Goldsmiths College, University of London has made the following appointments: Kevin Robins, professor of cultural geography at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, becomes professor of communications; Maria Shevtsova, professor of contemporary performance and theatre studies, Lancaster University, has been appointed professor in drama from October; Alexander Ivashkin, senior lecturer in music, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, has been appointed professor of music from September. Alcuin Blamires, senior lecturer in English, University of Wales, Lampeter, has been appointed reader of English. George Kolankiewicz, lecturer in sociology at the University of Essex, Colchester, has been appointed professor at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, from September.
Paul Buckland, research officer at University of Wales College of Medicine, has been appointed reader in the department of psychological medicine.
Pauline Thorne, school administrative officer for cultural and community studies, has become the first woman to be elected chair of UIA, the mutual insurance company that markets to members of the public sector union Unison.
The University of Birmingham has made the following appointments: Karen Barber becomes professor of African cultural anthropology; Chris Franklin becomes professor of plant molecular biology; Mike Gleeson becomes professor of exercise biochemistry; Alexandra Hughes becomes professor of 20th-century French literature; Charlie Jeffery becomes professor of German politics; Chris Lote becomes professor of experimental nephrology; Karen Morrison will be appointed to a chair of neurology on September 1; Victor Murinde becomes professor of developmental finance; Peter Nolan becomes professor of mental health nursing; Harold Noonan becomes professor of philosophy; Stanley Paliwode will be appointed to a chair of marketing on September 1; Jim Parle becomes professor of primary care; John Parratt becomes professor of Third World theologies; Charles Penn becomes professor of molecular microbiology; Maureen Perrie becomes professor of Russian history; Peter Preston becomes professor of political sociology; Margaret Smith becomes professor of experimental neurology; Markus Vincent becomes H. G. Wood chair of theology on September 1; and Robert Wilson becomes professor of group theory.