Appointments to Stranmillis University College Governing Body

Economy Minister Diane Dodds has announced the re-appointment of the chair and seven members to the governing body of Stranmillis University College.

Public appointment

The Minister has also announced an extension to the term of office of one member and the appointment, from a reserve list, of two new members to the governing body.

Professor Sir Desmond Rea was re-appointed until 12 May 2021 while Dr Esmond Birnie, Mr Edgar Jardine, Mrs Claire Moore and Mr William Patterson have been re-appointed until 31 July 2022. Mr Kenneth Nelson and Mr Robert Thompson have been re-appointed until 28 March 2023. All the re-appointments commenced on 1 April 2020.

The tenure of governing body member Mr Richard Hanna had been further extended for one month from 1 April 2020 to 30 April 2020.

Dr Maureen Bennett and Dr Lavinia Boyce have been appointed. The appointments commenced on 1 July 2020 and are for a four year period.

The appointments were made in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland. More information is available at the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland website.

Notes to editors: 

1. Stranmillis University College was founded in 1922 by the then recently established Ministry of Education for Northern Ireland to provide state-funded teacher training alongside that already available at the existing St Mary’s College. Both institutions have become academically recognised as university colleges of Queen’s University Belfast. Stranmillis offers teacher training for the primary and secondary school sectors as well as professional development courses, a BA in Early Childhood Studies and a BSc in Health, Physical Activity and Sport.
2. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.  However, the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland requires the political activity of appointees (if any declared) to be published.  None of the appointees has carried out any political activity in the past five years.
3. Pen pictures are available on the Department’s website.
4. Follow us on Twitter.
5. For media enquiries contact the Department for the Economy Press Office at pressoffice@economy-ni.gov.uk.
6. Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

Share this page