Honorary fellowships for UHI stalwarts
Two staunch supporters of the campaign to create a university for the Highlands and Islands are to be honoured by UHI Millennium Institute.
Honorary fellowships will be awarded to Robin Lingard and Jean Urquhart at the UHI Annual Lecture 2006 taking place at Dornoch Cathedral on Friday, 29th September.
Robin Lingard was the first director of the UHI Project from 1993 to 1997 when he retired to set up his own Dingwall-based consultancy after more than 30 years in public sector service, specialising in policy formation, strategy development, and strategic project management.
In 1987 Mr Lingard became a full-time board member of the former Highlands and Islands Development Board. Four years later, he was appointed director of training and social development at the newly-created Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
He was seconded from HIE in 1993 as the first director of the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) Project, leading it from the feasibility stage to official endorsement from the then Scottish Office and securement of a £33m grant from the Millennium Fund.
Mr Lingard took early retirement from HIE in 1997 to set up his own consultancy across the range of his skills.
UHI still benefits from his considerable experience – Mr Lingard is chairman of the Sustainable Development Research Centre at Forres, an associate partner in the UHI network.
Highland councillor Jean Urquhart, managing director of The Ceilidh Place hotel and arts centre in Ullapool, has been a fervent supporter of a university for the Highlands and Islands since the early 1990s when she joined the UHI Foundation as a business community representative. At the time she was also the chairwoman of the Federation of Small Businesses, Highlands and Islands branch.
She is also a member of the UHI Board of Governors and a trustee of the UHI Development Trust.
A former SNP parliamentary candidate, Cllr Urquhart has represented Lochbroom on Highland Council for three years. She is a member of the housing and social work, Gaelic select and renewing democracy committees, and is also vice-chair of the Ross and Cromarty area education committee.
UHI principal, Professor Bob Cormack, said: “These fellowships are richly deserved. Robin and Jean have been tremendous supporters of the UHI cause, actively helping us to arrive at the stage where we are within sight of university title.
“I look forward to being able to pay tribute to them at the annual lecture.”
*Professor Tom Devine, Sir William Fraser chair of Scottish history and palaeography at the University of Edinburgh, and the foremost authority on the history of modern Scotland, will question why the Scottish clearances are associated only with the Highlands when he delivers the UHI 2006 Annual Lecture. His lecture is entitled: “The Scottish Clearances: why were the Highlands different?”
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