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New Deputy Vice-Chancellors to strengthen the University’s top team

08 March 2007

 

The University of Teesside has strengthened its top team to support the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Henderson.

Two new Deputy Vice-Chancellors are to work alongside Professor Henderson and senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Leni Oglesby.

They are Professor Cliff Hardcastle, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) and Professor Cliff Allan, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development).

Professor Allan, from Harrogate, was formerly Deputy Chief Executive of the Higher Education Academy based in York.

He studied Politics and International Relations in Coventry and gained a Masters degree in African Studies from Birmingham University before working as a lecturer and aid-worker in the Sudan during the Ethiopian refugee crisis of the mid-1980s.

He then worked in fund raising and education for the development agency Action Aid before returning to higher education to work for the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council, which later merged with the Universities Funding Council to form the Higher Education Funding Council for England. He was Head of Learning and Teaching Policy.

In 2000, he helped set-up the Learning and Teaching Support Network which combined to form the Higher Education Academy, where he was Deputy Chief Executive.

Professor Allan said: “I’m looking forward to working in a dynamic and vibrant university with a can do, will do ethos. Teesside has a tremendous number of strengths and is continuing to build on the many achievements already made in terms of its access mission and regional purpose.”

Professor Hardcastle, from Blyth, Northumberland, was previously Dean of the School of Built and Natural Environment at Glasgow Caledonian University.

He originally worked as a site engineer before gaining a BSc (Hons) in Building at Lanchester Polytechnic and lecturing in Built Environment at Newcastle Polytechnic.

He then moved to the University of Westminster to head the School of Construction, Housing and Surveying before joining Glasgow Caledonian University, where he held various senior school and cross-university positions, including Dean of the School of Built and Natural Environment and Assistant Principal for Knowledge Transfer and Commercial Development.

Since 2002, he has been Visiting Professor to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and is engaged with the universities of Dundee, Loughborough and St Andrews in a major £1.25m research project.

Professor Hardcastle said: “I am delighted to be joining the University. I believe strongly in its underlying ethos, its inclusiveness, its commitment to the region and of course in its dedication to excellence. Its students are entitled to and deserve to have access to the best possible research and an education that fits them for their future careers.”

Professor Henderson added: “I am delighted by these new appointments. They will strengthen and provide leadership to areas that are key to the future growth and development of not just the University but the whole of the Tees Valley and wider region.”


 
 
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