Rod Angood, the University’s Director of Computing Services, is leaving the University at Christmas, flying out a few days later to a new life on the other side of the world.
Rod and his wife, Professor Gilly Salmon, are moving to Brisbane for four years where Gilly will take up an academic post at the University of Southern Queensland and Rod will take on IT consultancy work.
Rod has led the University’s computing services for the past nine years, previously spending seven years at the University of Bedfordshire.
There have been many developments to the network and range of computing services during Rod’s leadership, including innovative projects such as using Bath’s sewers to network computers from the city centre halls of residence to the campus.
He credits his success to careful financial management and a commitment to nurturing people to work to the best of their abilities, maximising their talents to the benefit of the University.
He said: “I’ve tried to give the team the autonomy to do what they’re best at and reserve the responsibility for myself. It frees them up to do magical things. ICT is the equivalent of the magic circle. My staff pull white rabbits out of hats on a daily basis!
“The technology we deploy demands complete and utter mastering, there’s no second best because of the scale and criticality of what we work on. The people in Computing Services make my job easy because they’re brilliant at it. They are the single greatest success factor and they are, in part, what will get the University through the tough times ahead.”
Before joining the higher education sector Rod was a submariner in the Royal Navy for 16 years. He believes many of his value sets stem from his naval background, and help to account for the resilient IT structures and systems he has put in place to back up files and servers and ensure consistent service delivery for users.
“I’ve always considered that my job is one of the best in the sector. The University appreciates what we do and values IT as a powerful force for good, investing as hard as it can in core services, enabling us to be well placed to face the future. It’s been very rewarding.”
Rod is looking forward to the new challenge of consultancy work and the opportunity to bring his experience at Bath to help other organisations to innovate and move forward. He’s also looking forward to spending more time with his wife, as they’ve been dividing their time between Rod’s base in Bath and her role at the University of Leicester.
“I wear my heart on my sleeve so saying farewell is going to be a tough one.”
Computing Services is hosting a reception on Tuesday 7 December at 4pm in the Claverton Rooms to celebrate Rod’s time at the University and wish him well in Australia. They would like to invite friends and colleagues across the campus to join Rod for a few speeches, cake and toasts to his new life.
The celebrations will move to Bar Ha Ha in the city centre at 6.30pm, including a buffet (£10 per head)
Please RSVP to Rosemary Green for both events and no later than Friday 3 December to book your buffet.
To sign Rod’s card, please visit the BUCS IT Helpdesk in the Library or the BUCS reception in 2 South.