Board of Directors 2024
The following directors were elected to the Board at the Annual General Meeting on 25 January 2024:
Chair: Dr Lucy Faire
Lucy Faire is a founder member of Leicester Vaughan College and has sat on its board since the College was re-established in 2017. Lucy has a background in teaching mature students at university level which she has done since 2002. She taught at the former Vaughan College and in the Vaughan Centre of Lifelong Learning. She is also an Associate Lecturer for the Open University. Between 2015 and 2020, she was an external examiner for the University of York’s Centre for Lifelong Learning.
You can read more about Lucy here.
Secretary: Dr Miriam Gill
Miriam Gill has taught art history and history to mature students over a period of 20 years in a wide variety of institutions including Morley College, London, and for the universities of Birmingham, Nottingham, Oxford and Cambridge.
She has worked for the Vaughan Centre and at the former Vaughan College since 1998. She was the course director for the Certificates in Art History and Architectural History and has been a tutor for the part-time Certificate and BA in Humanities and Arts. She also teaches at the Richard Attenborough Centre.
Treasurer: Blase Lambert
Blase Lambert has been a leading player in the UK co-operative and community led housing sector for the last twenty-four years. He is the Chief Executive Officer of the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, is a founder member of Community Led Homes and is the Treasurer of Co-operative Housing International. His areas of expertise are corporate governance, risk management and financial control and he has numerous publications to his name.
Student Representative Director
Sally Birch
Sally Birch studied with the Vaughan Centre of Lifelong Learning, completing both her Certificate of Higher of Education and her BA Hons in Humanities and Arts. Following her degree, she trained to be an English Teacher in a SEMH (Social, Emotional, Mental Health) Secondary school. Sally is now the owner of Karma Corner Gifts.
Sally organised and led a campaign to try to save the Vaughan Centre of Lifelong Learning in Leicester. She is passionate about transforming lives through education.
Directors
Professor Bill Jones
After graduating in English Literature Bill Jones joined the Adult Continuing Education Department at Southampton University, where he took a leading role in developing university access and widening participation for the local community. In 1998 he moved to Newcastle University as Professor of Lifelong Learning. From 2003-2008 he worked for the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE). He has been a leading member of the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning. His research interests include the history, policy and practice of adult education. and interdisciplinary links with his other research field of English literature especially of the eighteenth century. He has published widely in both these fields, including a history of rural adult education a history of university adult education 1981-2006, and a definitive edition of the poetical works of William Falconer.
Dr Jane Watts
Jane Watts has a long experience of the co-operative movement, having been a member / worker in a range of co-ops and on co-operative boards, most recently the board of The Phone Co-op. She worked at one time at the Co-operative College. Her background is in community education practice and adult education policy; she has a long commitment to developing access to education for all and at all levels. She is retired from working at the Learning and Work Institute (formerly NIACE).
Jane’s working and activist life includes a commitment to pro-active equality and diversity inclusion. She maintains a research interest in older people’s learning.
Dr Bradley Phipps
Bradley is a Researcher at Learning and Work Institute (the successor to NIACE), where he works on a range of projects related to learning, skills, and employment. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Leicester, and prior to his current role, worked at the University, where he focused on delivering a research-inspired education strategy. In 2019, he was Curator and Project Lead of the Journey to Justice Leicester exhibition and events, which showcased histories of local activism. He is passionate about the power of education to open opportunities for people of all backgrounds.