Missed out on the Arriva discounted bus ticket at the start of the year? You have another opportunity to purchase the discounted bus ticket which is valid until 31 December 2019.

The ticket allows travel on any Arriva bus all over Medway, Kent and East Sussex. This includes the 191 service which operates to and from Liberty Quays- Campus- Chatham- Isle of Grain, and stops on Pembroke campus and at Western Avenue and Dock Road for access to the Historic Dockyard Chatham.

The student annual ticket is £145 which works out at around 40p per day. The public price for this ticket costs £990!

To get access to these huge discounts you will need to enter the relevant promotional code. Once you have entered the code, the price will drop down from £990 to £145.

Learn more about the Arriva discounted tickets.

In the latest episode of the Nostalgia podcast series, Dr Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, speaks to Cecilia Sayad from the School of Arts.

In this week’s episode, they talk about growing up in Brazil, horror and the supernatural, initially wanting to be a singer, learning to speak and write English, bringing a guitar to parties, and why Cecilia never has the same routine each day.

The next Nostalgia interview will feature University of Kent Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox. For all the other interviews in this series please see here.

In the latest episode of the Nostalgia podcast series, Dr Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, speaks to Dan and Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok, who were based at Kent from 1975-97 before moving to Lampeter where Dan was Professor of Judaism.

In this week’s episode, they talk about being born by artificial insemination; being an unmusical child in a musical family; passing one’s driving test while singing hymns; addressing the negative perceptions that colleagues have of oneself by writing a novel about the experience; and whether nostalgia is good for us or not (here Dan and Lavinia take completely different positions).

The next Nostalgia interview will feature Cecilia Sayad from the School of Arts, followed in January by Olly Double – also from the School of Arts – who is a stand-up comedian as well as Reader in Drama.

You are now able to request annual leave and record sickness absence through Staff Connect; the University’s integrated HR and Payroll system.

This is part of the continuing development of Staff Connect which aims to streamline our HR processes and extend employee and manager self-service, providing a one-stop-shop for as many HR activities as possible.

With this new module, requests for annual leave will be automatically forwarded to line managers to authorise. If your line-manager does not usually authorise your annual leave, they can delegate this responsibility to another member of their team. User guides for both managers and staff regarding delegation set up and management are available on the Staff Connect Delegation page.

Staff Connect replaces existing local systems of recording leave and absence. If you have annual leave already booked or agreed for 2019, it will need to be re-entered into Staff Connect. This can be done retrospectively for staff who have taken leave in the first days of the New Year.

As well as booking annual leave, sickness absence also needs to be reported and recorded via Staff Connect which will automatically inform the Pay Office of your absences. This means paper-based or electronic sickness absence forms no longer need to be submitted to the Pay Office.  You will also be able to securely upload any doctors’ notes or medical certificates into the system which will reduce the amount of sensitive personal data that is currently recorded on paper and sent via internal mail.

Managers will also be able to record other absences for their team including compassionate leave, academic visits and trade union duties.

For colleagues in European centres, local arrangements will continue as usual.

If you have any questions about Staff Connect and the launch of this new module, there is further guidance and support available, including;

• Support sessions – available in January and February 2019
• Overview for managers of annual leave and absence management
• User guides for employees
• User guides for managers
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Who to contact for further support (pdf)

This is the latest update in the Staff Connect Phase 2 project. The new staff recruitment system, replacing i-Grasp, will go live in February.

On Monday 17 December, the Canterbury Food Bank came to collect the donated items and were pleasantly surprised. They couldn’t believe the amount of food donated in such a short amount of time.

Kent Bunny hasn’t quite had time to come around to thank everyone for their donations, therefore, would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kindness and generosity so close to Christmas.

Thank you!

A big congratulations to all Kent Hospitality and Gulbenkian staff who received awards at this year’s Annual Awards Ceremony [link to https://www.kent.ac.uk/hospitality/reward-and-recognition/annual-awards-ceremony.html].

On Thursday 6 December, 130 staff were recognised for having achieved nationally accredited qualifications in the last year, with over 200 awards presented. The event celebrated both departments passion to learn and develop, Pride awardees, achievements and professionalism.

The CECS (Consistent Excellence in Customer Service) Award was also presented at the event by Denise Everitt, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer. Many congratulations to runner-up: Sam Ranger, Street Kitchen chef and this year’s winner: Lucy Galt, Gulbenkian Café Bar Assistant.

Learning & Organisational Development are offering this practical workshop which focuses on aspects such as team dynamics, the realities of managing motivation and morale, as well as understanding how to adapt management style to best effect.

This course is aimed at managers and supervisors and takes place on Monday 14th January 2019. Book your place by logging onto Staff Connect.

I am very pleased to inform you that following a recent competitive selection process,  James Corbin has been appointed as Head of Careers and Employability.  As many of you will be aware James currently holds the post of Interim Head of Careers and Employability and I am delighted that he has been successful in his substantive appointment.  James will commence his new role this week, and I am very much looking forward to working with him, as is Jane Glew in her new role as Interim Director of Student Services.  I am sure you would like to join me in congratulating him in his recent appointment.

Professor April McMahon | Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Education