Life is meant to be lived as a celebration

Hello

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading our guest bloggers over the last few weeks. They’ve shared some humourous and very personal experiences. I wondered if Adam’s and Kirsten’s stories had motivated you to take action? Have you offered, or are you in the process of arranging work experience or an internship? It would be great to hear from you if you have.

I thought I would continue with this positive feel and share some of the successes at our Staff Awards last week. This is an annual event held in Cheltenham Town Hall. As our Vice Chancellor, Stephen Marston, stated in his welcome:

“Our staff are at the heart of everything that we do. It is your drive, energy and passion to make a difference to the lives of our students that makes us successful. That is why our Staff Awards event is so important. It allows us to recognise and celebrate what individual members of staff and teams across the university have achieved.”

The Awards are split into Student Led Staff Awards and Staff Excellence Awards. Student Led Awards include Most Inspiring Lecturer, Most Engaging Module and Best Practice in Promoting Equality and Diversity. Staff Excellence Awards include Inspiring Colleague, Outstanding Team and Diversity and Inclusion.

Whilst congratulations go to all those who were nominated and particularly to the winners, I thought I’d profile the winners of the equality, diversity and inclusion awards. These awards were introduced in 2017.

Best Practice in promoting Equality and Diversity is awarded to a “member of staff who goes above and beyond in promoting awareness of equality and diversity issues both within the university and the community”. The winners were Archan Mehta, Senior Tutor in Accounting, and Zoe New, Lecturer in Accounting and Finance. Their nomination is set out below:

“The lift in the business school had broken, and as I use a wheelchair this prevented me from getting to the second floor for the IT skills seminar. Archan therefore taught the whole group in the computer lab on his own, and Zoe came downstairs and found a computer that she could teach me on.

This meant that I was able to access the same learning as everyone else, and meant that the rest of the course made sense to me.

Thank you to both Archan and Zoe!”

 

Professor Kamal Bechkoum receiving the award on behalf of Zoe and Archan

The Diversity and Inclusion Award “recognises the contribution and success of colleagues who have shown outstanding commitment to proactively developing an inclusive workplace, making the university a fairer and more welcoming place to study”. This year’s winner was Andrew Lansley, Senior Lecturer in Popular Music and Radio Production. A summary of Andrew’s achievements is highlighted below:

“Andrew has shown a genuine commitment to develop an inclusive learning environment for all his students. He has actively worked with his students on the autistic spectrum to develop course materials that they can all access. His co-creation created a space for their voice, typically marginalized, to be heard. An integral part of Popular Music and Radio Production are trips. He has made special arrangements to ensure that these students are able to engage fully in these visits, enabling them to access all aspects of the degree course”.

Andrew Lansley receiving his award from Ruth Davies

I hope that you will agree, all three are deserving winners.

The real positive though is that the nominations were spread across the university, both academic and professional services. Tangible evidence that we are starting to embed good practice, creating a positive culture and more inclusive environment.

 

Don’t forget you can keep up to date with everything that we do by following us on Twitter @UoGEquality.