Celebration of Imperial’s Academic Registrar after 23 years of service

Vernon McClure looks back over his time at the College - News

Thursday 9 October 2008
By Naomi Weston

After 23 years of working at Imperial College Vernon McClure is retiring from his position as Academic Registrar.

Vernon joined Imperial in 1985 after working at the University of London and before that at University College London.

As Deputy Registrar and then Academic Registrar, he was responsible for the activities of the Registry, which covers all aspect of the student experience, Imperial Outreach, and the Careers Service.

He has also been involved in preparing academic departments for the external Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) reviews of teaching quality, the QAA’s institutional audit of the College’s overall quality assurance mechanisms and was secretary to a number of College committees.

As Academic Registrar, Vernon was responsible for the Registry

Vernon originally trained to be a teacher after studying for a degree in history but decided to pursue a career working with young people in university administration.

“As an undergraduate I worked as secretary of the university’s student’s union and found that I really enjoyed running things and that sparked my decision to work for UCL,” says Vernon.

Since 1977 dealing with graduation ceremonies has been a major aspect of his working life. At both the University of London and Imperial he has witnessed thousands of students graduate. “I was so relieved when my last graduation ceremony was over in May this year. I’m a worrier and in my role I was constantly watching the ceremony and looking out for things that might go wrong,” Vernon says.

He started off in the 1970s as a graduation steward for the University of London federal ceremonies in the Royal Albert Hall, making sure students received their degrees in the right order. “Ironically I used to never enjoy stewarding,” he says. “On one occasion the steward in front of me went the wrong way and I had to follow him but we ended up outside on the street and the whole ceremony had to be paused – and this was in front of the Queen Mother!”

This incident led to a five year ban from stewarding from the University of London. However, Vernon bounced back and has since overseen numerous ceremonies for the College. Looking back over all the graduation ceremonies, the Asia Convocation, a special graduation ceremony held in Singapore to mark the College's Centenary year, stands out in particular. “One of my favourite heart warming moments was during the Centenary Singapore graduation when a husband and wife graduated on the same day,” he says.

Over the years Vernon has witnessed many changes at the College. “The biggest changes have been the change in the scale of student numbers, the new building projects and refurbishment work and probably the biggest change was the introduction of the medical school,” he says.

So what was his favourite part of the job? “Definitely working with young people,” says Vernon. As Academic Registrar he held a weekly drop-in surgery for students to talk to him without booking an appointment. Issues ranged from personal and financial problems to poor research student or supervisor relations. “The students here are all really bright and I enjoyed holding the weekly surgery for students to drop in with any queries they had. I felt it was really important to be approachable rather than a distant figure in Registry,” he says.

Another part of the job he will particularly miss is his involvement with the Management training scheme and the Teaching Fellowships and Awards scheme which celebrates the best teachers and teaching methods at Imperial.

He adds: “It is so enjoyable to see people being rewarded for their hard work. I will definitely miss all the people I have worked with from across the College and the banter.”

Vernon’s plans for his retirement include learning to play bowls, continuing to play tennis, and, for the first time in years, travelling to America in October. “I have never been away in October as this is always our busiest time of year so I’m very excited,” he comments. He will also continue his work as a governor at his local school in Letchworth and become a consultant for the College’s solicitors.

In conclusion, for someone starting out in their career what advice would Vernon give to them? “My advice to someone would be to take every opportunity that comes their way,” he says.