There have been a number of staff changes in the past few months as members of the department are appointed or promoted, and leave or retire.
In particular, we are saying goodbye to three staff who between them have given almost 120 years of service to the department!
- Mykola Karabyn retired at the end of June after 42 years with Chemistry. Mykola left a card in the Cybercafe to say: "Thank you for your kind words and gifts on my retirement. I really enjoyed working with you all and will miss the daily life in the lab. I'm looking forward to my new life of leisure!" Mykola is pictured above being force-fed cake at his 'not a retirement party' party.
- Paul Skelton is retiring this month after 39 years here. Paul has worked as a member of the Mass Spectrometry team during his time here and has helped many of you over the years with your research.
- Also retiring after 39 years here is Steve Wilkinson. Steve has worked as a lab technician during his time here, and has spent a lot of that time working on the third floor helping members of the department with their chemistry needs.
As close runners up, with 46 years of service between them, we will be saying goodbye in September to:
- John Palmer, Building Services Manager, who retires on 28 September after 20 years of service.
- Peter Grice, Senior Technical Officer, who has overall responsibility for NMR in the department. Peter was formerly technical assistant to Prof. Ley after his move from Imperial College in 1992, and took over the running of the NMR Section in 2010. He will have been here 26 years when he retires on 30 September.
We thank them very much for all their contributions to the department and wish them an enjoyable retirement.
Matt Bushen will succeed John Palmer as our new Building Services Manager. Others who have started in the last few months include Charlie Kendrick as Administration Assistant, Viyaleta Tratsiakova as Microanalysis Technician, Alex Hirons as Teaching/General Laboratory Technician and Marilliana Alivonta as Deputy Head of Accounts (Secondment).
There have been several promotions including Rafel Cabot Mesquida to Chief Teaching/General Laboratory Technician; Diane Harris to Project Delivery Manager; and Alice Wood to Graduate Education Administrator.
Leavers include Jenny Darby and Jose Velasquez Garcia.