Former University of Chester Vice Chancellor receives Honorary Doctorate from University

The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Chester received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bolton.

Canon Professor Tim Wheeler DL was awarded a Doctor of Education for his outstanding contribution to Higher Education.

He said: “The University of Bolton has been transformed over the last few years and you as students are part of a very dynamic university.

“You have overcome the challenges that Covid has posed, and I want to pay tribute to the ingenuity and creativity to university staff over the past year.”

Professor Wheeler received the Honorary Doctorate in a unique Covid-secure ceremony which was filmed for a special movie documenting this year’s innovative ‘Alternative Graduation’.

The University of Bolton is one of the only ones in the UK to have invited graduands from this year and last to be presented with their degrees in person and their gowns, giving them the chance to have official photographs of their special day.

Professor Wheeler was appointed as Principal of Chester College in 1998 and subsequently the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Chester in 2005. He retired from this role in 2020.

During his career, he has held posts at universities in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, and a period as a Senior Visiting Research Scholar at St John’s College, Oxford.

He has published over 120 articles, books, and research reports in a diverse range of areas including psychopharmacology, dyslexia, communications, and safety.

He is a Deputy Lieutenant for Cheshire and is actively involved with Chester Cathedral as a Lay Canon, as well as being a freeman of the Cities of London and Chester.

Professor Wheeler is Chair of the Board of Coleg Cambria, the largest FE College in North Wales.