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No 6160

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Vol cxl No 1

pp. 1–56

Reports

Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Diane Middlebrook and Carl Djerassi Visiting Professorship of Gender Studies

The General Board beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The Centre for Gender Studies in the Department of Geography is building a strong international reputation as a centre for interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary teaching and research in Gender Studies. A benefaction enabled the establishment of a Gender Studies Fund and the establishment of a University Lectureship in Gender Studies (by Grace 1 of 12 March 2008) in the Department. The Centre’s new M.Phil. course in Multi-disciplinary Gender Studies begins in October 2009 and is expected to attract the highest calibre students. The Centre continues to expand and attract support for new initiatives, and is now entering a phase of development that focuses on identifying funding for studentships as well as expanding its academic collaborations nationally and internationally.

2. The Faculty Board of Earth Sciences and Geography and the Council of the School of the Physical Sciences now recommend the establishment of a Visiting Professorship of Gender Studies. This development is made possible following a generous and irrevocable bequest of a London property by Professor Carl Djerassi who has agreed that the property will pass to the University on or before his death. Professor Djerassi is an Honorary Graduate of the University and Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University, best known for his contribution to the development of the first oral contraceptive pill and as a novelist and playwright.

3. It is proposed that the University establish the Visiting Professorship during Professor Djerassi’s lifetime on the basis that the costs incurred in so doing will be met whenever the bequest is realized. Binding legal agreements have been put in place to fully protect the University’s interests in this regard. Based on a careful professional appraisal of the property and a conservative valuation it is forecast that the programme of Visiting Professorships would be funded for at least 15 years on this basis. The Faculty Board recommend that the Visiting Professorship should be named in honour jointly of Professor Djerassi and of his late wife, Diane Middlebrook, who was Professor Emerita at Stanford University (English and Gender Studies) and a biographer and poet.

4. The Visiting Professorship will enable the Centre to host distinguished scholars from overseas and UK institutions for periods of up to two terms. During their appointment, holders of the office will be expected to give at least one public lecture as well as to undertake teaching and personal research, to explore opportunities for continuing collaborative research, creating new synergies with international scholars, and to offer guidance and intellectual leadership to junior researchers and doctoral students in Gender Studies.

5. The General Board recommend:

That a Diane Middlebrook and Carl Djerassi Visiting Professorship of Gender Studies be established with effect from 1 October 2009, assigned to the Department of Geography, and governed by the regulations set out in the Annex to this Report.

2 October 2009

Alison Richard, Vice-Chancellor

Andrew Gamble

J. G. P. Sissons

N. Bampos

C. A. Gilligan

Sam Wakeford

William Brown

Rachael Padman

I. H. White

Philip Ford

J. Rallison

Yang Xia

Simon Franklin

Jeremy Sanders

ANNEX

Diane Middlebrook and Carl Djerassi Visiting Professor of Gender Studies. 2009. Geography

1. The Funding Sums identified in the Agreement between the University and Professor Carl Djerassi, together with any other monies received for the purpose, shall constitute a fund called the Diane Middlebrook and Carl Djerassi Fund of which the capital and the income shall be used to support the Diane Middlebrook and Carl Djerassi Visiting Professorship of Gender Studies.

2. The Managers of the Fund shall be the Committee of Management of the Gender Studies Fund.

3. A Visiting Professor shall from time to time be elected by the General Board under the authority of Statute D, XV, 1(c)(iii), on the advice of the Managers. The tenure of the Visiting Professor, during which he or she shall be in residence in Cambridge, unless granted leave of absence by the General Board, shall not exceed two terms in one academical year and shall be determined by the General Board on the recommendation of the Managers.

4. The Managers shall ensure that the programme is sustained over the medium term and shall use the Fund to support no more than two Visiting Professors in any one academical year (which shall include payment of the travelling expenses incurred by the Visiting Professor on her or his appointment, such emoluments as the General Board, on the recommendation of the Managers, shall determine at the time of the election, and the indirect costs to the University of the appointment).

5. Any unexpended sums in a financial year may in any subsequent year be expended in accordance with Regulation 4.