Professor April McMahon to step down
30 Jan 2025
April will leave position as VP for Teaching, Learning and Students later this year
Professor April McMahon is stepping down as Vice-President for Teaching Learning and Students this summer to take on a part-time role as Associate Vice-President, focussing on student conduct and discipline, and fundraising for student support. She will also continue as Professor of English Language and Linguistics.
April joined the University in October 2019, and within only a few months was thrust into a leading role in our university’s response to the COVID pandemic. This included the significant work of transferring all teaching online in March 2020 and ensuring support was available for staff and students as we adjusted to lockdown.
The lessons from the pandemic influenced our increased emphasis on flexible learning, which has supported different ways of teaching to the benefit of the student experience.
In 2019, April also oversaw the establishment of the University’s Institute of Teaching and Learning, which has dramatically increased the number of academic and PS colleagues, and indeed students, who are awarded Advance HE fellowships at all levels. The activities of the Institute are designed to increase teaching excellence at Manchester and it runs a highly successful conference each year.
April has been an advocate for increased support for students. A raft of measures around cost of living, including a payment to all students, helped the University win a THE Award for Outstanding Support for Students, and recently she championed an initiative to increase our bursaries and scholarships, extending them to more than 1,000 additional students through changes in household income thresholds.
All of these initiatives and many others have been delivered through close work with our student community and Students’ Union. April has placed a strong emphasis on co-creation, and the University now has a strong record of paid student partners who work on all aspects of teaching and learning. These initiatives and others, supported by many staff and students, led to the University being rated Silver overall, Gold for Student Outcomes, and Silver for Student Experience in the most recent Teaching Excellence Framework.
April said, “I’ve been incredibly proud to work with so many dedicated and talented colleagues and students during my time in this role. Even through the disruption and stress of the pandemic, we have continued to prioritise support for our students, helping them achieve the best possible outcomes at university.
“I’m really glad that I am going to remain at Manchester, teaching students, representing the university on external bodies, and helping with student conduct and discipline and fundraising.”
Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor, said: “April’s expertise and innovative approach during the pandemic was crucial to our ability to respond effectively, and she’s been a tireless champion for students and teaching excellence at our university in every aspect of her work and since I arrived. I’m pleased that she’ll continue to make a significant contribution to our students’ experiences at Manchester through her teaching and support of our educational ambitions for the future.”
A recruitment process for our new Vice-President for Teaching Learning and Students will begin shortly.