Birthday honours bestowed at Teesside University

Professor Katherine Leni Oglesby, former Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Teesside University, has been awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Professor Oglesby retired from Teesside in 2009 but maintains strong links with the University and is a very generous donor. Each year she sponsors 12 student prizes and her generosity has touched the lives and improved the career opportunities and aspirations of 48 students. That number will reach 60 this year, an incredible figure.

Professor Oglesby held academic and senior management positions at Leicester, Sheffield, Lancaster, Surrey, Manchester Metropolitan before moving to Teesside. She also undertook a secondment to the Policy Division of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

She is now serving her second term of office as a member of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) where she also chairs the Student Experience, Teaching and Quality Committee.

Professor Graham Henderson CBE DL, Vice-Chancellor of Teesside University, said: 'This is such a well deserved accolade for someone who has given outstanding service to higher education.

'The student prizes, sponsored by Leni Oglesby, are highly valued by the winners and by the whole University. To have personally made a difference in the lives of 60 students is, in itself, incredible but Professor Leni Oglesby has done so much more by giving her time and dedication to Teesside and to many other universities and higher education agencies to promote and embed the quality of the student experience within higher education.'

Professor Oglesby said: 'I am both surprised and delighted by this honour. I have always believed in the vital role that higher education plays in society and nowhere is that more apparent than at Teesside where the University is at the heart of the community.

'I have watched Teesside grow and shine with an energy and vision that inspires students, staff and the community. I hope it continues to grow in this way and I can continue to play a small part in that.'

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