Appointments

University of Sydney

Rosina McAlpine-Mladenovic

After more than 20 years in the job, Rosina McAlpine-Mladenovic is still proud to proclaim that she loves teaching. The associate professor of accounting at the University of Sydney has had her efforts rewarded with an award for teaching excellence in the field of law, economics, business and related studies from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. She studied for an undergraduate degree in commerce at the University of New South Wales, and went on to gain master's degrees in both commerce and higher education. She also obtained a doctorate in accounting from New South Wales. Before entering academia, she worked as an auditor for Deloitte, Haskins and Sells. She then moved back to New South Wales as a lecturer before being appointed to her current role at Sydney. Professor McAlpine-Mladenovic said that teaching remained at the core of her work: "From the beginning, my work has centred on engaging, motivating and inspiring students by helping them to see the significant impact they can have on the world as future leaders in business and government."

University of Alberta

Deepali Kumar

A scholar who was at the forefront of work into the 2009 swine flu pandemic has been awarded the 2011 Gold Medal in Medicine by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Deepali Kumar, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Alberta, was recognised for her work on the treatment of transplant patients who contracted the H1N1 virus. Professor Kumar collected data from 237 cases of medically attended influenza during the pandemic after liaising with the American Society of Transplantation to reach physicians at 26 sites across North America. "It was really interesting to coordinate all those centres," she said. "Everyone was seeing patients with H1N1 and they weren't sure what to expect and what the management should be for these patients. Everyone was very enthusiastic to participate." Professor Kumar received her medical training at the University of Ottawa and went on to study infectious diseases at the University of California, San Diego and McMaster University, Ontario. She received a master's degree in transplant infectious diseases from the University of Toronto and went on to work for the University Health Network in Toronto before taking up her current role at Alberta in 2007.

Sheffield Hallam University

Jane Rogers

When the Man Booker Prize longlist was announced late last month, one academic was able to celebrate a nomination - after struggling to get her book published. Jane Rogers, professor of writing on the master's course in creative writing at Sheffield Hallam University, was nominated for her novel The Testament of Jessie Lamb, which she described as "an exploration of that moment when the power shifts and a teenager becomes independent from her parents". Professor Rogers originally trained as a secondary school teacher, and switched to teaching writing after becoming a published author. She received two Arts Council grants to be writer-in-residence at the further education institution Northern College in Barnsley and at what was then Sheffield Polytechnic. Despite being an active academic, Professor Rogers said she saw herself as more of a writer than a scholar. "I'm classed as 0.3 of a senior lecturer, so I'm one-third academic and two-thirds writer," she said. However she added that she enjoyed teaching and had no plans to leave it behind: "I have always taught and I love teaching at the postgraduate level because you're teaching serious writers who are very committed to their work." Professor Rogers struggled to find a publisher for this novel, her eighth, but it was eventually picked up by an independent Scottish publisher. "I didn't think about it in terms of prizes," she said. "It was knocked back a few times and that encouraged me to make it better."

University of Leicester

Grainne Conole

A chemist-turned-e-learning expert is joining the University of Leicester as head of its Beyond Distance Research Alliance. Grainne Conole, currently professor of e-learning at The Open University, gained a doctorate in X-ray crystallography and taught as a senior lecturer in inorganic chemistry at what was then the University of North London. In 1995, she was promoted to head of technology-based learning. Professor Conole said that the shift in academic discipline was not planned. "I started to experiment with creating interactive tutorials for my students," she explained. "When the internet came along, I started to use that. I didn't think of it as research at that point but I soon realised that technology had huge potential for student learning." After four years in the role at North London, Professor Conole left chemistry for a new post at the University of Bristol, where she became director of the Institute for Learning and Research Technology. She went on to join the University of Southampton as professor of educational innovation in post-compulsory education before moving to her current role.

OTHER CHANGES

The British Academy has elected new Fellows for 2011. They include: Dionisius Agius, Al Qasimi professor of Arabic studies and Islamic material culture, University of Exeter; Robin Alexander, Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge; John Baines, professor of Egyptology, University of Oxford; Timothy Barnes, honorary professorial Fellow, School of Divinity and the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh; Gordon Campbell, professor of Renaissance studies, University of Leicester; Janet Carsten, professor of social and cultural anthropology, University of Edinburgh; Jenny Cheshire, professor of linguistics, Queen Mary, University of London; Robert Crawford, professor of modern Scottish literature, University of St Andrews; Martin Cripps, professor of economics, University College London; Nicholas De Lange, professor of Hebrew and Jewish studies, University of Cambridge; Felix Driver, professor of human geography, Royal Holloway, University of London; Cécile Fabre, professor of political philosophy and tutorial Fellow in philosophy, Lincoln College, Oxford; Simon Frith, Tovey professor of music, University of Edinburgh; Raymond Geuss, professor of philosophy, University of Cambridge; Robert Gordon, Regius professor of Hebrew, University of Cambridge; Ruth Harris, lecturer in modern history and Fellow and tutor, New College, Oxford; John Healey, professor of Semitic studies, University of Manchester; Simon Hix, professor of European and comparative politics, London School of Economics; Sylvia Huot, professor of medieval French literature and Fellow, Pembroke College, Cambridge; Andrew Hurrell, Montague Burton professor of international relations, University of Oxford; Mark Johnson, director, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London; Neil Kenny, reader in early modern French literature and thought, University of Cambridge; Jeremy Lawrance, professor of Spanish golden age studies, University of Nottingham; Martin Loughlin, professor of public law and head of department of law, London School of Economics; Neil Macrae, professor of psychology, University of Aberdeen; Antony Manstead, professor of psychology, Cardiff University; Laura Marcus, Goldsmiths’ professor of English literature, University of Oxford; Alan Norrie, professor of law, University of Warwick; Susan Owens, professor of environment and policy and Fellow, department of geography, Newnham College, Cambridge; Andrea Prat, professor of economics, London School of Economics; Hélène Rey, professor of economics, London Business School; Lyndal Roper, professor of early modern history, Balliol College, Oxford; William Rowe, anniversary professor of poetics, Birkbeck, University of London; Carolyn Steedman, professor of history, University of Warwick; Jeremy Waldron, Chichele professor of social and political theory, University of Oxford; Alan Walker, professor of social policy and social gerontology, University of Sheffield; Arne Westad, professor of international history, London School of Economics; Per-Olof Wikström, professor of ecological and developmental criminology, University of Cambridge.