The Record 2009 - Keble College - University of Oxford

Keble College: The Record 2009
Jerker Denrell
Andrew
McCarthy
Judith Palmer
8
Gui-Quiang
G Chen
Alena
Patak-Danchak
Christopher
Dobson
this summer and will be moving on. In alphabetical order
they are: Dr Keith Brain (Physiology and Pharmacology, to
a Senior Lectureship at Birmingham), Dr Theresa Burt de
Perera (Zoology, to a University Lecturership and Fellowship
at St John’s), Dr Michael Chappell (Engineering), Ms Carly
Crouch (Theology, to a JRF at Cambridge), Dr Eleni Kechagia
(Ancient Philosophy), Dr Ed Morgan-Jones (Politics), Dr Nellie
Phoca-Cosmetatou (Archaeology), Dr Sophie Ratcliffe (English,
to a five-year Lecturership at Christ Church) and Dr Matthias
Tecza (Physics). It is very heartening to see our young research
fellows moving on to good academic positions elsewhere, and
we are making raising funds for posts like these one of our top
priorities. The same number have now been appointed from 1
October, not quite in the same subjects. You can imagine that
the recruitment process, which is so important, is a very timeconsuming
one, and extremely crucial for the College.
Replacing academics at higher levels is also time-consuming
and nowadays can prove a lengthy process, as people move
round the world and have higher expectations of support.
Several of our posts are still in the process of being filled,
and the time-lag can be difficult for the College. Most of the
increasingly onerous task of dealing with all these issues falls
on our Senior Tutor, Dr Marc Brodie, who has certainly had a
very demanding year in this regard. However I am glad to say
that Professor Jerker Denrell, formerly of Stanford University,
is joining us as Senior Research Fellow in Management and
that Professor Gui-Quiang G Chen of Northwestern University,
Illinois, will be a Professorial Fellow in the Analysis of Partial
Differentiated Equations. A further new post is the Research
Fellowship and Tutorship in Logic, to be held by Andrew
McCarthy, generously funded by Robin Geffen (Philosophy
and Theology, 1976). Thanks to another Old Member, Andy
Street (PPE, 1982), we have also been able to appoint a part-time
outreach officer for undergraduate recruitment (Sian Renwick).
She was a very effective participant in our annual Open Day
for potential applicants this July. A further ‘joiner’ during this
academic year has been Alena Patak-Danchak, who came
from Columbia University, New York, to the post of Head of
Science and Medical Library Services and Keeper of Scientific
Books, succeeding Dr Judith Palmer, who is now an Emeritus
Fellow. Alena is a Fellow by Special Election at Keble. As you
see, contrary to popular opinion, the ‘brain drain’ is far from
taking place in only one direction. Finally we have elected
the distinguished chemist and professor of chemistry and
molecular biology Professor Christopher Dobson (1967), Master
of St John’s College, Cambridge since 2007, to an Honorary