17.30-18.30 each weekday, repeated at 21.15 and with an 20.00 bulletin in-between.

Saturday and Sunday mornings have been given over to Children’s TV with  programmes running from 06.00 such as Zoo Babies and cartoons, then the newly made British children’s series Teenie Weenie leading into the classic tales of boy and horse Champion the Wonder Horse and Fury.

The evenings feature our own shows and vintage US crime series, sci-fi, factual looks at space and aviation, a bit of celebrity and some football heroes..

Dragnet and Man with a Camera , One Step Beyond and Sherlock Holmes  are all classic series in our evening schedules. And to help us remembers that ‘all that glisters is not gold’ we’ve got Pain Behind the Fame and Hero 2 Zero.

Our own shows: Team Talk at 18.30 on a Monday and repeated throughout the week; Chris & Co for business on Wednesday at 18.30 and repeated; the music show Bassed in Kent on Thursdays and Fridays at 20.45 and Paul on Politics live at 17.00 on a Friday and repeated over the weekend. Made in Kent our food show, Kent Says given over to viewers’ opinions and Kent Thinks featuring University of Kent lecturers are throughout the week.  And the kmfm Breakfast Show kicks off every weekday with Gary and Laura at 6 simulcast on the channel.

Due to popular demand, we have added extra tickets for our first Staff and Student Communications on Tuesday 4 September 2018.

The conference is being  hosted by Corporate Communications, from 9.00 – 14.00, in Keynes teaching foyer, seminar room and lecture theatre. Lunch will be provided.

If part of your job involves creating communications for colleagues and/or students at the University, this could be the conference for you! It will give you the chance to network with other professional communications colleagues at the University, share best practice and learn some new skills.

You will be able to:

• hear from an external speaker who is an internal communications expert (name to be confirmed shortly!)
• take part in a social media workshop
• ask students and staff your communications questions
• learn how Corporate Communications can support you.

Register now for the event via Eventbrite.

If you have any questions about the conference, please email communications@kent.ac.uk.

On Wednesday 20 June (Medway) and Friday 22 June (Canterbury), join us for breathtaking performances to launch the Kent Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

Leading UK companies NoFit State Circus and Motionhouse bring together their unique styles in BLOCK, a powerful fusion of dance and circus that pushes the limits of both art forms. With its daring physicality, split-second timing and thrilling feats, BLOCK leaves audiences gasping.Twenty oversized blocks, fashioned to resemble giant concrete Jenga blocks, are deconstructed and reformed into an infinite variety of shapes for the performers to play on, move with and explore. BLOCK is about life in the city; its contradictions and challenges.

You may remember Motionhouse as the company who brought the dancing diggers to bOing! in 2015. They combine circus and dance to create spectacular, physical performances that have wowed crowds across the world. We are delighted to have them back at the University once again.

The performance times are:

Medway

• 12.15 (at staff BBQ)

Canterbury

• 13.30 (as part of the staff BBQ)
• 16.30 (open to all staff and public)

Everyone is welcome, and the 16.30 performance is open to all family and friends as well – so please spread the word. https://thegulbenkian.co.uk/event/block/

The ‘Challenges of Religious Urbanization in Africa’ workshop, funded by the British Academy/Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) through the Religious Urbanization in Africa (RUA) project, will be held on 26 June 2018. It is hosted by the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Lagos, in collaboration with the University of Kent.

The aim of the workshop is to gather a unique set of speakers to discuss current and urgent issues relating to intersections between infrastructure and the expansion of religious organisations in African cities. The key questions to be considered are

• Do religious infrastructures ameliorate or exacerbate everyday challenges of safety, inclusion, and security?
• How should development policies and analyses take account of religious dynamics and religious actors in urban African contexts?

Amongst the speakers is Dr David Garbin, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, who is Principal Investigator on the Rua Project.

The workshop programme is available on the Rua website.

A session has been arranged to take place in Medway on Friday 29 June, 11.00-12.30pm in the Medway Building M1-22.

Dr Anthony Manning is pleased to be working in collaboration with Dr Silvia Colaiacomo at UELT on the Curriculum Internationalisation Development Sessions (CIDS) focusing on mechanisms to develop and enhance curriculum internationalisation within modules and co-curricular educational activities.

The CIDS are designed to respond to an objective which features in both Kent’s Institutional Plan and our Internationalisation Strategy.

For further details including session outline please see: https://www.kent.ac.uk/teaching/networks/ltn/index.html#062018CIDS

To book a place, email cpdbookings@kent.ac.uk

The University was proud to be a sponsor of Canterbury’s third annual Pride celebration on Saturday 9 June.

Nearly 100 staff, students, alumni and colleagues from Kent Union marched together as part of the event. Kent’s group was organised by colleagues from the LGBT+ Staff Network and Kent Union.

Over 1,100 people joined the parade, up 400 from last year, which was followed by a festival of entertainment including a craft fair, local food stalls and music from members of S Club 7.

The parade marched up Canterbury High Street into Dane John gardens. The atmosphere was one of jubilation and unity as people from all over Kent joined together to celebrate diversity, and remember those around the world who cannot attend such events, for fear of persecution or harassment.