Dave Baker
Ken Evans (PVC, CEMPS) said:
“It is with great personal sadness that I have to announce the recent death of Dave Baker who passed away on Saturday evening.
Dave spent his entire working life at the University. He joined, as a Junior Technician, in August 1967 and had a long and successful career at the University for 47 years, most recently as an experimental officer, before leaving the College at the end of June this year.
Dave provided outstanding, highly-skilled, technical support to the University for many years. With a humorous and positive attitude to life he supported students and staff in engineering and elsewhere in the College, facilitating many creative solutions to a wide range of technical problems.
During his last years at the university Dave had to deal with a serious, chronic illness and it was to his great credit that he was more bothered about how this might interfere with how he helped others than the effects on himself. In recent months Dave, reluctantly, decided to leave the university and we all hoped that he would be able to get some enjoyment out of a well-earned retirement. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
Personally, I have known Dave for many years, most recently through his activities within X-AT and, before that, the Polymer Centre of the South West, providing a wide range of skills in mechanical engineering, polymer processing and additive manufacture. I am mourning his passing not only as an outstanding professional but also as a fine person, whom it was a pleasure to know”.
The funeral will take place at 12:15 on Monday, 2 Nov 15 at Exeter Crematorium.
IST membership
As part of our continued commitment to our technical staff and their personal/professional development, Technical Services have now agreed to cover the costs of initial membership fees to the Institute of Science and Technology (IST).
Whilst Technical Services will pay for the initial IST membership, if and when technical staff are ready to apply for their professional registration, individuals will be required to pay to cover their own individual registration fee (from £35 for RSci/RSciTech to £45 for CSci) and subsequent annual fees.
Pilot scheme
We have initiated an IST membership/registration pilot scheme to test the IST accreditation of our pathways within the Technical Services development framework. The pilot group consists of the following staff:
| Name | Role | College | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corrina Lowry | Laboratory Assistant | CLES | Penryn |
| Ian Leaves | Laboratory Assistant | CLES | Streatham |
| Samuel Bailey | Laboratory Assistant | CLES | St Luke’s |
| Jordanna Broom | Apprentice Technician | CEMPS | Streatham |
| Katherine Smith | Laboratory Assistant | CEMPS | Penryn |
| Malcolm Spence | Laboratory Technician | CEMPS | Penryn |
| Joseph Faulks | Research Technician | CLES | Penryn |
| Daniela Farina | Research Technician | CLES | Penryn |
| Natascha Steinberg | Research Technician | CLES | Streatham |
| David Milner | Laboratory Manager | CLES | Streatham |
| Andrew Foster | Laboratory Manager | CLES | Streatham |
| David Colridge | Laboratory Technician | CEMPS | Streatham |
| Mark Heath | Experimental Officer | CEMPS | Streatham |
| Yogesh Chaudhari | Experimental Officer | CLES | Streatham |
The Pilot group will become members of the IST, funded by Technical Services and supported through our Technician’s Development programme. We will be utilising the new tools we have developed and purchased from HEaTED, with the ultimate aims of:
- Developing every member of the pilot group through initial membership through to Professional registration at the appropriate level.
- Proving the Technical Services development framework pathways against the IST criteria.
Each member of the pilot group will be mentored, and will receive additional support during this trial period to ensure all our processes work, and that sufficient learning and development opportunities are available in our framework to enable all staff to achieve IST Professional Registration.
Pilot scheme next steps
- Pilot group will need to apply for membership by completing individual membership forms to be sent to the IST.
- When an IST membership application has been accepted by the IST, the applicant will be notified of the grade offered, at which time a full subscription payment will be required (within one month of notification). The payment notification should be sent to Michelle Hares who will raise a PO via a Technical Services budget code.
- Line managers will need to conduct CATTS assessments for pilot group.
- Line managers should then identify training needs (against the CATTS assessment and Training framework) – at least 2/3 of the CATTS profile should be within or above the candidates current grade. If they are below line managers should identify training needs and an action plan will need to be agreed between the line manager and the candidate.
- All training must be recorded on iTrent self service and copies of evidence of training must be kept locally.
- Initial professional registration application should be made by the pilot group at the start of April 2016. With a view of full registration by June 2016.
- All training gaps should aim to be completed within 12 months of the CATTS assessment.