Member Article

Mark White awarded OBE for services to education

Forty years of helping to change lives has earned Mark White a prime spot on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

The Chair Designate of Stockton Riverside College, Visiting Fellow of Teesside University and Chair of Middlesbrough’s Abingdon Primary School, is to receive an OBE for his services to education.

Recognised for four decades of hard work and dedication to the region, with the citation reading “particularly in Teesside”, the 58-year-old said: “I felt quite overwhelmed and even a little weepy when I opened the letter.”

Immediately thinking of his late father and brother, he said he couldn’t help but think of how proud they would have been.

Originally from Stoke-on-Trent, Mark arrived in Teesside in 1976; an 18-year-old Social Sciences student of the then Teesside Polytechnic.

He said: “I thought I would be here for three years and then go back, but before I knew it 40 years had flown by.”

Describing himself as not one for having a plan, but equally not one for doing things by halves, he never actually left the university – well not until his retirement as Head of the Vice Chancellor’s Office and Secretary to the Board of Governors earlier this year.

“Teesside got into my blood,” he said. As a place to live, work and study, he added: “It has been great to me and, while it might sound like a cliché, I try to give something back.”

For him, that has meant, alongside the day job, taking on a vast array of voluntary roles with countless schools, charities, community groups and professional organisations. In many ways retirement has done nothing to ease the workload.

“Every one of the organisations that I’m involved in means a great deal to me,” said Mark. “It takes a bit of juggling of time but I’m enjoying this stage of my career.” Plus he added: “I’m not very good at not being busy.”

Despite the hectic schedule and lifelong commitment to education, including national roles such as being Chair of the Association of Colleges’ (AoC) Governors’ Council, AoC Board member and a director of the Education and Training Foundation, it never occurred to him that his efforts would be honoured.

But over the last two years the awards have flooded in, presented with the Middlesbrough Mayor’s Award in 2014, the Tees Valley BME Network Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 and, as an honorary life member of Teesside University Students’ Union, Mark was awarded the Extraordinary Contribution to Student Life Award in 2016.

“I was made a Deputy Lieutenant of County Durham this year and I thought that was the greatest honour I could ever receive,” he said. Then came news of the OBE.

Looking back at all he has achieved Mark considers his proudest moments to be seeing Stockton Riverside College receive a Good rating from Ofsted in 2014 and being part of the growth of Teesside University.

“For me that Ofsted grade was a culmination of everything we had been trying to achieve, the board, the Chair, Steve Cossins, and the Principal, Phil Cook. I’ll never forget that moment,” he said.

“I’m also very proud that I was able to play a small part in the development of Teesside University, growing from a small polytechnic to the thriving institution it is today.”

So now preparing to take the reins as Chair of Stockton Riverside College’s governing board later this year, it begs the question, why does he continue to give his all?

“Education transforms lives and it transforms communities,” he said.

Stockton Riverside College Principal and Chief Executive, Phil Cook, said: “Mark’s contribution to education, both across the Tees Valley and on a national level, is nothing short of remarkable. He has dedicated his working life and beyond to supporting and enabling the education of others and in doing so has no doubt helped to transform lives.

“At Stockton Riverside College we are proud to call Mark both our Chair Designate of Governors and a friend. A vibrant character, who thinks nothing of giving his passion, time and energy to serving the wider community, he fully deserves this prestigious honour.”

Professor Paul Croney, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Teesside University said: “All of us at the University are delighted to congratulate Mark on this recognition. He has made an enormous contribution to education for the last 40 years and this award is richly-deserved.”

Paul Mullins, Chair of the Education and Training Foundation, said: “Mark has been a fantastic Trustee of the ETF right from its inception. He brings great insight into the world of Further Education, and has been extremely supportive of our success over the last three years. We benefit greatly not only from his deep knowledge of charity governance, but from his straight talking and supportive input into our work. The honour is richly deserved.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Marie Turbill .