Kenneth Urwin (31 December 1912 – 17 September 1991) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

academic and trade union leader. Urwin qualified as a barrister before completing a doctorate. He became a senior lecturer in French and Romance Philology at

University College, Cardiff , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

. He also joined the

Association of University Teachers The Association of University Teachers (AUT) was the trade union and professional association that represented academic (teaching and research) and academic-related (librarians, IT professionals and senior administrators) staff at pre-1992 uni ...

(AUT), becoming president of his local branch, and then serving on the union's national council from 1948, and its executive committee from 1954. In 1958, he was elected as the union's president, then the following year he was appointed as its first full-time executive secretary. The post was renamed as general secretary in 1965. Under Unwin's leadership, the AUT became a more professional organisation, and it spent more time negotiating on salaries and pensions. He persuaded the union to accept staff of the new Colleges of Advanced Technology into the union, but was ambivalent about the creation of the

plate glass universities The term plate glass university or plateglass university refers to a group of universities in the United Kingdom established or promoted to university status in the 1960s. The original plate glass universities were established following decisi ...

. He helped save St David's College in

Lampeter Lampeter (; cy, Llanbedr Pont Steffan (formal); ''Llambed'' (colloquial)) is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigion, ...

from closure by persuading it to link up with Cardiff. In 1969, Urwin left his trade union post, to become director of the London region of the new

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urwin, Kenneth 1912 births 1991 deaths British barristers Academics of Cardiff University General secretaries of British trade unions People associated with the Open University