AMOSSHE has appointed three new Executive Members to take roles on our Executive Committee for the 2023/24 academic year. Following an elections process Ian Munton (Director of Student Services, Aberystwyth University) and Andy Shanks (Director of Student Wellbeing, University of Edinburgh) have been elected as Executive Members. In addition, Sally Lambah (Student Advice and Guidance Manager, Wrexham University) joins the Executive Committee to take the vacant space created when Emma Bales was elected as the Vice Chair of AMOSSHE for one year.
Thank you to all our members who put themselves forward for election. Thanks too to Claire Slater (University of Bristol) who is stepping down from her role as Executive Member after five years. Many thanks to Claire for everything she has contributed to AMOSSHE.
Here are the nomination statements for our new Executive Members:
Sally Lambah is Student Support Manager at Wrexham University. Here’s Sally’s nomination statement.
I would like to be elected for the role of Executive member, I have worked in education for over 25 years and have worked in a university setting for the last four years. I connect with AMOSSHE to support the running of the department I work in and the knowledge and information gained by being a member of AMOSSHE helps my team and I provide the best service we can, and therefore being a Executive Member will support my university, but I can also bring my experience and knowledge to the AMOSSHE team. I also feel that to have a representative from Welsh universities on the Executive would add a different perspective, as we have different funding and requirements, that can be shared with other universities across the United Kingdom, and they share with us. So I would like to contribute to AMOSSHE and support all our universities across the UK.
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Ian Munton is Director of Student Services at Aberystwyth University. Here’s Ian’s nomination statement.
I would love the opportunity to represent our amazing AMOSSHE professional community as a member of the Executive Committee. Having moved to Wales two years ago to take on the role of Director of Student Services at Aberystwyth University I feel I am now suitably settled (professionally and personally) to meet the responsibilities that elected members of the Executive committee must commit to and uphold. If elected I would do all I could to work together with the Executive and with colleagues and friends across the sector to do the very best for us all, our teams and colleagues and the students that we support.
I have worked as a Student Services Practitioner for over 20 years and been a Head / Director of Services for fourteen of those years, and AMOSSHE has played a significant role in my professional development. The organisation and you as a leadership network have continually and positively influenced my work and that of my teams and colleagues. The output from the National Office, Committee and our sector network has kept me informed and energized and I have benefitted from some of the opportunities that the Executive and National Office have enabled, including being a former member of the Committee, representing us at an international conference and engaging in important sector discussions.
Through this time, I have worked alongside friends and colleagues within the institutions and with partners, within and beyond Student Services and higher education, to develop practice that is student-centred, professional and which has driven forward the standards that we set individually and collectively. I have had the great pleasure of working with brilliant people and leading teams that make up the breadth of our important work, including Mental Health and Wellbeing, Careers and Employability, Accessibility Services, Library and Learning Services, ResLife and Accommodation, Childcare services and others, and I have seen a lot, but I continue to be motivated and excited every day by the changing nature of the student and university experience and in wanting to do what is right and meaningful for our communities.
Andy Shanks is Director of Student Wellbeing at the University of Edinburgh. Here’s Andy’s nomination statement.
I believe passionately in the power that higher education has to transform people’s lives, and I would be hugely honoured and grateful if you voted for me to join the AMOSSHE Executive team. I am very excited about the opportunity to shape and contribute influentially to the future of our profession. I am keen to ‘put something back’ into (a) the organisation that has been so supportive during my six years working in my current role; and (b) the sector that provides us with opportunities to enable students to flourish and achieve great things.
Before moving to my current role as Director of Student Wellbeing at the University of Edinburgh, I worked for twenty years as a mental health social worker and then a senior manager within statutory mental health and social care services in London and Edinburgh. I learned a great deal during that time, and I have brought with me into higher education an awareness of (a) the value of taking a strategic approach; (b) the benefits the person-centred model brings within our work in Student Services; and (c) the significant, positive impact that working effectively in collaboration and partnership across team, departmental and organisational boundaries brings to people’s lives.
If elected to the Executive, I will bring passion, energy, enthusiasm and commitment to the role. I have a keen interest in the areas of student mental health and wellbeing; tackling gender-based violence; access and inclusion; widening participation and tackling discrimination; student engagement; continuous service improvement; and the positive impact that physical activity and sport can play in enabling students to thrive.
I will focus on how best we can deliver on these agendas, with a strong emphasis on ensuring we work closely with sector partners (for example UMHAN, Universities UK and HUCS). The work of Edward Peck and the interest of the devolved governments in student mental health and wellbeing provide significant, current opportunities for positive change within the sector. I am deeply committed to ensuring AMOSSHE continues to play a key role in shaping and influencing this work.
Find out more about the AMOSSHE Executive Committee.
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