The nomination of Louise Richardson as vice chancellor means Oxford University is set to have a female head for the first time in its history. If she is formally adopted as the 272nd vice chancellor since 1230, Prof Richardson will follow almost eight centuries of male heads of Oxford University and would take up the post in January 2016.
Prof Richardson is currently in charge at St Andrews and has previously had a senior role at Harvard University. She will replace Andrew Hamilton, who is moving to New York University. Prof Richardson has been selected by a nominating committee, headed by the university’s chancellor, Lord Patten, and the decision will have to be approved by the university’s ruling body, the congregation. Lord Patten said the nominating committee had been “deeply impressed” by Prof Richardson’s strong commitment to “scholarly values” and her record as an “educational leader”.
Prof Richardson was born in Tramore, Co. Waterford in Ireland and studied at Trinity College Dublin and has degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Harvard University. She became vice chancellor of St Andrews in 2009.
“Oxford is one of the world’s great universities. I feel enormously privileged to be given the opportunity to lead this remarkable institution during an exciting time for higher education,” said Prof Richardson.
A political scientist, her academic expertise has been in security and terror. She has written books about terror and counter–terror in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
Richardson is the author of What Terrorists Want, an account of terrorism written after the September 11 attacks. Other publications include When Allies Differ: Anglo–American Relations in the Suez and Falkland Crises, The Roots of Terrorism (ed) and Democracy and Counterterrorism: Lessons from the Past (co–edited with Robert Art). She has also published many journal articles, book chapters, and reviews on the subject of terrorism.
Over the past decade, in addition to her teaching and management roles, Richardson has given over 300 talks and lectures on terrorism and counter–terrorism to educational and private groups as well as policy makers, the military, intelligence, and business communities. She has testified before the United States Senate and has appeared on CNN, the BBC, PBS, NPR, Fox and a host of other broadcast outlets. Her work has been featured in numerous international periodicals.