Councillor Abi Brown OBE was the first generation of her family to go into higher education when she arrived at the Stoke-on-Trent campus to study Politics.
“I absolutely loved it,” she recalled. “The University has played a massive part in my life. My husband studied Computing and graduated the same week as me. My son is now doing Psychology here. It’s a bit of a family affair.”
Abi went on to be elected to Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 2010. From 2015 to 2023, she served as Deputy Leader and then Council Leader, overseeing a series of ambitious regeneration projects that helped put Stoke-on-Trent on the national map.
She said: “It all came from my time at the University of Staffordshire, channelling my curiosity, asking questions, following interesting ideas and challenging expectations. The drive to want to take opportunities and keep bouncing back. A belief that anything is possible.”
But she was also struck by how many of her fellow graduates had chosen to leave Stoke-on-Trent to forge their own careers. “Why did we always seem to be doing ourselves down, forever telling people we were between Manchester and Birmingham, and not shouting loudly about being the proud city of Stoke-on-Trent?” she said.
When she became Council Leader, she found she had the political levers to do something about it. Successes have included bringing more than £100 million of investment to the city. She championed the creation of Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone and helped attract civil service jobs to Stoke-on-Trent from Whitehall.
Abi also led Stoke-on-Trent’s bid to become UK City of Culture in 2021. While the bid narrowly missed out, it reignited civic pride and helped the city believe in its potential once again.
She has been active in national policy circles too, giving evidence to parliamentary select committees, leading cross-governmental round tables at Number 10, and influencing discussions on everything from housing and asylum to culture and devolution. Abi has also held prominent roles within the Local Government Association.
Collecting her Doctor of the University honour this week, she described feeling “super proud” to return a quarter of a century after getting her first degree.
She told the latest cohort of graduates: “When I step off this stage shortly, just like you, I take a whole host of experiences I gained here, with the knowledge of wherever I go, a little bit of Stoke-on-Trent goes with me.”