Katie Szkornik

Biography

I joined Keele as a Lecturer in Physical Geography in January 2007 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2016. My discipline-specific research interests lie in coastal environments, with a particular focus on reconstructing Holocene sea-level change from salt-marsh sediments. In 2019 I translated onto the Education and Scholarship career pathway. Between 2016 and 2022 I was Dean of Education for the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Keele and was instrumental in guiding colleagues to deliver a successful educational experience for our students during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this role I also oversaw a significant review, expansion and diversification of the Faculty’s education portfolio, in particular championing apprenticeship and work-based learning provision in the Faculty. My career cuts across the traditional boundaries of education, scholarship and leadership, and my recent career trajectory has a strong focus on educational leadership and curriculum design and enhancement activities. I am a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE) and act as an appointed Chair of Advance HE’s Athena SWAN assessment panels. My current role at Keele is as Dean of Academic Enhancement (0.5 FTE), where I work across the institution to develop and implement educational policies, support colleagues in their curriculum design activities, and lead on work to promote interdisciplinary education at Keele through the Global Challenge Pathways Project.

Research and scholarship

My discipline-specific research interests lie in coastal environments, with a particular focus on reconstructing sea-level change from salt-marsh sediments. I have worked extensively on salt marshes in both the UK and overseas, where I developed and applied diatom-based transfer functions as a tool for the reconstruction of past sea-level change over the Holocene (last ~11,700 years). I maintain broad interests in coastal environments, sea-level change and environmental change. Since translating onto an Education and Scholarship career pathway (2019), my career trajectory has had a strong focus on educational leadership and curriculum design and enhancement activities. My expertise includes:

• strategic leadership of educational projects and curriculum developments at Faculty and University-level (including School and Faculty-wide portfolio reviews, redesigning Keele’s Graduate Attributes, leadership of new educational policy and strategy);
• significant experience of internal and external programme approval, accreditation, reviews, and external examining (including chairing of validation panels, external validation and review events);
• leadership of Keele’s Athena SWAN activities, including the University’s successful Bronze Athena SWAN application in 2014, and successful Departmental submissions in 2010, 2013 and 2015, chairing of Advance HE’s Athena SWAN assessment panels;
• an expanding national profile in learning, teaching and scholarship, recently recognised through the award of Principal Fellow of Advanced HE (2022).

Teaching

I lead modules and deliver teaching, assessment, dissertation supervision, Academic Mentoring and field course teaching across a range of modules in the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment (0.5 FTE). Key modules I contribute to include:

Year-1 (Level-4)

ESC-10039: Fundamentals of Physical Geography

Year-2 (Level-5)

ESC-20036: Palaeoclimatology and Quaternary Environments

ESC-20106: Geographical and Environmental Field Skills (including Lake District Field Course)

ESC-20110: Earth’s Changing Landscape

ESC-20100: Water in the Environment (Module Leader)

Year-3 (Level-7)

ESC-30027: Coastal Environments (Module Leader)

GEG-30006 Geography Double Dissertation

GEG-30008 Geography Single Dissertation

Further information

External Esteem Indicators and Citizenship:

• Appointed Chair of Advance HE’s Athena SWAN Assessment Panels (2021- present)
• External Panel Member – Review of revised Geography degree programmes, University of Brighton, January, 2023
• External Panel Member – Review of revised Geography degree programmes, University of Northampton, December 2020
• External Panel Member – Science Framework Review (MSc Environmental Management), University of Teesside, July 2020
• External Panel Member – Science Framework Review (Geography, Geology and Environmental Science), University of Teesside, March 2020
• Invited reviewer for Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (2018)
• Invited reviewer for Advance HE National Collaborative Awards for Teaching (2018)
• Panellist on the national Athena SWAN Assessment panels (2012- present)

External Examiner Appointments:

• Chief Faculty External Examiner, College of Arts, Technology and Environment, UWE, Bristol (October 2020 – present)
• University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), Geography (Sept 2020 – present)
• Liverpool John Moore’s University, Geography (2015-2019)
• Durham University, Department of Geography, MRes (2015)

Principal Leadership Roles Held (Education):

• Dean of Academic Enhancement, Keele University, 2022 - present
• Dean of Education (Faculty of Natural Sciences, Keele University), 2016 – 2022
• Chair of Examination Boards, School of Geography, Geology & the Environment 2019 - 2022
• School Director of Education (School of Chemical and Physical Sciences), 2014 – 2016
• Programme Director BSc and MSci Natural Sciences, 2014 – 2017
• Programme Director BSc Environmental Sciences, 2012 - 2015