Sarah Porter, head of innovation at Jisc, has chosen to leave the organisation in order to pursue her research innovation interests in higher education and work with higher education institutions on developing their digital strategies.
Sarah has brought tremendous commitment and passion to Jisc over the last twelve years. She initially joined from the University of Oxford where she led a team of e-learning developers and directed Jisc's work on managed learning environments.
It was 2004 when Sarah was appointed to lead the Jisc innovation group. The group's agenda focused upon identifying opportunities for the UK to maximise the potential of technology to support better learning, teaching and research. Sarah has encouraged experimentation and new and innovative approaches to technological development, including most recently the Summer of Innovation project, which is inviting students to submit innovative ideas on how the student experience can be improved through technology.
Under Sarah's leadership, and with support from Jisc's funders, the UK and countries from overseas have benefited from programmes in E-learning; Leading work in digital libraries; The creation of many millions of digital content assets; The creation of new virtual research environments; and National services to support research management.
Some of her key successes have been the Sustaining Digital Resources series carried out jointly with Ithaka; work on supporting technical standards with CETIS and UKOLN; taking forward the UK's engagement with open educations resources (OERs); promotion of the service oriented architecture and the e-framework with Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Canada.
STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, has named Dr. Tommaso Falcone of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology (JMIG). The journal is the official journal of the AAGL, Advancing Minimally Invasive Gynecology Worldwide.
The journal has been a prestigious forum in the field of minimally invasive surgery for over 20 years. In his new role Dr. Falcone aims to strengthen the journal's foundation built by previous Editor-in-Chief Dr. Stephen Corson, and further develop JMIG as the leader in delivering premier surgical information by new technologies.
The Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology, the official journal of the AAGL, is the premier source for peer-reviewed content in the field of minimally invasive gynecologic surgery.
Cengage Learning, a US-based provider of teaching, learning and research solutions, has announced the appointment of Alexander Broich as the President of International. Beginning July 1, he will be based in the company's Boston, MA office and will serve on the executive team reporting to Michael Hansen, Chief Executive Officer. In this role, Broich will be responsible for the growth and development of the company's international operations.
Broich joins Cengage Learning from Pearson Clinical and Talent Assessment, where he served as the President of International since 2008. At Pearson, he drove the international business to double-digit growth, while significantly increasing profitability and expanding into new territories. He led the strategy development and implementation of the conversion from traditional print assessments into digital solutions, and was a member of Pearson's Innovation Board.
Earlier in his career, Broich was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Bertelsmann, Inc. for six years where he implemented development strategies in China, England, Germany and France, among other duties. He also held management positions with Bertelsmann Online Ltd., Health Online Services Multimedica, Bertelsmann AG, and Headwork Consulting.
Library information provider OCLC, US, has announced that Skip Prichard, an experienced senior executive in the information services market, has been named the next OCLC President and CEO. He will succeed Jay Jordan, who will retire June 30 after 15 years as OCLC President and CEO.
Prichard has led multi-national organisations that serve libraries across the full spectrum of library services and content needs. Most recently, he was President and CEO of Ingram Content Group Inc., which provides a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. Prior to his service at Ingram, he was President and CEO of ProQuest Information and Learning, a respected global publisher and information provider serving library, education, government and corporate markets with offices around the world.
Prichard will serve as OCLC President-elect, effective June 3, and will officially become President and CEO on July 1.
Chemistry Central, an initiative of open access (OA) publisher BioMed Central, has announced that Dr. Alison Willows from the University of Brighton, UK, has joined the Chemistry Central Journal Editorial Board as a Section Editor for environmental chemistry. She currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in analytical chemistry and is also an Associate Lecturer with the Open University.
Dr. Willows research interests are directed towards the development of stand-alone electrochemical sensors for aquatic habitat monitoring; the analysis of heavy metals in the environment and in foodstuffs; and analysis of markers of oxidative stress, with the main aim of overcoming the limitations of current analytical techniques to enable continuous monitoring with little intervention.
Prof. Ronny Priefer from Western New England University, USA, has also joined the Editorial Board. His research interests cover medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and organic chemistry with a specific focus on small molecule design for the disruption of amyloid plaque formation, the development of new antimicrobial agents, and total synthesis of natural products.
Chemistry Central Journal publishes peer-reviewed open access articles in all areas of chemistry. The journal comprises 8 subject sections. These include Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Biological Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Materials and Polymers and Food Science.
