Four academics have been appointed to leadership positions in Oxford University’s Humanities Division. They will take up their roles in the autumn (2023).
Professor Dan Grimley, Head of Humanities at Oxford, said: “This is a critical and exciting time for Oxford Humanities as we move towards the opening of the Schwarzman Centre, so I am delighted that such talented and committed colleagues are taking on these key leadership roles. I look forward to working with this new team to develop the Division’s strategy and articulate the immense value of the humanities to the world.”
The appointees are:
Professor Freya Johnston – Associate Head of Division (Education)
Professor Freya Johnston, Professor of English Literature, has been appointed as Associate Head (Education). She said: “I'm delighted to be joining the Division as Associate Head (Education), a role in which I hope to work collaboratively with the faculties to maintain excellence in our teaching and to foster innovation and expansion.”
Professor Johnston joined the Faculty of English and St Anne’s College, Oxford, in 2007. Her research mostly concerns eighteenth- and nineteenth-century prose: Jane Austen, Early and Late (2021), her most recent book, has just appeared in paperback; and The Unwritten Life of Samuel Johnson will be published in 2024.
Professor Simon Park – Academic Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Professor Simon Park, Associate Professor in Medieval and Renaissance Portuguese, has been appointed as the academic lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. He said: “Equality, diversity, and inclusion matter in every aspect of university life. I look forward to learning from and collaborating with colleagues and students across the division and the wider university in this role.”
Professor Park’s research focuses on the history, literature, and the visual arts of the Portuguese-speaking world in the Early Modern period. His first book, Poets, Patronage, and Print in Sixteenth-Century Portugal: From Paper to Gold (OUP 2021), examines how poets thought of themselves in professional terms and used poetry to negotiate their social status and financial success.
Professor Christine Gerrard – Director of The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)
Professor Christine Gerrard, Professor of English Literature, has been appointed as Director of TORCH. She said: “I’m thrilled to be leading TORCH as it enters its second decade and an exciting new era. The move to the new Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities offers an opportunity to scale up TORCH’s ambitions for innovative and visionary research collaborations which embody the vital significance of the Humanities to today’s world.
Professor Gerrard is also Barbara Scott Fellow and Tutor in English at Lady Margaret Hall, where she recently served as Interim Principal. Her main areas of research are eighteenth century political literature and women's writing of the long eighteenth century. She is currently completing The Oxford History of Poetry in English: The Eighteenth Century for OUP and an edition of Jonathan Swift, The History of the Four Last Years of the Queen for CUP.
Professor Jonathan Cross – Ertegun Director and Senior Scholar in Residence
Professor Jonathan Cross, Professor of Musicology and Official Student (Fellow) of Christ Church, has been appointed as Ertegun Director and Senior Scholar in Residence. He said: “I am delighted and honoured to be appointed to this role with the Ertegun Scholarship Programme. To have the opportunity to work alongside some of the finest graduate students from across the world is a genuine thrill for me. I am looking forward immensely to the coming three years and to helping develop this flagship programme for the Humanities at Oxford.”
Professor Cross has written, lectured and broadcast extensively on the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, including three books on Igor Stravinsky. His current project focuses on the so-called spectral music of living French composer Tristan Murail.
In addition, Professor David De Roure was appointed as the Academic Director of Digital Scholarship @ Oxford (DiSC) earlier this month.
