Join us for one of our events on the Kent Gives Back weekend this May. Kent Gives Back is a community outreach project which unites students, staff and alumni by encouraging them to take part in a local community project such as volunteering at a homeless shelter or a food bank or helping tend to a garden (and much more). Network and get to know fellow alumni and current students in the area.

London: Saturday 12 May, 17.00 – 00.00

Join us as stewards for The MoonWalk London on the evening of 12 May at Clapham Common – 15,000 women and men walking either a full or half marathon in their fantastically decorated bras, raising millions of pounds and awareness.

Walk the Walk is the UK’s largest grant-making breast cancer charity that is dedicated to not only raising money and awareness for vital breast cancer causes, but to also encourage women and men to become more aware. They organise the famous MoonWalk overnight power walking challenges and are immensely proud to have raised over £122m to improve the lives of people living with cancer now.

Please use this registration link and this password: KENTUNI to join the Kent crew for the Saturday evening shift!

Canterbury: Sunday 13 May, 11.00-14.00

We will be stewarding for the Cloisters 2 Oysters 2018 sponsored bike ride supporting the Rethink Mental Illness charity. This is a great chance to get involved in a local charity cause and have fun supporting the riders, who will be cycling through the Kent Canterbury campus!

The Kent Gives Back team have also been invited to join riders and volunteers after the ride at The Dolphin Pub in Canterbury.

Email N.Fleet@kent.ac.uk to sign up or for more information.

Would you like to join Kent Hospitality’s reception team from June to October 2018?

You will be required to work 15 to 35 hours per week including evenings and weekends. Hours will vary from week to week and are not guaranteed.

Rates are:
•£8.46 p/hr 16 – 24 years old
•£8.97 p/hr 25 years and over (Living Wage)

Applicants must be able to demonstrate exceptional levels of customer service, computing and cash handling skills, and the ability to work calmly and accurately under pressure, both alone and as part of a team.

If you think this summer vacancy is for you, please apply by emailing your CV and a cover letter to l.maclean@kent.ac.uk

Closing date for applications: 22 May 2018. This may close early if we receive a large number of applications.

The Creative Language Development (CLD) workshops are designed to help non-native speakers engage with English in unusual and creative ways. All workshops are offered in a friendly, enjoyable and engaging manner.

CLD students take part in a variety of creative exercises, including listening to music and analysing lyrics, team quizzes, play reading and outdoor activities. The latter in particular is something that many students have responded to enthusiastically.

Each workshop provides opportunities for students to speak, practice pronunciation skills and learn new vocabulary. Participants are encouraged to make links with students from different cultures. CLD provides a mutually supportive and stimulating learning environment, helping students to deal with some of the challenges which can arise when studying in a foreign language.

A shared lunch gives students a chance to network informally, develop friendships and share their experiences of living and studying in the U.K..

The workshops require no preparation and involve no additional study commitments.

Any student interested in taking part in a Creative Language Development event can book online using SLAS Connect. Further information is available on Moodle (DP1350).

From Monday 16 – Friday 20 April, the Partnership Development Office ran the large ‘Da Vinci Days’ outreach event on the Medway campus.  The Da Vinci Days have been running yearly since 2012 and are designed to encourage students to engage with the sciences and the arts, and to develop engineering, creative and team work skills.

Over the course of the week we welcomed over 400 Year 7 students from Brompton Academy and Chatham Grammar School for Girls, the two institutions included in our schools sponsorship.  For many participants, this was their first experience of visiting a university campus and meeting current students.

The days each started with an interactive talk, introducing students to the concept of bridge designing and building.  Students then worked in teams, with the support of student ambassadors, to find inspiration on the Medway campus and build the strongest bridge possible using materials such as straws, tape and plasticine.  Students were also judged and awarded points for their design and teamwork skills.  Each day culminated in a final competition putting bridges to the test using bags of sugar as weights.  The winning teams will be awarded with a trip to the Science Museum in London in July.

The days were organised and delivered by the Partnership Development Office in collaboration with the School of Engineering and Digital Arts and Kent School of Architecture.  Outreach and Academic Student Ambassadors supported and worked in a range of roles to ensure the event went smoothly and the participants had a positive experience.

The event was a great success and enjoyed by all involved. Mark Cawthorne, Assistant Principal from Brompton Academy has said that “the students had a fantastic time and I think it was the best year yet!”

We look forward to running the event again next year.

Members of staff from the Estates Department were recently awarded Highly Commended Awards at the AUDE (Association of University Directors of Estates) Awards Gala Dinner at Canterbury Cathedral’s Chapter House.

Sarah Cooke, Head of Customer Services and Engagement, was Highly Commended in the Chair’s Award for Long Term Contribution. Sarah was reocgnised for continually developing her role and contributing within the Estates Department, the University as a whole, and to the local community. Sarah joined the Estates Department in 1989. She was shortlisted alongside three long-standing University Directors of Estates.

The Head of Customer Services and Engagement, Sarah is an excellent example of someone who has continually developed their role and sought to contribute more and more both within the Department, to the University and to the local community. Having joined the Estates Department in 1989 as a Data Operator within the Maintenance section, Sarah spent the early years of her career gaining knowledge and experience in various aspects of the Estates Department’s activities

Most recently, in keeping with the department’s independent approach to value and goal setting, she has been instrumental in developing the CHOICE value system. As a result of her work with Investors in People, Sarah recognised the significance of implementing a set of core departmental values, as these are the essence of the department’s identity and underpin the behaviour of the team.

Sarah has also been closely involved with development of the Estates Management Development Programme (EMDP) specifically targeted at giving managers the right tools to do the job, and which has now been recognised at institutional level.

Community and social responsibility are two key drivers for the department’s outreach work and Sarah has driven these with unswerving enthusiasm and dedication since the outset. This includes organising key annual events to engage staff and fundraising for local and national charities – in particular, the Estates Charity Christmas raffle, which was an idea Sarah developed in 1999, and brings together Estates staff, local suppliers and businesses in collaboration to raffle off prizes to staff with all proceeds going to charity. The charity is selected from many nominated each year by staff members. The department then adopts this charity for the year; and this idea has led to several thousands of pounds going to worthwhile causes.

Emily Mason, Environmental Sustainability Assistant, received a Highly Commended award in the Emerging Talent Award category, for her project, Futureproof. It uses the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for staff and students from across the University to assess the impact of their activities and create bespoke, targeted action plans to improve. By developing Futureproof, Emily has delivered something with far wider-reaching impacts than we had ever envisaged. This approach represents a significant change for the better as Universities are extremely diverse and are not suited to a one-size-fits-all approach.

To support the University’s continued commitment to the LFHE’s (Leadership Foundation for Higher Education) Aurora programme, a number of initiatives, discussions and events are open to ALL members of staff throughout the year.

The next University of Kent Aurora@Kent Event will be on Tuesday 15 May, from 13.00 to 14.00, on our Canterbury Campus, Cornwallis East Seminar Room 2.

In this session, three panelists will reflect on their leadership styles and strategies, and take questions from the audience. The panelists are Patricia Baker, Head of Classical and Archaeological Studies; Juliette Pattinson, Head of the School of History; and Louise Naylor, Director Unit for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (UELT). The format will be brief talks followed by informal Q and A.

This is an open event and EVERYONE is welcome! ALL colleagues, ALL genders, and ALL disciplines.

Booking is not required for this event.

In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding this Aurora @Kent event or the Aurora Programme, please do not hesitate to contact Jena Dady, Learning and Organisational Development Adviser or a member of the Learning and Organisational Development team.

College Life is a sense of community that is encouraging Medway Staff to engage in social, physical, recreational and cultural activities for the purposes of creating a sense of community and belonging to Medway College.

You can choose to attend as many of the following events as you wish during the Summer Term 2018. Please email your interest and attendance beforehand to MedwayMastersOffice@kent.ac.uk

Professor Joe Connor, Emeritus Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in the School of Physical Sciences, died on 14 April 2018.  Professor Connor was appointed as Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in 1981 and was Director of the Chemical Laboratory from 1981 to 1990. He was appointed Dean of Natural Sciences in 1988, and in 1990 he was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor (until 1996). Before Kent, he had been at Manchester.

His research interests included organometallic chemistry and then later in his career specialising in thermochemistry of organometallics. He enjoyed teaching and was a clear minded and calming influence in the Chemistry Laboratory and Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Professor Mark Burchell
Dean of Sciences

There will be a funeral service for Joe Connor at St Thomas of Canterbury Roman Catholic Church on Monday 30 April 2018 at 14.30.  On Tuesday 1 May at 11.00, there will be a celebration of Joe Connor’s life. This will be held at the University’s Darwin College, Conference Suite 1.