Anthony Rosie, 55
Centre Director (2-3 days per week)
C-SAP LTSN CENTRE FOR LEARNING AND TEACHING:
SOCIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY AND POLITICS
Job advertised in The THES May 16 2003.
The disappearance of Birmingham University's renowned department of cultural studies in 2002 cast a pall over the search for a director of the National Centre for Learning and Teaching for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (C-Sap).
The bid to host the centre, one of 24 subject centres that form the Learning and Teaching Support Network, had come from sociologists and anthropologists in the department, but many staff left or were shifted when the department was "restructured".
C-Sap's previous director, Sue Wright, a senior lecturer in the department, had left for Denmark. Anthony Rosie was chosen to succeed her.
Colin Rickwood, pro vice-chancellor of academic quality and students at Birmingham, was on the interview panel. He says: "The disappearance of cultural studies has caused problems because of the reaction of some groups who have not been prepared to support the centre. We have had to make sure C-Sap is seen as distinct from this department."
Rosie, a professor of social science at Sheffield Hallam University and a national teaching fellow, wanted a job with a more national focus. He works two days a week in Birmingham, squeezes his Hallam teaching commitments into two days, and spends one day on NTFS work.
"I continue to teach because it is essential to doing the job. It has enabled me to bring a breadth from the subject centre to SHU and vice versa," he says.
"My main task has been changing the strategic direction from small projects to more national ones, such as on e-learning and employability."