Director of Sheffield University Television. This unit was charged with supporting the institution’s video requirements and it was a long established and well respected entity when I joined, with a staff of eleven. However, prior to my arrival it had experienced something of a crisis of direction following an ill conceived commercial venture and the departure of a number of senior staff, including the previous Director. My role as the new Director was to re-establish focus and stability.
Early on I was able to bring in a number of changes; the two most significant being the explicit linking of the unit’s work to the support of learning an teaching, and then tying the work in a very transparent way to the strategic priorities of the institution as judged by a peer-review panel. The unit flourished during my time as Director, collecting a significant number of international prizes for educational video work, and gaining a profile internally as a key player in supporting learning and teaching. Throughout this period new media and technologies were developing on a month by month basis and it was important the unit kept abreast of these. So change, and managing the challenges that come with it, was the order of the day.
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