LORD Cullen, the retired judge who presided over the inquiries into the Dunblane massacre and the Piper Alpha disaster, is to stand down from his post as chancellor of Abertay University in Dundee after 10 years in the job.
He is to be succeeded this month by Professor Alice Brown CBE, who currently chairs the Scottish Funding Council and who was the first Scottish public Services ombudsman.
Paying tribute to Lord Cullen, Abertay’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Nigel Seaton said: “Lord Cullen has been an outstanding figurehead for the University in his ten years as Chancellor, acting as a source of inspiration, guidance and wisdom to our students, alumni and staff. I know I speak for the university as a whole thanking him for his many years of service.”
Lord Cullen is renowned not only for his years of judging on the bench, but for his three major inquiries – Dunblane, Piper Alpha and the Ladbroke Grove train crash.
He was Lord President and Lord Justice General from 2001 to 2005 when he retired from the bench. He was made a Knight of the Thistle by the Queen in 2008, the year before took up the chancellorship of Abertay. In addition to officiating at graduation ceremonies, he recently, through a generous personal donation, established the Chancellor’s Fund, an initiative to support the university’s PhD and research Masters students. His successor will take over the chancellorship after graduation ceremonies next week. Professor Brown, 72, rose to prominence as a professor of politics at Edinburgh University, and has served as a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life from 1998 to 2003 and was elected as the first female General Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 2011 to 2013.
Lord Cullen said: “I am delighted to know that Alice Brown is to succeed me. She is a remarkable example of public service, and what can be achieved by a positive and constructive approach to life and work. I am sure that, like me, she will receive a warm welcome and find much to enjoy in her role in the Abertay family.”
Professor Seaton said “I am very pleased indeed that Alice Brown will be joining us as Chancellor of Abertay University. As Lord Cullen has done, she will embody the values of the university to our staff and students, and to the public at large, and she brings with her a distinguished career in the academic world and in public service, which will be an inspiration to all.”
Professor Brown said: “I am delighted and extremely honoured to succeed Lord Cullen as Chancellor of Abertay University.
“His contribution to the University has been outstanding and he leaves a most significant legacy. I very much look forward to following in his footsteps and working with the University and its students, alumni and staff in the years ahead.”
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