Jackie Campbell
The phrase "no pain, no gain" could have been invented for Jackie Campbell, professor of neurophysiology at the University of Northampton. Professor Campbell has been awarded an honorary Fellowship from the British Association and College of Occupational Therapists. After a PhD at the University of Liverpool, she worked in the field of medicine and healthcare researching the processes of pain and pain relief at the Walton Hospital in Liverpool. "Early on in my career, we would end up doing hands-on pain research on ourselves," she explained. "Some days I would find myself electrically stimulating my own teeth, all in the name of research. That experience means I'm certainly much better at going to the dentist now." The pain has paid off for Professor Campbell, who said of her Fellowship: "It was a complete and unexpected surprise. I have been working in the healthcare sector of higher education since 1987 and I guess I am a bit of a weird mix - a chartered physicist, a neurophysiologist and a chartered statistician rolled into one." She also acts as a part-time research adviser for the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists and is an adviser and board member of the National Institute for Health Research.
Nick Mount
A scholar whose lectures are described by his students as "songs" where "everything is made literature" has been honoured for his contributions to teaching and learning. Nick Mount, a professor in the department of English at the University of Toronto, was selected as one of Canada's 3M National Teaching Fellows for 2011, an award given in conjunction with the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Professor Mount said he was honoured to accept the award as "the best awards actually come from people who do what you do". Fellowship candidates are nominated for the award by colleagues and/or students, and Professor Mount said he was grateful to all those who contributed to his 57-page recommendation. "It means a great deal to be recognised by people who care about the same things you do - teaching - and not just in the classroom but across the university," he said. "I'm joining the company of people whose work I've admired for a long time." He added: "What I enjoy most is the challenge of taking some large and complex bodies of information and trying to translate what I know into terms that any thinking individual will understand - especially when I see the 'light bulb' going on. You don't understand anything until you have to teach it."
David Shilbury
Australia's first professor of sport management has been named the first non-North American recipient of the Earle F. Zeigler award from the North American Society for Sport Management. David Shilbury, who teaches at Deakin University, studied for his undergraduate degree at Edith Cowan University in Perth before moving to the US to take an MSc in sport management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He returned to his native Australia to study for a PhD at Monash University, which he completed in 1995. Professor Shilbury was appointed foundation professor of sport management in the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin in 2000. He said that while the sport management market had grown substantially since his appointment, other elements of the subject remained the same. "What has not changed is the tension between how much money is directed to elite sport compared with mass participation programmes," he said. "More revenues have allowed sports to do more, but the balance is still fiercely debated." The Earle F. Zeigler award recognises significant contributions to the field of sport management, based on scholarship, research, leadership and peer recognition. But Professor Shilbury said it was his students that made his position truly worthwhile. He said: "Many of our graduates have contributed to new approaches to what is now the business of sport and that, for me, is what makes it worth getting up in the morning to do more to develop sport."
Harry Whitehead
The University of Leicester has appointed Harry Whitehead to a lectureship in creative writing. Dr Whitehead used to work in film and television production, but said that he had always harboured dreams of becoming an academic. "I don't think I ever saw myself staying in the film business forever," he said. "I always saw myself as an academic in the wrong role. My heart was always elsewhere." He said that he "quietly" pursued master's degrees in medical anthropology at University College London and creative writing at Birkbeck, University of London, before undertaking a PhD in creative writing at Lancaster University. Dr Whitehead said of his decision to switch disciplines: "They seem disparate on the face of things, but I had a story I wanted to tell." The story, about a native Canadian anthropologist tried for cannibalism, became a novel - The Cannibal Spirit - which will be published next year.
OTHER CHANGES
Newcastle University Business School has appointed Tom Maxfield, founder and chair of the Entrepreneurs' Forum, David Goldman visiting professor of innovation and enterprise.
Richard Verrall has been appointed pro vice-chancellor (strategy and planning) at City University London. He was associate dean (research, knowledge transfer and international) at City's Cass Business School.
Bournemouth University has appointed Tim McIntyre-Bhatty deputy vice-chancellor, responsible for student experience, education and professional practice. Professor McIntyre-Bhatty joins from the University of Wales, Newport, where he was assistant vice-chancellor and dean of Newport Business School.
Charles McGhee, former editor of The Herald and Evening Times, has been appointed honorary professor in journalism and media studies at Caledonian Business School at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Mark Racz, pianist, teacher and deputy principal of the Royal Academy of Music, has been made a Fellow of the Birmingham Conservatoire.
De Montfort University has appointed: Ian Blatchford, director and chief executive of the National Museum of Science and Industry, as chair of the Board of Governors; Claire Baines, the University of Sheffield's academic secretary and head of academic services, as its chief operating officer; and David Wilson, dean of the Faculty of Business and Law at De Montfort, as deputy vice-chancellor. Andy Downton, currently pro vice-chancellor for academic standards with responsibility for the Faculty of Humanities and Comparative Studies at the University of Essex, has been appointed pro vice-chancellor (learning and teaching), replacing Heidi Macpherson, who becomes pro vice-chancellor (research and innovation).
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