March 1, 2023
Farewell Mike!
LGSC'S senior academic manager, bike fixer, step in English teacher, top tea drinker, chocolate hider and general all around good friend and co-worker, is off to go and explore a new adventure. Staff members wrote their goodbyes, and you can read them below.
Hello all!
We can’t believe it either. The cat’s out the bag and the rumours are true. Mike Gibson is leaving us, and his last day is on Friday. Mike has been working at LGSC, and building it up to what it is today, for 10 years. He’s gone from English teacher, to senior academic manager but has always been a good co-worker. We asked staff workers, both new and old, to send in a small farewell.
I do not know where to begin with Mike, and that is because I have too many good things to say about him. Beginning from day 1 in September, I have honestly, thoroughly enjoyed every day working with Mike. Despite the stresses that Shannon and I have seen Mike go through in the office, he’s never failed to make us laugh, every day. The types of things Mike can come out with are beyond funny. Overtime, I’ve come to learn the exact point of when Mike’s lost his marbles – it’s usually around midday when he starts singing to himself. I can really say that Mike has been the best manager to date and cannot thank him enough. I’m beyond sad to see Mike go, but I really wish you all the best for the future. Thank you for everything. You really do deserve the best!
– Anna
Mike, it’s been great working together and these sweet memories will never diminish. But just so we are clear, you will never find better colleagues than us! I still can’t believe you’re leaving us! I am sad that I won’t see you around anymore, but I wish you all the best and great success ahead. Enjoy those international trips.
– Nitu
I don’t think there’s enough words to say what a brilliant co-worker and friend you are, Mike. And there’s not enough thanks I can give to show you how truly grateful I am. As sad as I am, I can’t wait for you to explore this new adventure – you’re going to smash it. There is no doubt of that.
– Shannon
It was great and lovely working with you Mike. Best wishes on your future endeavours. I hope our paths cross again someday!
You will be missed, Mike.
– Marwa
From teaching to telling off, Mike did it all really…
I knew from our very first meeting that we’d get on because of your openness, honesty and “let’s just get on with it” attitude. You picked up so much in the absence of a number of colleagues over the Covid hybrid-teaching period, but still endeavoured to ensure students were well looked after and received a good teaching experience. I have always respected your integrity to put students first in everything you do and for being a beacon in reminding colleagues that ultimately, the students are the reason we’re all here.
To add to all of that, you have been an absolute rock in the absence of a principal at the LGSC for the last few months, and I am grateful for your continual support whenever it was asked for. I know you will be very much missed by all of the team at the LGSC and by your colleagues at UoL.
It has been a pleasure working with you. The staff and students are your new work are very lucky to have you looking after them. I hope our paths cross both professionally and personally in the future but in the mean time, I wish you all the best.
– Dan
Dear Mike,
First and foremost, and I guess that this is worth a final try … Please don’t go!
Did that work? No!? Damn it.
From our very first meeting on MS Teams, I knew that there was something different about you as a boss and my initial impression of you has remained true ever since my first day at LGSC all the way until your final day. Within the first month, I was already telling my family and friends that Mike Gibson is the best boss I have ever had during my career. And as the first few months turned into a new academic year that statement has continually solidified into a bona fide fact. As a boss, as a man, and as a friend, I appreciate that what you see is is what you get with you and I think that this is a quality that we both share.
What I see if a highly intelligent individual who works to high standards and who ensures that those who he leads also work to those standards. However, you are also a patient pragmatist who knows that Rome was not built in a day and that we all have to keep working hard in order for the students to achieve their best. The way you patiently put the interests of students and your staff above your own is admirable and this is why you are so well liked by everyone who has the privilege of encountering you on an academic, professional and personal level. You don’t mess about. Your candid and fair nature is why everyone respects you so much.
You have my utmost respect and I would like to thank you for the opportunity that you gave me at an important juncture in my career. I have learned so much from you and you have challenged and improved me as a tutor. However, you have done all the above with a cheeky grin on your face, and on a personal level, this is what I appreciate the most. It has been a pleasure to come into work and work for you because and work for you because as much as you work hard, you also ensure that your staff are happy to be at work.
I will miss hearing your cackle and our fun conversations and everything and nothing the most.
We are all going to miss you immensely and coming to work will be worse because you are no longer here. The fact that two people are having to replace you says it all. I wish you well on a professional basis, and it saddens me that professionally, our paths may never cross again. However, I hope that we can still keep in touch on a personal basis and that I can hear that laugh, see that cheeky grin and have those funny and enlightening conversations over a few beers every now and then.
All the very best and wishing you the continued success that such a brilliant man deserves.
– Simon B
Dear Mike,
Knowing you these past few months has been a great privilege. Your ever cheerful expressions and calculative resolutions of issues will be greatly missed. We meet to part and we part to meet again. I will see you again soon in the industry, Cheers to another chapter of your work life, Mike.
– PJ
It has been a pleasure and privilege working with you, Mike. Ever since the day that you first asked me who my tailor was, I knew you were truly a manager and a gentleman. You’ve been an unforgettable colleague and friend (as much as I might dearly like to forget the images of you posing in your cycling gear). I’m jealous of your new co-workers who’ll have you around to support and entertain them. Wishing you all the best in your new position and or the future.
– Aaron
Mike, you will be missed by staff and students alike! Wishing you all the best across the road in his new role.
– Will
I’ve worked with Mike for over a decade and yet, almost no time at all. From the early days of Prospect House in Regent Road (wherein Mike first displayed an alarming propensity for Lycra), through to our present home at Stamford Court, Mike and I have seen so many changes and worked with too many students to count. Along the way there have been many shenanigans, including marathon games of ping pong, occasional redecorations of his workspace and academic adventures at different conferences. Alas, Mike’s fondness for Lycra has only grown, along with the collection of bicycles.
As most who have met Mike will agree, he is one of those rare people in whom you may implicitly place your trust. His easy attitude serves to conceal an incredible skill set and, as a result, Mike is as popular in the classroom as the staffroom – many students will have stories of his unique approach to education. For my part, I shall ever appreciate being the subject of one of Mike’s lessons (introducing hypothetical language, if you were interested), the net result of which being that students still voice concern over the reliability of my car and my love of cheese.
Mike’s contribution to LGSC has been invaluable. He has kept the atmosphere light, even whilst focusing on maintaining academic standard and quality, and he will undoubtedly be a great addition as his new workplace.
– Phil
Mike has ben an absolute star as the academic manager. I have worked with Mike for 10 years and he has been a pleasure to work with. He has faced many challenges as the manager. I’m sure, at times, he felt it was a rod for his own back. However, he has faced everything with good cheer and kind words. Everyone is going to miss him, and we wish he wasn’t going. Wishing you all the best, Mike!
– Pete
Despite the sadness, and the heartbreak that feels like it will never end, we truly wish Mike all the best.