UCLAN New Vice Chancellor Prof, Mike Thomas

UCLAN New Vice Chancellor Prof, Mike Thomas

Jan, 4 2017


~Experience in life both academically and in career pursuits comes with time. A great wealth of knowledge and employment roles takes many years and can take even decades to establish and gain a distinguished reputation.

UCLAN’S Professor Mike Thomas has won the support of his colleagues and has been awarded the new Vice -Chancellor. He has been Interim Vice-Chancellor at the University and will transition immediately into the permanent role.

Professor Mike doesn’t go into the role with limited experience. Having been Deputy Vice Chancellor for some time at UCLAN as well balancing roles at University of Chester as well as a researcher in psychology and mental health. In addition he has also played important roles in prestigious Universities’ across the country including Leeds, Salford and Wales. To finish he is also a practising clinician and a submariner in the Royal Navy.

Here he speaks on receiving such an accolade and the positive impact UCLAN has on it’s students,

“Working as Interim Vice-Chancellor over the last eight months has been the most intensive induction programme that I could ever hope for. I feel as if I already know the University inside out – its strengths; the areas where it needs to improve – but most of all, I feel a true affinity for the ethos of the institution. This is a University that changes peoples’ lives for the better, through its research and predominantly through its teaching and learning and the impact it has on the community around it. As someone who passionately believes that there is an onus on universities to do social good, and in the power of university education as a social enabler, I feel very much in tune with the approach taken at the University of Central Lancashire."

UCLAN is a large, ambitious University and is consistently changing for the good of it’s students and the hierarchy in which Mike is part of. It’s an amazing achievement and a clear testament to both the skills and the experience he has that makes him unique as a defining  Vice - Chancellor, especially more so now  as a clear mandate is being presented covering the 2015-2020 Corporate Strategy.

 

David Taylor, Pro Chancellor and Chair of the University Board expresses these words of eagerness in collaboration  with Mike and the prospects of UCLAN over the next five years or so,

“These are exciting times for UCLan with the backdrop of significant change heralded in the recent Higher Education Green Paper. I look forward to working closely with Mike as he leads the University through this landscape and makes significant positive change at UCLan in the coming years.”

Professor Mike Thomas has these final, concluding words of insightfulness regarding his role and his appreciation upon receiving such a responsibility,

“It’s a fascinating and highly challenging role, but having worked with the staff and the students here I have seen that we have the potential to really make an impact over the next few years. I would like to thank David Taylor and the Board for entrusting me to lead the University on a permanent basis.”

^Alex Ashworth