12 Mar 08

A replica of a 1628 proctorial cycle, which lays down the rota by which colleges nominate one of their Fellows as Junior or Senior Proctor respectively.

The new Proctors and Assessor for 2008-09, whose main responsibility is to ensure the University operates according to its statutes, have taken up office.

As well as carrying out ceremonial duties and playing a key role in committees, the Proctors deal with student discipline, complaints by University members, and the running of examinations. The Colleges elect the Senior and Junior Proctors on a rota basis.

The office of Proctor can be traced back to 1248, while the Assessor's role is more recent. The office, created forty years ago, has special responsibility for students' welfare and financial interests. A new team takes office at the start of each Easter vacation.
This year they are:

Senior Proctor: Professor Don Fraser

Donald Fraser is Professor of Earth Sciences and Anglo-American Fellow of Worcester College. His research interests are on the thermodynamc properties of molten silicates and in the adsorption of biomolecules on mineral surfaces and their role in the origin of biochirality.

He has worked at Caltech, in Japan, at the Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie in Mainz and in France. He has been a member of Council, was Chairman of the Physical Sciences Board and contributed to the debates on Academic Strategy and Governance. He was also Chairman of the Fraser Committee on the future structure of science teaching in Oxford. He is the author with Professor BJ Wood of Elementary Thermodynamics for Geology. He has been a director of the university spin-outs StatSci Europe and Prolysis.

Junior Proctor: Dr David Harris

David Harris is Lecturer in Biochemistry and Fellow of St Anne's College. He carried out his DPhil research at the University of Amsterdam, and taught at Leeds University for eight years before returning to Oxford. His research interests include the pathological defects in energy metabolism, particularly in the heart; molecular motors; metabolic control; control of sporulation in bacteria and in the study of ancient diets.

He is currently the Director of Teaching in the Biochemistry department in Oxford, responsible for design and organisation of the Biochemistry course, and is the author of ‘Bioenergetics at a glance', ‘Light Spectroscopy’, and two children’s stories.

Assessor: Dr John Nightingale

Dr Nightingale is a Lecturer in History and Fellow of Magdalen College. His special area of interest is the early medieval period particularly the interplay of monasteries, noble families and politics in Carolingian and Ottonian societies. His current research includes a project on trickery and cunning in the ninth and tenth centuries. He has just completed a stint as admissions officer for the History Faculty.