New Deans for Diversity and Inclusion appointed

Friday, 10 July 2015

Professor Ellie Highwood and Professor Simon Chandler-Wilde

Congratulations to Professors Ellie Highwood and Simon Chandler-Wilde who together have been appointed to the position of Dean for Diversity and Inclusion and will job-share the role.

This new post, announced at the Ask the Board sessions in the summer term, has been initiated as a result of the University's ambition to create a more inclusive and diverse environment for students and staff at all levels of the University.

As a 50:50 job share, they will work together across our three priority areas of gender, race, and sexual orientation and gender reassignment with an immediate focus on the submission for Athena SWAN Bronze re-accreditation next spring.

Ellie Highwood is Professor of Climate Physics in the Department of Meteorology and Simon Chandler-Wilde is currently the Head of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and, in parallel to taking up the new Dean position, will retain this appointment until the end of this calendar year.

Robert Van de Noort said: “I am delighted that Professors Ellie Highwood and Simon Chandler-Wilde have accepted the position of Dean for Diversity and Inclusion. This appointment signals a step change in the University’s engagement with all matters related to our equality agenda. Furthermore, by job-sharing this new senior position, Ellie and Simon are setting an example of a new style of leadership that we will wish to promote for our future.”

Ellie Highwood said:

"I am delighted to be taking on this new role as Dean of Diversity and Inclusion and look forward to working with staff and students across the University to ensure that Reading is somewhere that everyone can reach their full potential and feel able to be themselves. I am particularly pleased that I am able to take this leadership position on a part time basis, and I look forward to working with Simon Chandler-Wilde on the many challenges ahead. I hope this will be the first of many shared leadership roles within the University."

Simon Chandler-Wilde added:

“I am delighted to have been appointed as the Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in a 50-50 job-share with Professor Ellie Highwood. I am looking forward very much to getting to grips with this challenging and important role, working with Ellie and with fellow staff and students across the University. I hope in this role to build on my experience, in my current role as a Head of School, through two successful Athena SWAN Silver Award applications, of getting to grips with a wide variety of equality and diversity issues, as they affect students at all levels, and in all our staff roles.”

New Deans for Diversity and Inclusion appointed

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