Trevor McMillan to Chair Stoke-on-Trent Story of Place Board
Keele University Vice Chancellor, Professor Trevor McMillan, has been appointed as the new Chair of the Story of Place board for Stoke-on-Trent.
Story of Place aims to promote Stoke-on-Trent’s unique identity, both locally and globally, to inform its economic development strategy, and to support inward investment, destination management and tourism.
As well as being the World Capital of Ceramics, a growing base for significant employers and surrounded by beautiful countryside, Stoke-on-Trent is also a centre of advanced learning and research through Keele University as well as Staffordshire University.
The Story of Place board will support collective ambitions for the local area, including those of the University. Professor McMillan comments:
“I am extremely pleased to be chairing the Story of Place board for Stoke-on-Trent. At Keele, we have some of the brightest minds coming to study with us before excelling in employment, both locally and globally, and our leading student experience and employability for graduates is testament to what the local area also offers our students.
“The area has an incredibly exciting story to tell; its heritage and industrial legacy which has re-imagined itself for what the local area has to offer today and tomorrow, through the creative industries as well as the growing economic appeal to such a well located city with two Universities on its doorstep.
“The Story of Place will help shape the narrative of what the local area offers for students, staff and graduates looking for their next step, as well as what local employers, investors and of course the community can identify with and be proud of.”
Initial work for the Story of Place group began in 2015, and with the appointment of Professor McMillan as the Chair, the board will continue to drive progress of the initiative, alongside other major ambitions of the city such as its bid for City of Culture 2021.
The themes of the Stoke-on-Trent story are; Energy and Enterprise, Celebrate Ceramics, Competitively Connected and Leisure and Lifestyle.