End of first week….

The first week in a new job is always a kaleidoscope of new experiences; for a long time afterward you remember the variety of changing colours, even if the details fade eventually. What has made this week particularly memorable for me has been the warmth of the welcome I’ve received from everyone, with no exception. I head into the weekend looking forward to a bit of sleep, but also completely exhilarated by what I’ve encountered so far.

I’ve still got a lot to learn. But what’s already clear to me is that arriving just at the moment that we become a College gives us all a huge opportunity to decide our own fate. We’ve already started a couple of things to build on the great work already being done around here (and I’ve seen a lot of that already this week). Next Friday some of us will decamp to the Doubletree for a day to begin the work on our College Plan, which will, when it’s done, describe how the College will contribute to the University’s 5 year strategy. Everyone will have the chance to contribute to that as we develop it.

I’d also like us quickly to make sure that everyone knows we’re a new College. So with the support of our colleagues in central Marketing, I’ve asked a small group of our in-house experts to recommend improvements to our College’s online presence, especially the website, so we can make some changes there as soon as possible. Expect some requests fairly soon to make sure everyone’s web profile is up to date, to show prospective students why they must come to us to learn.

Our students can help lead the way here. I attended a fabulous workshop on Wednesday led by Hanya, whose students’ ideas on how to succeed in a digital world have encouraged me to start this blog; like me, I hope every member of the College will reflect on how they can improve their own online presence. Commitments are always more likely to succeed if made public, so I’m going to commit to writing a weekly update here, and I’d encourage all of you to post so we can make sure we have a good conversation going on round the College.

Finally, best of luck to Sarah, Sabine, Farhan, and Bradley who’ve been nominated for Student Union Awards and are attending this evening’s event. Their biggest worry seems to be wearing evening dress. I think photos will be in order, regardless of the outcome.

And there, I’ve managed to get to the end without mentioning Liverpool’s amazing win last night (you can take the boy out of the city, but…)