University appoints new senior leaders to support learning, teaching and graduate outcomes ambitions

Leeds Trinity University (@LeedsTrinity) has made two key senior appointments to support the delivery of its new institutional strategy.

Dr Fiona Shelton has been appointed as the founding Director of the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) and Ali Orr has been appointed as Director of Graduate Outcomes and Enterprise.

As founding Director of CELT, Dr Shelton will join the University in October and will lead the institutional strategy for learning and teaching, with focus on access and participation and providing an excellent learning experience for all students.

Dr Shelton has worked in the education sector for 27 years, across different educational contexts including the compulsory sector, national policy level and higher education. She was the founding Head of the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the University of Derby, where she was responsible for providing leadership for a number of strategic policy initiatives.

She was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2019 in recognition of her pedagogical approaches which adopt storytelling and story-making as a method for understanding educational experiences.

Dr Shelton said:

“This is an exciting time to be joining Leeds Trinity University, I am looking forward to working with colleagues across the University to embed the new strategic plan and further enhance the student academic experience, building on the University’s evident good practice across disciplines.”

Ali Orr will join the University at the end of November as Director of Graduate Outcomes and Enterprise, where he will be responsible for ensuring high-quality provision of student opportunities and high graduate employment outcomes, working with academic colleagues and employer partners.

Ali is currently Head of Graduate Outcomes and Employability at Kingston University, overseeing the development of innovative approaches to supporting student employability, including the award-winning Elevate accelerator programme for Black Heritage students, and a project to develop an institutional approach to embedding employability in the curriculum. Since 2016, he has served as an employability expert on the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) main panel and subject-level pilots.

Ali Orr said:

“I am delighted to be joining Leeds Trinity University as Director of Graduate Outcomes and Enterprise and to have the opportunity to play a key part in its ambitions to deliver excellent student outcomes. I look forward to building on the strong employer partnerships already in place that support student employability and regional growth, and to working with colleagues to embed employability and careers support in curriculum to the benefit of all students.”

Professor Charles Egbu, Vice-Chancellor at Leeds Trinity University, said:

“I am delighted to announce that Dr Fiona Shelton and Ali Orr will be joining Leeds Trinity University. Both appointments will play an integral role in championing and delivering the University’s areas of strategic focus including the provision of an excellent student learning experience and ambitions for careers and enterprise. I look forward to welcoming them and working together in the coming months.”