New Director of Keele Business School appointed

Keele University has announced the appointment of its new Director of Keele Business School.

Professor Elaine Ferneley joins Keele from the University of Manchester where she is currently Director of University of Manchester Worldwide, having previously served as the  Global and MBA Director at the Alliance Manchester Business School, and Director of the Strategy Division at Salford Business School.

Professor Ferneley completed her PhD in Computer Science but moved into a business school environment early on in her career. She has a longstanding interest in the use of eLearning technologies to support and enhance both academic teaching and the student experience, and for the last three years has led an initiative at the University of Manchester which developed and launched the delivery of online degrees at scale.

In 2019, Keele Business School moved into a state-of-the-art building that it shares with the Smart Innovation Hub, an incubator for new start-up businesses. The Business School is an international centre of excellence that seeks to transform individual lives, enhance social bonds, and contribute to the creation of sustainable value.

Professor Ferneley will lead the school in its mission to prepare responsible global citizens who will become the next generation of enterprising leaders in business and related professions.

Keele’s business studies courses recently celebrated being ranked No.1 in the UK for overall student satisfaction in the 2020 National Student Survey (NSS), cementing the school’s commitment and dedication to its students.

Professor Ferneley said:

I am delighted to be joining Keele University and look forward to becoming the Director of Keele Business School at such an exciting time. The school’s distinctiveness, teaching excellence and emerging, impactful and interdisciplinary research agenda are what drove me to apply for the position.

I am passionate about social inclusivity and the transformative power of education and believe that teaching and research needs to be both rigorous and relevant.

Work consumes much of our waking hours and my goal as Director will be to work with colleagues to ensure that being a member of Keele Business School is both enjoyable and worthwhile.”

Vice-Chancellor Professor Trevor McMillan said:

The Business School is at the heart of Keele’s mission to develop the talents of our students, and through research and engagement to have a transformative impact on the people and organisations we work with.

Elaine’s extensive experience of enterprising leadership in the pursuit of educational and research excellence will be critical as the School consolidates its role as a beacon of innovation for our region and beyond.”

Professor Shane O’Neill, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean for Humanities and Social Sciences, added:

We know that Elaine’s passion for transformative education will help to ensure that we broaden the horizons of our students and harness new technologies so that our graduates will go on to manage and lead with confidence in dynamic, unpredictable, complex and diverse workplaces and social environments.”