magazine - Somerville College - University of Oxford

Somerville Magzine | 29
the electricity
that seems to
crackle through
the Hall when
Fiona stands up
With thanks from Somerville
by JOANNA INNES
Fiona Caldicott took over the leadership of a college
still adjusting to its new role as a mixed institution;
she leaves it a more settled and fl ourishing institution,
in good heart for the challenges of our times.
Perhaps Fiona’s resilience is her most remarkable
feature, so essential to all that she has done, and so
easily taken for granted in anyone who displays it.
She has coped with a multitude of commitments with
consistent seriousness and unfl agging determination.
But the fact that, despite all the pressures upon her,
she is always collected, always ready to reason her way
through diffi culties, and always – in my experience of
talking many things over with her – ready to laugh, if
often rather ruefully, shouldn’t be taken for granted; on
the contrary, one has to wonder how she manages it.
Five other things stand out for me about Fiona
Caldicott’s principalship. These are, fi rst, her
commitment to and interest in students, generally as
young people, but also especially as students, who
have assumed academic responsibilities which she
encourages them to take very seriously. Second, her
commitment to supporting the academic work of
Fellows, and to fi nding effective ways for the College
to function as an academic institution in a changing
local, national and international environment. Third,
her professionalism, and desire to see the College’s
fi nancial, material and administrative infrastructure
maintained and managed to high professional
standards. Fourth, her highly developed sense of the
duties of her position, and her tireless engagement
with the many and varied practical and sociable
responsibilities the principalship entails. Fifth, the
high-profi le and demanding roles she has willingly
taken on within the university.
Space doesn’t allow me to develop these themes by
more than a few vignettes. I think of the electricity that
seems to crackle through the Hall when Fiona stands
up to address, tease and adjure a packed crowd of
dining students. I think of what all tutors know is her
unstinting willingness to grapple with the problems,
academic and personal, that some students encounter:
to make time for both tutors and students in these
cases, sometimes at very short notice. She has been
consistently supportive of all efforts to disburden fellows
and tutors of tasks that can more effectively be done by
others (despite her dislike of the rhetoric of ‘burdens’:
‘burdens!’ she says; ‘these are your jobs’). She makes
it plain that she values fellows’ academic achievements,
and that she sees a role for the College in facilitating and
encouraging these. She has worked consistently over
the years with key administrative staff to develop clear
and rigorous procedures and systems of reporting, and
to promote strategic thinking about all aspects of the
College’s activities. Among her most effective moments
have been moments of crisis: it is evident how carefully
and thoroughly she thinks through the challenges that
such moments present, and how assiduous she is in
making sure that lines of action agreed are followed
through. She never hesitates to take a bull by the horns.
The university duties she has taken on could have been
a distraction, but she has never thought that there is any
part of the Principal’s job that she can properly devolve.
Her engagement with the University has enhanced her
understanding of the wider environment within which
academics and students move; we hope and believe
that what she has learned about the daily realities of life
in the university from her close knowledge of the college
setting has informed her university work generally, and
most specifi cally her work heading the Task Force on
Academic Employment. Most recently, the network of
contacts she’s developed within the governing councils
of the University and in university administration have
helped the College collaborate effectively with these
bodies in relation to our new building project on the
Radcliffe Observatory site.
It’s characteristic of Fiona that, as she prepares to
complete her term as Principal, she should have
taken on a major new challenge in the National Health
Service. Never could it be said of her that she relishes
an easy life. Nonetheless, she’s not incapable of
relaxing. Let’s hope that the future will provide her with
pleasures both at work and at play.
With thanks from Oxford
by STEPHEN GOSS
To begin at the beginning, I fi rst met Dame Fiona
at one of the College’s annual suppers for its out-ofcollege
tutors. I had been giving tutorials to Somerville
medics, as I had to medics at many other colleges,
and I was pleasantly surprised to be invited: other
colleges had never made the gesture. I was also
delighted to discover just how well informed the
Principal was about developments in the Medical
School (I suspect I need not add that I found her well
informed too about the individual progress of each
of the College’s medical students!).
This was a time when a new divisional structure
was being proposed for the University and there was
much discussion about the possible integration of
the Department of Experimental Psychology into what
would become the new Medical Sciences Division.
Given her background and the GMC’s concern that
prospective doctors should be taught the psychology
relevant to medical practice, it will be no surprise that
Dame Fiona supported the possibility. It was not much