Southampton Connects Staff talks to Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Christopher Snowden, who joined us in October last year. A distinguished engineer, Sir Christopher was knighted in the 2012 New Year鈥檚 Honours for services to higher education and engineering. Before coming to Southampton he was President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey.
Since you joined Southampton, is there anything that has made you particularly proud to be our Vice-Chancellor?
There are so many things that make me proud, indeed honoured, to be Vice-Chancellor here that I couldn鈥檛 single out one thing. The more I see of the University, the more I鈥檓 wowed by it. The people 鈥� staff and students 鈥� are so impressive and the research is really exciting.
Before you moved into leadership roles, what did you most enjoy about being an academic?
I love working with students and really enjoyed teaching. I always challenged myself to think about how I could give the best lectures and interact with students, and tried to offer what I hope were exciting and sometimes innovative approaches to teaching. But I鈥檓 also really fired up by research, in particular the creative, innovative aspect of it. As an academic I think that鈥檚 something you never lose.
What do you consider your greatest academic achievement?
There are lots of things that I鈥檝e really enjoyed doing, but from a personal point of view I鈥檇 have to say being made a Fellow of the Royal Society. It was a fantastic recognition of my research work.
With the next National Student Survey (NSS) approaching, how important do you think student feedback is 鈥� to staff and students?
I think it鈥檚 fundamentally important because the feedback we get from the NSS gives us the opportunity to improve. If we鈥檙e doing something really well it gives us the chance to do it well more widely. It also gives us the chance to find out about areas where we haven鈥檛 quite got it right. I think it鈥檚 also important for staff in another way. Most of the feedback relating to students鈥� experience with staff is incredibly positive, so it gives us an insight into that appreciation.
In the longer term, what is your ambition for the University?
I hope that when my time as Vice-Chancellor comes to an end I鈥檒l have helped in many ways to make us even more successful and to build a stronger university. I hope that we鈥檒l be a top 10 university and that we鈥檒l have created something sustainable that won鈥檛 feel in any way threatened by the changing world around us. I see enormous opportunities for the University and I don鈥檛 think we need to take too many huge steps to make the most of them.
On a lighter note, who would be your ideal dinner party guests?
For a really exciting evening I鈥檇 go shopping through history for a variety of people with different talents and views. It would be great to have people like Winston Churchill, Picasso, physicist Richard Feynman, scientist and double Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie, athlete Dame Kelly Homes, and Tanni Grey-Thomson, the inspirational former British wheelchair racer, now a parliamentarian and television presenter.
What three words do you think your family might choose to describe you?
That鈥檚 a good question! I hope they鈥檇 say I was caring, thoughtful and a good dad.