Honorary Fellowship awarded to former Director of Student Services

Today, at the Graduation Ceremony on the University’s Carmarthen campus an honorary fellowship was conferred upon Mr Dai Rogers in recognition of his exceptional services to the University and, in particular, in supporting students.

Dai Rogers is the former Director of Student Services at the University who was responsible for supporting students across the University’s campuses in Wales and in London and Birmingham.

Born in Pembroke Dock and raised an educated in Llandysul and Brecon, Dai graduated in Geography from Aberystwyth University, specialising in social geography and, in particular, geography of the Welsh language.

Dai’s association with the University began when he was appointed to teach Geography in 1989 at the then Trinity College Carmarthen. This began a career which spanned 28 years of the next 31 years in a variety of positions until his retirement in 2020.

Presenting Dai to the congregation Rhys Dart, Director of Student Services said: “Dai is someone who doesn’t just work in a place, he invests his time and his energy and his commitment. He particularly embraces the University’s wider community role. It is very rare, even now in his retirement, to attend a university event and not see Dai there, celebrating and supporting the role that this University plays in bringing people together and building stronger, more robust and inter-connected communities”.

“Community has always been important to Dai who has used his passion for rural West and Mid Wales to help identify the facilities that people in villages, such as Llandysul, wanted to see delivered by local government. Not only was this a chance for him to use his specialist skills to give back to his community but also provided excellent opportunities for his students”.

Dai Rogers was appointed to lead the University’s Students Service Department at Trinity College Carmarthen during some of the most transformative years in the University’s most recent history. Upon his retirement he was leading a multi-disciplinary team working across multiple geographical locations and supporting over 20,000 students and had put in place a range of support systems and processes.

Rhys Dart continued, “The growth in Dai’s responsibilities over the years was astonishing, but the constant was his caring approach and his ability to make time for people. Today’s students have access to a 24/7 student helpline. It’s not an exaggeration to say that for many years, Dai was the person who would receive the phone calls from people needing support and regardless of the hour he would make sure that students were safe, that staff were supported, and that family and friends were reassured. For a university which prides itself on being a family, Dai was always at the very centre of our student-centred approach.

“I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Dai for the patience, support and guidance that he gave to me and others in the student services department during the early months of 2020 when he himself was coming to terms with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. He remained then, and is now, available, thoughtful, considered, supportive and above all, wise.”

Further Information

Arwel Lloyd

Principal PR and Communications Officer    
Corporate Communications and PR    
Email:  arwel.lloyd@uwtsd.ac.uk    
Phone: 07384 467076