Graham John Hills

Sir Graham Hills FRSE (9 April 1926 – 9 February 2014) was a physical chemist, principal of the University of Strathclyde, and a governor of the BBC. He was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex and educated at Westcliff High School for Boys and Birkbeck College, London (BSc 1946, PhD 1950). He was knighted in 1988 for his services to education.[1]

Sir Graham John Hills
Sir Graham Hills and Lady Mary Hills at their Inverness home (March 2000)
Sir Graham Hills and Lady Mary Hills at their Inverness home (March 2000)
Born(1926-04-09)9 April 1926
Southend-on-Sea, Essex , U.K.
Died9 February 2014(2014-02-09) (aged 87)
OccupationUniversity Principal, Physical chemist, Educationalist
NationalityEnglish
Spouse
  • Brenda Stubbington (d. 1974)
  • Mary Jane McNaughton (1980-2013; her death)
Children4

Academic career

Hills served as a professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Southampton for 18 years, until 1980, when he became principal at Strathclyde University, succeeding Samuel Curran who had held the post since 1959. There, his early foci were accommodating cuts to government funding by the University Grants Committee (UK), and dealing with the school's other financial difficulties. He found alternative sources of income, restructured the university (in 1982) to reduce its nine schools to four, and introduced early retirement for faculty members. Hills also changed the academic year to the two-term semester structure.

With the financial challenges stabilized, Hills turned to expanding the university. Purchases were made in 1983 and 1986, respectively, of the Ramshorn Church and Barony Church - the latter restored in 1989 and converted into a graduation hall) - and in 1987 the acquisition of Marland House (a former British Telecom office block, which was renamed for Hills on his retirement). The "student village" on the eastern third of the campus was further expanded from the mid-1980s onwards.[2]

After Sir Graham's retirement, he was the driving force behind the establishment of the University of the Highlands and Islands. He moved to Inverness to be a full-time advisor to the nascent university. In 2004 he coauthored, with Robin Lingard, the book UHI: The Making of a University, a comprehensive account of the university's creation.

Professional posts

Professional committee work

Professional fellowships

Professional honours

Publications

  • Hills, G. J. Reference Electrodes, 1961
  • Hills, G. J., Inheritance of Michael Faraday, (University of Southampton), 1964
  • Hills, G. J., Polarography, (Macmillan), 1964
  • Hills, G. J. (ed.) Electrochemistry: A Review of Chemical Literature: vols 1-3 (Specialist Periodical Reports), (Royal Society of Chemistry), 1970, 71, 73
  • Hills, G. J., Transactions of the Faraday Society Articles (Royal Society of Chemistry) (numerous contributions on electrochemistry
  • Hills, Graham & Lingard, Robin, UHI: The Making of a University, (Dunedin Academic Press), 2004

Honors

Obituaries

A list of obituaries available online and accessed 3/8/2015:

References

  1. "Hills, Sir Graham (John)". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Cf. The Glasgow Story website: http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image.php?inum=TGSS00032 Accessed 2012-08-05. The information on this site was reproduced with the permission of Strathclyde University Archives.
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