RGU Principal Professor John Harper's Retirement

Wishing you a very happy retirement A collection of messages from the RGU community

Dear John,

Hope you enjoy a long and happy retirement.

You’ve made an unrivalled contribution to RGU and our strong position in these troubled times is a testament to your judgement and leadership.

I wish you a long and happy retirement and hope we will often see you on RGU occasions.

Jill Adam (shs)

Kind regards,

Pauline Bremner (ccb)

All the best John for a great retirement, wishing you well.

John McCall (nsc) Very best wishes for your retirement.

Enjoy your much deserved retirement!

Thank you for all of your support over the years of placements, it has been truly appreciated.

Wishing you and Hilary many years of dog walks and time with the family.

Lindsay Murray (fin)

Best wishes,

Best wishes,

Sam McKinstrie (epe)

Heather Bain (snmp)

John,

All the best for a happy and very well-deserved retirement, John. It’s been great to work with you during my time at RGU and I hope you can enjoy a more relaxing life away from work.

Hope you have a great retirement.

You were one of the main reasons I decided to come to RGU and you have done a great job.

Very apprehensive now you are retiring... but that’s not your problem any more :) All the best, Iain

Iain Steel (eng)

Happy retirement John, I wish you and Hilary all the best. Thanks for everything you have done for RGU. Best wishes,

Stacey Lynch (com)

Wishing many happy years of retirement ahead of you.

Michelle Rhind (fin)

Best wishes on your retirement!

Andrea Lawrie (snmp)

2

Wishing you a long and happy retirement; and don’t forget to walk and talk ;-)

Rob

Rob Smith (com)

3

Dear John, A huge congratulations on your retirement.

I hope you and Hilary have some amazing adventures and you get to relax with your family after an amazing career. Over the past few years, from my time as student President to my subsequent roles at RGU, your leadership, advice and mentorship have made a significant impact on my career. Your dedication to students and commitment to the university has made RGU such a fantastic place to work and study. It would be impossible to count all the significant changes that you are responsible for which have made a dramatic impact on student’s experiences of university.

I’d like to thank you for always giving me your time and for the opportunities you have provided. I have a huge amount of respect for you and without your support my career would be very different. Wishing you all the very best.

Kind regards,

Edward Pollock (eig)

Dear John I have had the privilege and honour to work for you and with you for over 30 yrs now.

RGU has its own unique strengths which you have nurtured over the years and varying leadership styles have seen us decline and grow.

Thankfully over these last two years you have taken us from strength to strength and back to our rightful position as the best post 92 Uni. This is entirely due to your leadership.

I would like to thank you for your support over the years and wish you well for a well deserved long and happy retirement.

All the best, Liz x

Elizabeth Hancock (vpadse)

You leave a strong and successful University thanks in great measure to your work.

Very best wishes for a wonderful retirement.

Sandra & Grant Maxwell

Sandra (retired from gac) and Grant Maxwell (retired from soe)

4

Thank you John for all your guidance, honesty and belief in me and my team over the past two years. I hope that we have made a positive impact. You have been an exceptional leader during what has been a tumultuous couple of years and we will all miss you. But now its goodbye tension and hello pension!!! - Enjoy your retirement. I hope this next chapter brings you and Hilary (& the dog) health, happiness, relaxation and fun.

Chris

Chris Moule (eig)

Hi John, Just a few words from me to mark your retirement from RGU – a mere 47 years – is that all? Part-timer or what?

Seriously, this is a great achievement, people don’t stay in one job nowadays, and to rack up nearly 50 years is quite something.

Personally, I’d like to thank you for all your support, advice and encouragement when I took over as Head of School in 2010. It was all very new to me, and you were always on hand to offer a few words of counsel, which I have never forgotten.

I wish you a long and happy retirement. This probably isn’t the circumstances you were expecting when you announced your retirement, but go and put your feet up and enjoy your rest.

Kindest regards, Don

Donald Cairns (pals)

Wishing you all the best in your much deserved retirement John! I have really enjoyed working closely with you on certain projects over the past few years, and appreciate all the support you have given me and the rest of the Marketing department. You will be very much missed at RGU, but I hope you can now enjoy retired life with lots of travel, family time, relaxation and dog walks!

All the best,

Sarah Low (mkt)

5

Wishing you all the best for a happy and healthy retirement John, It has been my absolute pleasure and honour to have worked so closely with you over my 14 years with RGU. There have been many highs and lows but through it all you have maintained a calm and professional demeanour and been so supportive to me, and I know to many others. Your impact on, and dedication to, RGU and its students and staff is unprecedented and it feels like will never be seen again. I wish you all the best for a long and happy retirement.

Lydia Ross (hr)

Kind regards,

Angela Kydd (snmp)

John, I well remember you being on my interview panel with Val Maehle and Irene Paterson so not at all intimidating! Added to that I was working and living in Caithness and about to give a colourful description of the challenges that presented when you stopped me to tell me you were from that area!

Wishing you a long and Happy Retirement!

Judith Bisset (shs)

Hi John

Hope you have a full and happy retirement.

Perhaps we will meet at Cineworld again, when the world becomes a little more normal!

Susan Duthie (pals)

I’m glad to say we all know the school will thrive and continue onwards and upwards from here.

Hi John,

All the best for a long and relaxing retirement and family time.

Sincere best wishes,

It has been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to have got to know you at the College and now at RGU. You have led the University faithfully, expertly and fairly throughout my time at RGU and I have nothing but admiration for you as a great leader and a fantastic individual.

All the very best in your retirement.

Scott Matthew (its)

John, Best wishes for a long, happy and healthy retirement. X

Jaqui Maclean (gaq)

6

I’d just like to thank you for your constant support for the Art School over the years, particularly during the more challenging periods of leadership within the school.

Best regards, Lenny

Lenny Smith (gsa)

Enjoy your retirement John, looking forward to seeing more of you, Hilary and Ruby on your daily walks!

With very best wishes for the future, Susan

Susan MacLennan (hr)

Dear John, You have been a supportive and inspirational leader to me for over 30 years: from teaching me Analytical Chemistry as an undergraduate, supporting me when I was Knowledge Transfer Team Leader at RGU a decade ago and more recently being a strong advocate for industrial partnerships supporting my work at the KTP Centre. It has been a privilege to know and work with you.

Wishing you a very happy retirement.

Best wishes

Alison Reith (baed)

John, It’s been a pleasure working with you while you’ve been principal, while we have only met a couple of times, usually I’m wearing a Poco shirt, it’s always a joyous encounter.

You have had a tremendous impact on the entrepreneurial spirit of students and staff by continuing your support into the current programs that have been set up through EIG. These activities are something that will not only affect the lives of those participating in these programs but the economy as a whole, which is a tremendous achievement.

So thank you and I hope you thoroughly enjoy the next stage of your life.

Ross McLean (SOC)

Dear John I wish you a long and happy retirement, you will be sorely missed in RGU. You may not remember but you interviewed me in 2001 at Woolmanhill when Irene Paterson was in charge of Occupational Therapy... different days!

Wishing you all the best

Elaine Stewart (shs)

John, I would like to add my few words of thanks for what you have done for RGU and for me personally.

You were the first person I met from RGU at a dinner arranged the evening before my interview for all the candidates, you were the face of RGU then as you still are to me 16 years later.

During those 16 years you have consistently supported the work I have been involved in, sport for most of that time & latterly to include the wider student experience. Your interest, wise counsel and guidance has been really important to me over the years and helped improve all our student facing services.

I have been inspired by witnessing hard work & dedication to the University, at times marvelling at your boundless energy when you had every right to put your feet up. When the University most needed sound leadership you stepped in & more than steadied the ship, you have put RGU back on course to be the best it can be when it was in danger over going over the edge of a cliff. All of us that lived through that period really appreciate what you have done as Principal.

Lastly I would like to say I have enjoyed your company – you are definitely the only Principal I have met that actually knew what they were talking about when speaking about football – I hope you are able to continue your unrivalled attendance at Sports Balls & I hope we get a chance for a game of golf soon.

Thank you Gaffer.

Filippo Antoniazzi (sl)

7

Dear Prof Harper / John,

Dear John,

Many thanks for supporting me in opportunities I have had at RGU. You were instrumental in my development - providing me with the opportunity, when Dean of Faculty of HSC, to take over leadership of the postgraduate programmes in the School of Pharmacy in the early 2000’s while a young lecturer. Something that was instrumental in my development.

Additionally, I learnt more than you can imagine, about the wider workings of the University, from you when I served on QAEC for multiple terms under your Convenorship. Lastly, thanks you for your support in my progression to Professor more recently. You direct and indirect influence and guidance on my career is much appreciated. My wife (who you taught as a young lecturer) and I both wish you well - may you have a long and happy retirement.

Wishing you a very well deserved and very happy retirement. It was always a great pleasure to work with you and I appreciate your support to me over the years.

Very best wishes,

Scott Cunningham (pals)

8

Kindest regards,

Christine Buchanan

John has impeccable judgement – he recruited me to RGU. Over the subsequent 15 years I have many happy memories of working with John but the most poignant was at the memorial service for Mike Pittilo. We were desperate to deliver a fitting tribute to our old Principal and friend.

On the day of the memorial we were standing outside RGU:SPORT and I expressed my concern to John that people would turn up in numbers – the only factor that was out of our control.

Cool as a cucumber he turned to me and said, “they’ll come.” And he was right.

Thank you for challenging us and RGU to become the best at what we do.

Enjoy your new chapter in life Best wishes,

Linda Guthrie (eps)

There was also the day we went home hungry from Gray’s degree show – but that’s another story.

Jonathan Shackleton (retired from coms)

Dear John, Your contribution to the University has been immeasurable and indelible, indeed much of what makes RGU the institution that I am proud to be part of, and so greatly enjoy contributing to, can be attributed to the values that you uphold and which have become part of the university’s culture. I started at RGU at the moment it gained university status, and the growth and maturation of the institution owes so much to you.

As testament to your influence, I believe that the entire staff community understands the importance that your retirement represents.

It is, of course, a point of reflection on what has been and what we have become, as well as of anticipation of the next chapter.

Dear John, Thank you very much for all your help and support over the years. I have particularly enjoyed the gatherings with the RGU community, it was a lovely way of meeting other colleagues around campus.

I wish you all the best in the future.

At a personal level, it is a true privilege to have worked with you and for you. My entire academic career has been at RGU, and your presence has been an important one throughout; as a role model demonstrating the utmost professionalism and commitment, as guide and mentor over many years, and as a leader. I have learned much from you.

Kind regards,

My heartfelt thanks to you for all your support of the School, and of me personally, and every best wish to you and Hilary for a long and happy retirement. Nobody deserves it more!

Carlos

David

Carlos Fernandez (pals)

David McClean (sss)

9

It has been an honour and a pleasure to work with you John. Your strong, steady leadership and passion for RGU has made the university what it is today and we will miss you. Wishing you all the very best for the future!

Kindest regards, Izzy

Hi John, I hope that you have a fabulous retirement with many years of happiness ahead of you.

I wish you and your family, all the very best for these future adventures!

Daniel Sutherland (gsa)

Izzy Crawford (ccb) Hi John Dear John, With very best wishes upon your retirement from RGU; I hope this will give you the opportunity for lots of leisure time to pursue your interests beyond the university.

Thanks for all your support and guidance.

The place won’t be the same without you.

Wishing you all the best with your retirement.

Julie

Julie Guest (aca)

Regards,

Tracy Leach (sra)

Thank you for all the fantastic encouragement and continual support for ICRGU over the decade that we have been on campus. I have enjoyed working alongside you throughout my years here at the college and wish you all the best in your retirement.

Susan Anderson (ICRGU)

John, What a terrific inning. Congratulations on all you have achieved and I wish you all the best in your retirement. Personally, you have always been a warm and friendly individual that genuinely seemed to want to help and support me or any of the RGU staff in what they were striving towards, regardless of your position at the time.

Notably and recently that meant supporting my endeavour of getting RGU Racing on the University radar and I cannot thank you enough for what you allowed to happen there. Again, a huge thank you and all the best.

Scott Murison (eng)

10

It has been a pleasure and an honour to work with you. It has been quite the personal and professional journey these last few years and I will be forever grateful for all of the support you have given me as Principal, as my line manager and as a mentor.

RGU has been lucky to have you for the last 47 years and most recently as its Principal.

Wishing you a very happy and relaxing retirement. Will no doubt bump into you at Aldi from time to time!

Anna Duthie (coms)

John, Many happy returns on your retirement!

Thank you for all you have done over the years at RGU, I have been here only whilst you have been principal but can honestly say it has been a pleasure, some like to stay in their office but you made the effort to get to know each school and every event you were in attendance was a welcoming one, so thank you and I hope you have many exciting things planned ahead.

Ashleigh Henderson (SOC)

11

Enjoy your much deserved retirement.

RGU will definitely miss your dedication and commitment to both staff and students.

Congratulations on your retirement John, you and I have known each other for almost 26 years and from that very first time you introduced yourself as Head of School for Applied Science back in 1994.

You showed me early on that you cared a great deal for the students in your school as you remembered my name, and as a 17 year old that made a huge impact, thank you. That was also something I carried forward into my own RGU teaching career, caring about the students, taking time to talk to them as individuals. I feel fortunate to have been part of a school while you lead it and also continued as part of the university while you helped guide and shape it. Best wishes on your retirement and here’s hoping for many happy days on the golf course. Might see you there!

Morgan Adams (eng)

All the best,

Lisa Gibbons-Wood (law)

Dear John, It has been a real pleasure to work with you over the years - from when we first worked together on Academic Regulations Sub Committee in the 1990s to recent years when we have worked closely together.

For me highlights include: achieving TEF Gold, creating the Employability Hub and changing annual appraisal including the rollout of the data dashboards.

So pleased that as you leave RGU you can reflect that you lead RGU back to a strong position - with a clear purpose/ strategy and achieving good results in league tables, NSS and Graduate Outcomes.

A true inspiration for all, and personally, a great mentor and friend.

Best wishes for a long and happy retirement.

John Wishing you a long, healthy and happy retirement.

Your dedication to RGU has been outstanding, you will be sorely missed.

Niki Cruickshank (aca)

Veronica

Veronica Strachan (gaq)

Thank you for your great support and leadership during this really difficult time.

Have a very well deserved and enjoyable retirement.

Claire Booth (sass) Best wishes to you and your family, well deserved retirement John! Lots of time for those DIY chores :-) Really great working with you at RGU. You will be sorely missed. Take care and enjoy your retirement, Best wishes x

Siobhan Cowan (baed)

With best wishes for a long and happy retirement.

Amanda Senff (aca)

12

Hi John Wishing you well and more time on the golf course, thanks for all your support during my time at RGU, it’s been really appreciated.

Best wishes for a long retirement.

Ian Murray (snmp)

John Thanks for all your leadership, humanity and support. Sending the very best of wishes on your retirement.

James

After nearly 50 years at RGU you truly deserve to retire.

Wishing you all the best and enjoy your retirement.

Nicola Mulloy (eps)

James Dunphy (delta)

Dear John, Thank you for all the help and support, you have given me, during my (much shorter than your) time at the university.

Your dedication and hard work means RGU is in fine fettle.

Like many of the staff here at RGU, under your leadership, I have gone on to develop my strengths, however my weakness still remains – chocolate hobnobs!

Wishing you all the best for your well deserved retirement – your loyalty and dedication to RGU are exemplary and it has been a pleasure to work with you over very many years! Your leadership over the last couple of years has been inspirational and on a personal note I am very grateful for the guidance and support that you have given to me.

All the best, Elizabeth x

Elizabeth Gammie (abs)

I wish you a long, healthy and happy retirement Kind regards

Ian Croft (sppd) Dear John, It was a genuine pleasure to have you as Principal, to have such a genuine and open manner which made me feel my contribution to the university was valued. I enjoyed reading your emails and your contributions in person and latterly online to a variety of events due to your warmth and enthusiasm.

You can retire feeling very proud and I hope you have a long and happy retirement.

Gayle Scott (epe)

Thank you for all of your support over the last few years. All the best in your well-deserved retirement.

Georgina Guest (sra)

You have carried such a weight of responsibility these last few difficult years.

You did that with grace, optimism, and integrity, making sure that we held our shared values front and centre. We are a more confident RGU because of your loyalty to us as an organisation and to ‘us’ as people. Thank you.

You have been an amazing support and mentor to me as a new Head. In hearing good news and not so good news, your counsel has been wise, welcomed, and always bang on!

I wish you good health, good golfing, lots of laughter, but more than anything I wish you the time to do absolutely nothing at all! Hoorah :-) Libby xx

Libby Curtis (gsa)

13

Dear John, Thank you for your support and friendship over the last 10 years.

ICRGU would not have existed had it not been for your vision and leadership. The red shed has welcomed many international students, from numerous countries, that have subsequently progressed to RGU and flourished. A constant has been your support of the college and your engagement has been a key factor in the successes we have enjoyed. In many ways ICRGU sets the standards for Navitas, such as quality and student experience, and your input and leadership has been fundamental to that.

I wish you well, from all at ICRGU and Navitas, for your retirement and the many happy hours (and maybe the odd frustrating minute or two) on the golf course. I will miss your insight, sharp analysis, advice and humour. We will keep in touch and I look forward to meeting up with you when you are a man of leisure.

14

Hi John That’s a long time you’ve been here and there have been many changes. I remember the RGIT days when I started – as well as lecturing you were responsible for recruiting students and would come over to Student Services at Schoolhill at this time of year to look at applications. The days of Ray Leslie, Alex Hampton, Rose Dempster and Jenny Youngson.

Sadly only Jenny still with us. Everything was done manually in those days – paper applications and post - wonder how we would have coped then with a pandemic such as we are going through just now!!

All good wishes,

You’ve done well for the University and will be greatly missed.

Alistair and all at ICRGU and Navitas

Best wishes for a long and happy retirement.

Alistair Baker (ICRGU)

Margaret McIntosh (aca)

John Many thanks for all you have done. Not just with RGU but with Streetsport and the Denis Law Legacy Trust partnership. Without your belief in the programme it would never have grown into what it is today and I hope you will take great pride in watching it develop even further over the upcoming years. You definitely played your part.

Thank you for all your hard work on our behalf!

After a difficult time your leadership has got us back on course. Enjoy a well-deserved retirement with the grandchildren and the dog!

Happy walkies!

Best wishes for a long and happy retirement

Fiona Roberts (shs)

Thanks also for the Honorary degree, a great moment for myself and one that made my family incredibly proud.

All the best for the future, relax and enjoy your retirement.

Thank you! Enjoy retirement!

Many thanks

Mark Williams (sport)

Judith Logan (mkt)

15

Dear John

To John

I want to thank you for all your support and wise counsel over the quarter of a century I have worked with you, and to wish you and Hilary every happiness and peace throughout your retirement.

Wishing you a long and happy retirement.

Thank you for your support over the past few years.

With very best wishes

Fiona McLean Whyte (gaq)

Thank you for all your guidance and leadership over the years. You have made such a contribution to RGU and it’s people.

All the very best for your retirement.

Jo-Anne Tait (eng)

Best wishes

Laura Goldie (sra)

Dear John, Thank you for all the support you have given me (and Erasmus) over the past 20 or so years that we have worked together, it has been very much appreciated and I have very much enjoyed working with you. Wishing you and Hilary all the best for this next chapter in your lives.

Warmest wishes,

John I hope you enjoy a very well deserved retirement, it has been great working with you over the last 10 years.

Hopefully we can do your legacy justice and carry on the same ethos and commitment you have shown RGU. Will miss seeing you around Garthdee House

Claire Barclay (vpr)

Julia Porter (epe)

From the Garthdee House balcony: “Well, Statler, you old muppet, looks like the show is finally over.”

“It sure is Waldorf, and less of the old!”

Unattributed John,

John, Thank you for steering us back to prioritising teaching and learning! A success story that you can indeed be proud of. Enjoy retirement.

Best wishes,

Kate Goodhand (snmp)

With all my thanks for a long and collegiate working relationship and very best wishes to Hilary and you for the future.

Happy golfing days!

Rita and Phil

Rita Marcella (ccb)

Wishing you a long and healthy retirement and best wishes for the future.

Jennifer Barron (aca)

10 16

It has been a great pleasure and privilege to have worked with you and to have had the benefit of your help, advice and most of all, your friendship. One of the highlights of my career.

Thanks to your leadership and the efforts of ‘Team RGU’, we have come through very challenging times together.

You leave the University in great shape.

You should be immensely proud and take great credit for all that has been achieved.

It goes without saying, you will be missed.

Enjoy a long and happy retirement.

Paul

Paul Hagan (vpr)

The RGU Payroll Team wish you a well-deserved and happy retirement!

Lesley Jack (fin)

11 17

John, From myself and the whole RGU SPORT team we would like to thank you for your support over so many years.

You have been a key advocate of RGU SPORT and RGU Sport clubs and it really has meant a massive amount to us all.

We very much appreciate the time you have given us.

We wish you the very best in your retirement and hope you enjoy a very well deserved break. Hopefully we can entice you back to some RGU sport club fixtures and events in the future, but in the meantime we will work hard to get the boat race title back to RGU!!

Many thanks again, Hannah Leslie and the RGU SPORT team.

‘It has been a pleasure to have shared some of the impressive time you have been at RGU with you. Wishing you a long, happy and healthy retirement John.

All the very best,

Duncan Young (sppd)

Dear John, This won’t be the end to your career that you had planned.

Thanks for unwavering leadership and commitment to Robert Gordon University.

May I wish you all the very best for your retirement.

Just make sure that you work as hard at relaxing, as you have in your career.

Best wishes,

Hamish Walker (aca)

Hannah Leslie (sport) John, Your gentlemanly approach to business has made working with you always a pleasure.

Thank you for this.

Dear John, Wishing you all the very best for a well deserved retirement. RGU won’t feel quite the same without you!

Jane Mifsud (aca)

I remember meeting you at my first interview with RGU back in 1997 and was impressed, years later, when you remembered me describing how the skills I had gained pulling together my degree show at Gray’s could be transferred into an administrative role in Academic Affairs. It has been a pleasure working with you in your various roles over the years and we have been lucky to have you as RGU Principal.

Dear Prof John,

All the best to you and to Hilary,

Wishing you all the best for the future John.

Enjoy your retirement, now every day is the weekend!

Alison x

Alison Smart (gaq)

18

I wish you every blessing and best wishes for future horizons.

Wishing you a wonderful future with lots of time to spend with your family and to pursue hobbies new and old. Congratulations and enjoy your well-deserved retirement.

Thanks,

Carol Ross (vpco)

Jennifer MacKinnon (mkt)

Dear John,

Dear Prof. Harper,

I’ve only been at RGU 4 years which is nothing compared to some, but it truly feels like home and you’ve been a huge part of that. It’s been a pleasure and I hope you have a wonderful and very well deserved retirement.

It has been a pleasure working under your direction and I appreciate the efforts you made to listen to the concerns of the staff by visiting each school when you took over the Principal role and patiently responding to our concerns. Being a fairly new recruit at that time in my school, I very much appreciated your intention to connect better with the staff. I wish you good health, peace of mind and life filled with lots of happiness.

Emma Craig (baed)

Wishing you good health, happiness and lots of laughter in your retirement.

Love from Amber x

Amber Price (gaq)

Dear Professor John Harper What a long career you’ve had, and I know this would not have been possible without the wonderful support from your lovely family! But as this chapter in your life closes, a new one will open for you and you will surely love it! I hope that you will remember me, and I will always put you in my prayers because the best is still to come for you!

Happy retirement and cheers to your next adventure!!

Michele Victoria (sss)

Thank you for being our principal. You have always been student and staff centred principal. Your motivation, commitment and inspiration have created a meaningful workplace for me.

I wish you to have a very happy and blessed retirement.

Annie Lau (snmp)

Best wishes!

Edward Gobina (eng)

It’s been a pleasure working with you over the past couple of years John and hope you have a very long and healthy retirement where you can work on reducing that golf handicap!

Paul Matthews (epe)

Here’s to a long, healthy, happy and well-deserved retirement.

Kerry

Dear Prof John, Wishing you a very nice retirement time!

Hope will be filled with good health and nice touristy and relaxy travels with your family after COVID19 pandemic when it’s over, and long life. Thanks for your input and support through your many years of work with RGU. Please take care of yourself and enjoy the life.

With my very best wishes,

Haider Al-Mashhadanie (sl)

Kerry Donald (aca)

19

John,

John,

You have been a breath of fresh air as Principal, as my line manager and as a mentor.

You remember the office we shared with the large billiard table when I started working in the Chemistry Department at RGU? I smile when I think about it. We never did play billiards, partly because I covered the table with my ’field’ samples of lichens on branches and twigs and stones that I had collected to demonstrate air quality to the CB312 students.

Happy Days indeed!

You have always been a huge support to me, even when leading the entire institution through crisis!

I wish you a restful and very well deserved retirement.

You will be missed.

Kate

Kate Bullock (mkt)

Wishing you a happy and relaxing retirement.

You will now have lots of time for playing golf.

I am sad to see you go and I will miss you.

Lesley xx

Lesley Wilson (Principal’s Office)

Dear John, Thank you for all of your support throughout my time at RGU. After such long and dedicated service to the University, retirement is most definitely well-earned however I will miss working with you and the University will not be the same without you.

Very best wishes for a very happy retirement!

Kind Regards Julie

Julie Strachan (delta)

Dear John, It has been a pleasure to work with you, thanks for your support.

Wishing you a long and enjoyable retirement.

You will be missed but never forgotten.

Best Wishes,

Emma Stage (vpadse)

20

I wish you many Happy Days in your retirement, John. Thank you for being my mentor, colleague, and friend throughout my time at RGU.

Maureen Melvin

John I really don’t think RGU will be the same without you. Hope you have a fantastic retirement.

Claire

Claire Brooker (aca)

To John, I remember when you and Maureen Melvin had an office with a billiard table, although you always denied playing! Obviously, the hierarchy believed you, and a distinguished career followed. For your consummate leadership at School, Faculty and University level and your unstinting support for colleagues at all levels thank you!

For a long, happy and well-deserved retirement (plenty of time for billiards!) - every best wish!

Andrew Morrison

John, RGU won’t be the same without you. You’ve done an incredible job in making RGU what it is today.

Thank you for all of your support, help and wise words over the years. I will miss having you at the end of the phone.

Enjoy your new found freedom …… and the golf course.

All the best, Lucy x

Lucy Jack (gaq)

21

John I would like to wish you all the best in your retirement and thank you for all of the guidance and support you have given me. We have been extremely lucky at RGU to have you as our Principal over the last two years and you will be greatly missed.

David Williams (eps)

Thank you, John for all your support and guidance over the last 4 years, I have really valued your advice.

Thanks for keeping me out of trouble too! Enjoy your much overdue retirement and relax, Emma x

Emma Corry (sra)

Congratulations on your very well deserved retirement. Team RGU will miss you.

Best Wishes

Laura Binnie (shs)

Good morning, I wish to thank Prof Harper for his work as RGU principal in the last few years. I always found his management of the institution very careful and effective, I also appreciated the transparency of his communication with staff.

I wish prof. Harper all the best for his future plans and engagements.

Sincerely,

Lucia Ruggerone (sass)

Dear John John It has been an immense pleasure working with you during my time at RGU and I will be very sorry to see you leave – albeit you are heading to a well-deserved retirement.

As a manager and senior officer of RGU you have always showed the highest level of professionalism allied to that “human” understanding/touch that I have rarely found in working colleagues.

I personally will miss your counsel, kindness, and consideration and I believe RGU will be a ”different” place without your presence.

I wish you all the very best for your retirement.

Bill Somerville (eps)

Dear John With much appreciation for your commitment to RGU and its staff and for your important contribution over the years. Enjoy a much deserved retirement.

Best wishes

Janine Bolger (sass)

I learned that you are retiring at the end of August 2020 after 50 years of service to RGIT/ RGU. What an amazing achievement! Your contribution to what RGU is now, has been immense. I am not sure whether there will be any member staff who will ever be able to emulate what you have achieved. Over the years you have overseen many projects in the development and progress of this university.

Just to mention a few, for example taking RGIT/RGU from many sites across the city of Aberdeen to a single campus in Garthdee; maintaining students’ satisfaction, employment and academic standards to a very high level. On a personal level you have contributed to my own academic career. I vividly remember you taught me Physical Chemistry as an undergraduate student down in St. Andrew street (in those days, there was no internet, but only overhead/ acetate rolls and blackboard/chalk were used!).

After my PhD, I spent a few years in Cambridge as a postdoctoral fellow, and soon after you (as head of School of Applied Sciences, RGU) appointed me as lecturer. Many years later, as acting principal, you were involved in my promotion to Professor. John, thank you for all you have done for the RGU community and I wish all the best for the future and enjoy your retirement.

Best wishes

Paul Kong Thoo Lin (pals)

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Dear John, It has been good to know and work with you over the years. You are one of the few others that has worked in RGU for the twenty-five plus that I have been here. You have invested so much of yourself in the University at important points in its history and its transition into the formidable institution it is now.

I want to especially thank you for the last few years. Without doubt these have been the most challenging times that RGU has ever faced. At one point the credibility and the future of RGU was in grave jeopardy.

You were not looking to taking charge,

but you did and guided us into much safer waters. That in itself was a major challenge for anyone but then the Covid pandemic emerged. A unique event with yet another scale of unanticipated challenges. Again, we are in a good place with your leadership.

It was good to work with you. I wish you all the best in your retirement.

Cheers Chris

Chris Yuill (sass)

Dear John Hi John, Wishing you a happy retirement, we will miss you. Thank you for your dedication to RGU; for your support, advise and creative ideas that were so helpful when setting up RGU’s validation courses with IIT in Sri Lanka. All the best for many new enjoyable adventures in life.

Nirmalie

Nirmalie Wiratunga (SOC)

It has been a pleasure working with you.

I wish you all the best in your retirement it is well deserved. Enjoy spending time on the golf course with Hilary.

All the best,

Lynne Brien (vpr)

Dear John It’s been a pleasure working with you over the years, and I wish you all the very best for a happy and peaceful retirement.

John,

Best wishes

I wish you a very happy & healthy life ahead.

Sadly I could not meet you due to ongoing COVID19 pandemic lockdown, but your contribution to RGU and the community has been significant. Your leadership was instrumental in bringing stability and positive changes in the last few years at RGU.

Kelly

Nadimul Faisal (eng)

Wishing you a happy retirement.

Best wishes

Anna Sharkey (snmp)

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Kelly Fraser (vpr)

Hello Wishing you a very long and happy retirement.

Best wishes,

Isobel Milne (eti)

Have a great retirement John, no more of my resource allocation spreadsheets to juggle with.

All the best

Mike Telford (fin)

Dear John, Thank you for always motivating us to do our best. Wishing you an amazing retirement.

John, I first met you properly not long after I started at RGU during the pioneer induction.

What you said to me then really started my journey at RGU. I have found every meeting with you both supporting and encouraging.

You have created a sense of togetherness around the organisation and inspired others to work together. I wouldn’t be where I am today without your support, thank you.

Best wishes,

I wish you all the best and a long and well-deserved retirement.

Catriona

John Isaacs (SOC)

Catriona Beverley (epe)

Wishing you all the best for your retirement, John. I hope retirement provides lots of welldeserved rest and a nice holiday or two!

Thank you for all of the support, development and guidance you have given me at RGU. You will be hugely missed!

Ruth Milne (baed)

All the best for a well deserved retirement John! You will be missed at RGU.

It’s been a pleasure to have you as our Principal and you have made working at RGU very enjoyable, enjoy your retirement, Pamela

Pamela Cruickshank (baed)

What an end to your career; together we made RGU great again! Enjoy many years of relaxation and dog waking ahead. With thanks for all your support over the years.

Erica Cargill (abs)

Julie Anderson (sra)

Hi John, I’ve been at RGU for 16 years, a lot less than yourself, I believe!

During this time I’ve had several roles - Technician, Visiting Lecturer, CPD coordinator, Short Course tutor - but it’s only in my recent role as the Unison Rep on the Board of Governors that I have worked more closely with you.

I would like to say thank you for making me feel welcome and included on the Board in this new position and I have really valued

your honesty, integrity and obvious care and commitment to RGU, the staff and students.

I hope you now have a very well deserved break and I wish you all the best for the future.

With very best wishes, Anne

Anne Campbell (gsa)

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Best wishes for a well earned long and happy retirement.

Best wishes to you and yours for a long and happy retirement

Susan

From Mike and Lorna

Susan Gair (baed)

Michael McCall (fin)

Congratulations on your retirement John, hope you and Hilary have a fantastic next chapter.

John,

Best wishes,

Rachel Pugh (epe)

What an exemplary record of service to RGU! Wishing you a happy retirement after what must have been an exhausting finale to your RGU career.

Very best wishes

John

Justin

Thanks for your help over the years – enjoy your retirement!

Justin Greenwood (abs)

Best wishes for the future

Petrena Morrison (eng)

Wishing you lots of happiness and good health in your retirement

Ines Arana (SOC)

It was good to see you were at the helm when I returned to RGU last year - a calm voice and sure hand in a storm! Wishing you all the best for a long and happy retirement.

Thanks!

Iain

Iain Middleton (sppd)

Dear John Wishing you health and happiness in your retirement – thank you for all your support of the Library Service over the years.

With best wishes,

Thank you for making RGU great again.

Have a very enjoyable retirement, Duncan

Duncan Cockburn (sppd)

Margaret

Margaret Buchan (lib)

With very best wishes for a happy and healthy retirement John. It’s very hard to imagine RGU without the knowledge that you are there steering the ship for us!

Kindest regards to you (and Hilary too).

We are going to miss you so much.

Jo

Jo Royle (ccb)

John, Wishing you all the best for a well-earned retirement after such a long and successful career at RGU. You have done a wonderful job, especially in recent years, taking the university from strength to strength as our recent ratings have demonstrated. We all appreciated your friendly, approachable manner and your unwavering commitment to both staff and students.

Hope that we are soon unlocked so that you can enjoy your new freedom.

Best wishes,

Rhona Flin (abs)

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Wishing you a very happy retirement John!

Thank you for all your support and dedication to RGU and me personally over the years. I still remember meeting you on my first day in the job and how kind and approachable you were. Hope you and Hilary get a nice break away soon to celebrate!

All the best,

Laura Ginsberg (gaq)

Thank you for your great leadership especially during this difficult time. Hope you have an enjoyable retirement.

Best wishes,

Elaine Philip (sass)

Wishing you happy days ahead, John!

Thank you for all that you have done for the university and also for the individuals within, and associated with, it. Your style of leadership encourages self-belief and the importance of ‘team’ while recognising the value of the individual, regardless of position. You trust people, and you have high expectations of them, and this is powerful and motivating as evidenced over the years and particularly since you became Principal. You should definitely feel proud of what you’ve achieved never has “under promise and over deliver” been more true!

It’s been a pleasure working for and with you, John.

All the very best!

Donella

Dear John, I have many fond memories of working with you - from painstakingly developing new academic affairs procedures, to waiting with bated breath for the NSS results to be released this latest year!

Donella Beaton (baed)

Dear John,

Very best wishes to you, and the family, in your retirement.

Best wishes for a long and happy retirement – you’ve certainly earned it, particularly over the last couple of years. You’ve given us strong and wise leadership and hopefully thanks to that (and a lot of work from all staff) we’re in a good position to survive and make progress through these troubling times. On a personal note, thank you for your support for my Senior Lecturer A position. I’m very pleased to make my contribution to the success of RGU and grateful that my efforts have been rewarded in this way.

Enjoy!

With kindest regards,

Kirsty

Trudi McIntosh (pals)

Your capacity for strategic, thoughtful leadership, whilst also remembering the finest of details is a skill to behold.

I’m incredibly grateful for the direction, support and encouragement both you and Hilary have provided over the years, which without a doubt has helped me to progress through my career.

Kirsty Campbell (delta) John, Dear John, I hope this new chapter in your life may be full of happiness, joy and great experiences. I wish you and your loved ones all the best always. ¡Muchas gracias por todo y el mejor de los éxitos en tu retiro! -

Many congratulations on your retirement! You are going to be a huge loss to the University but I hope that you enjoy the next stage of your journey, spending time with Hilary and the rest of your family. All the very best, Sarah Hillyear Thanks

Mario

Sarah

Mario Avila Flores (baed)

Sarah Hillyear (baed)

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We will miss you!