Emeritus Professor Keith Atkinson.

Lifetime achievement award for Professor Keith Atkinson

Emeritus Professor Keith Atkinson has won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Cornwall Works WISE awards.

Professor Atkinson began working for Camborne School of Mines (CSM) in 1969, becoming Vice Principal in the late 1980s and leading the negotiations which resulted in the merger with the University of Exeter in 1993.

He became Head of CSM in 1994 and a Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Exeter in 1997, where he was responsible for restructuring and for helping establish the University’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies.

In 2002 he became the University’s first Cornwall Provost and was responsible for establishing our Cornwall Campus. He has been involved in Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) since its inception and served on its Steering Committee until 2007, he is also a past Chair of its Executive Committee.

He is a Chartered Geologist and a Chartered Engineer having served on the Councils of Institution of Mining and Metallurgy and the Geological Society of London. A Past President of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, he was awarded their Bolitho Gold Medal for ‘Services to Geology’ in 1998.

In 1997 Professor Atkinson began helping establish the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and in 2000 he became the first non-Arab Trustee on the Governing Body of that University, a role he still retains today.

The Cornwall Works WISE awards recognise excellence in employment and skills activity in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The Lifetime Achievement Award highlights one individual’s outstanding contribution.

After receiving the award Professor Keith Atkinson said: “I accept this on behalf of a lot of people who over the years have worked hard to create the Combined Universities in Cornwall.

“If I had my time again I would try to do it better but I would not do it anywhere else but Cornwall. I hope that everyone now will do their utmost to put Cornwall where it should be – right at the top of the tree.”

Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “Warmest congratulations to Professor Atkinson. He was a driving force behind the Combined Universities in Cornwall, which has become one of our major assets in economic regeneration. He is the Godfather of dreams and personal ambitions for generations to come.”

The Cornwall Works WISE awards are organised by Jobcentre Plus, the Learning and Skills Council and the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. They highlight individual, business and organisations’ achievements with the support of the European Social Fund (currently access via ESF Convergence in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly).

Date: 13 May 2009