Over the course of a near-40-year career, James Miller has amassed what he calls a “large archive” (his wife describes it as hoarding).
He dipped into this personal collection recently as he moved from Glasgow Caledonian University to take up his new post as the University of the West of Scotland’s principal, unearthing an old note handed to him by a patient when he worked as a clinical nurse in Edinburgh’s hospitals.
On it was written the message “I’ve written down your name because yours is the only name I knew”, a reminder, according to Professor Miller, of the need to get the basics right – something he sees as just as relevant in higher education as it is in his former career.
Professor Miller said the “wet behind the ears” young trainee would never have envisaged becoming the first nurse to run a Scottish university but can now trace how his own, slightly unconventional, career has handed him the transferable skills to do the job.
