University to bid farewell to long-serving manager

One of Teesside University’s longest serving employees is to retire, 40 years after arriving as an undergraduate student.

Mark White, Head of the Vice-Chancellor’s Office and Secretary to the Board of Governors, is stepping down at the end of February, but his association with the University will not end as the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Professor Paul Croney has announced he will be made a Visiting Fellow.

Originally from Stoke-on-Trent, Mark came to what was then Teesside Polytechnic as a student nearly 40 years ago, becoming President of the Students’ Union in 1979-80 and 1981-82.

He started work at the Polytechnic in 1982, and was appointed Head of the Vice-Chancellor’s Office at Teesside University in 1999.

Mark is Chair Designate of Stockton Riverside College Governors, Chair of Abingdon Primary School Governors, Chair of the Association of Colleges Governors Council, a board member of the Education and Training Foundation, a Director of the Longfield Academy Trust, Darlington, a trustee of the Halo Project and a member of the Council of Governors of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust. He will continue to lend his support and expertise to Teesside University as a Visiting Fellow.

An avid Middlesbrough FC supporter - but with his first love being Port Vale FC from his native Potteries - Mark is also a keen music lover, citing Mott the Hoople and Led Zeppelin among his favourite artists. Other claims to fame include the little-known fact that in 1975 he was a member of a team of six that held the then world record for the longest ever game of snakes and ladders.

Commenting on his retirement, Mark said: 'The decision to leave Teesside University is one of the hardest I have ever had to make, but I will be taking away some cherished memories and the knowledge that I have been part of an institution that has positively shaped the lives of so many people in Teesside and across the world.

'Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley have been my home since I arrived here as a student in the 1970s. Back then I never imagined I would have such a rewarding and fulfilling career and I am hugely honoured to have been part of the University for such a long and successful period.'

Professor Croney said: 'With over 33 years’ service as a senior officer of the University, Mark has made an outstanding contribution to our institution and to public life. He will always be formally associated with our University.'

Alastair MacColl, Chairman and Pro-Chancellor of the University, added: 'Mark has been a source of inspiration within the University for decades and has made such a positive contribution to the wider educational and community landscape. The Board of Governors hold him in the highest regard and offer him every possible best wish for the future.'

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