Visiting Professor: University of Plymouth

I’m honoured to be invited to take up this position for the next three years or so. I’ve had a long and pleasant association with Plymouth, ever since its former time as a Polytechnic, and it is a place which has always put teaching to the fore, as evidenced by being awarded four CETLS when such things were available. Visiting somehow seems more ‘alive’ than Emeritus, and I look forward to being on trains between Newcastle and Plymouth. Even better, Sally has been offered likewise, so we’ll try to visit together whenever we can.

EuroCHRIE 2010 Conference, Amsterdam

Phil failing to look distinguished!

 I was very proud to be awarded the EuroCHRIE ‘Laureate Hospitality Award’ for 2010 at a splendid gala dinner at the end of the conference in Amsterdam on the 27th of October. The citation speech said very kind things about my innovations in the field of learning, and the generosity of making things available on my website. The photo shows two things: (1) I do have a bow tie, and (2) my attempt to look like a ‘Laureate’ can only be described as sinister!

Normally when I’m in Amsterdam I head for the Concertgebouw, and excellent classical music. On this occasion however, I was only in Amsterdam for the evening of the dinner. Fortunately, between courses, two young violinists gave us all a spectacular performance, including Bach’s Toccata in D minor, Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No.5 in E minor, and Grieg’s ‘In the hall of the mountain king’ (probably in A minor).

Musical enlightenment?

European Award for Phil!

I am delighted to have been selected by the EuroCHRIE Award Nominating Committee as the recipient of the “The 2010 Laureate Hospitality Education Achievement Award”.  “This Award recognizes an individual educator or trainer for outstanding achievement in contributing innovative ideas, methods or programs that have advanced teaching, learning or practice in the field of hospitality and tourism education. Award recipient must demonstrate exceptional professional ability and/or commitment through service to EuroCHRIE and/or to the hospitality industry and education. The Award Ceremony will take place at the Gala Dinner Celebration on Wednesday 27th October at the 2010 EuroCHRIE Conference in Amsterdam”.
Many thanks to clients at the University of Bath and Queen’s University Belfast, who have allowed me to rearrange bookings to enable me to be present at the conference.

30 years of post-its

I’ve become known for using post-its at keynotes and workshops, but credit where credit is due – we owe them to Spencer Silver, Geoff Nicholson and Art Fry. Patrick Barkham outlined the history of the post-it in ‘The Guardian’ on 26th April, and I’ve made a few slides telling the story, which you can download here. History of Post-its (728 downloads)