The Queen's College Record 2020

40 YEARS OF CO-EDUCATION AT QUEEN’S
In 1979 the first cohort of women students joined Queen’s. 40 years later, and with
over 1000 female students having passed through Front Quad, the College community
set out to celebrate this important and historic milestone.
To mark the anniversary, a group of Queen’s women from all four decades joined with
the College to plan a series of events and initiatives to forge connections across the
generations and build an ongoing network and legacy for all women at Queen’s.
Old Members’ Activities
Our thanks go in particular to the then Director of Development Anna Thorne, who was
responsible for driving the anniversary plans forward; to the Head of Communications,
Emily Downing, for her fantastic work on the ‘Shining a Light’ Exhibition that remains
on view around the College; and to Jen Stedman and Henry Cosh in the Old Members’
Office for entering into the spirit of the celebration, for their hard work and support, and
for keeping us on track.
Working groups focussed on four main strands of activity: Archive, Celebrate, Lobby
and Network.
Archive
Over the last 18 months Alison Sanders (née Spargo; PPE, 1979) and Christine Smith
(Modern Languages, 1979) built an online archive to commemorate the 40 years of
coeducation at Queen’s.
In the ‘Back to the Future’ section, there are memories from Fellows, staff and
students about the momentous decision to admit women to the College and the
experiences of everyone involved with the College following their arrival. In addition
to the fascinating written memories there are also video interviews with Professor
Kenneth Morgan and with a group of the female 79ers conducted by Guto Harri
(PPE, 1984). Michael Riordan, the College Archivist, also researched the College’s
relationship with women before 1979.
The second section, ‘Women of Queen’s’, celebrates the women who attended or
worked at the College over the last 40 years and includes the ‘Shining a light’ series
of photographic portraits. There is also a wealth of memories from Queen’s women on
the theme of ‘What Queen’s means to me’.
‘40 years in 40 Objects’ is an eclectic visual collection of pictures and 3D objects
(making best use of new technology) which are of significance to the spirit and the
journey of the women who have been and are part of College life. The items included
range from the statue of Queen Philippa, in whose name the College was founded,
College Record 2020 | The Queen’s College 89