Our staff lunch on the City Campus on Friday was a lovely way to end the week. For those unable to get there, a few highlights below, a photo (I seem particularly skilled at snapping the back of people’s heads!) and slides attached.

My thanks to Kate and Tracey (my PA in the College) who did a stellar job organising the event – from sourcing caterers to preparing slides, directing staff through the b.13 labyrinth and making sure we ran to time.

• We welcomed staff who have joined the school this year and farewelled Jen who will be leaving us at the end of June.
• We celebrated our recent PhD completions and congratulated the 2017 grANT winners as well as two recent ECP grant successes.
• We also congratulated VE staff on positive NPS results just released.
• Mandi, Kathy and Peter K presented updates on the three major projects, summarising the major work that has already taken place to rethink our locations, alignment, programs and research.
• Questions touched on the financial health of the school and the DSC Discipline Alignment and Academic Leadership paper released earlier in the week. I do encourage everyone to review the details and contribute your thoughts online. We will also set up a time to talk through responses.

Paul’s “peroration” closed the session, focusing on a positive future for the school under a VC passionately committed to L&T. He encouraged us to think about the health of the school in terms of our quality, viability and strategic alignment. In preparing my report for the PVC in June I will continue to work closely with the project leads, picking up the core themes that Paul discussed – our points of differentiation, our partnerships and an outward focus.

I am pleased to have the chance to continue to work with you all for another 6 months. My thanks to you all for making me feel so welcome and especially to the members of the Senior Leadership Group, who have been a great source of vision and support. I look forward to the coming months.

SoE May 2017 Town Hall