University

18 Jun 09

Alice Prochaska, Next Principal of Somerville College

Alice Prochaska has been elected as Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, effective from 1 September 2010, in succession to Dame Fiona Caldicott. 

She studied at Somerville College and received her undergraduate degree and DPhil in Modern History from the University of Oxford. She is joining Somerville from Yale University, where she has been University Librarian since August 2001. She has an extensive career in research and academic administration and was Director of Special Collections at the British Library from 1992 to 2001. 

Dr Prochaska will take over from Dame Fiona Caldicott, who has been Principal of Somerville since 1996, and whose tenure at Somerville ends in August 2010.

Alice Prochaska said: ‘I am honoured and delighted to have been chosen as the next Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. It will be a challenge to follow the extraordinarily successful tenure of Dame Fiona Caldicott and to take on this role at a time of turmoil in British higher education.

'I look forward with keen anticipation to working with Somerville’s distinguished Fellows and staff, and to serving them and the students whose education and future careers are central to the college’s mission. I am proud to have the opportunity to support the highest standards of research and to provide access to an excellent education for those who can do the best with it.’ 

Dr Prochaska trained and worked as an archivist at the National Archives of the United Kingdom and later was administrator of the Institute of Historical Research in London University, before joining the British Library and then moving to Yale. She has served as Chair of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Standing Committee of the International Federation of Library Associations, chair of the National Council on Archives, a vice president of the Royal Historical Society, a university governor, a Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, and chair of the Board of the Center for Research libraries, as well as serving on other boards and committees on both sides of the Atlantic.

She has published books and articles on a range of historical subjects including the history of trade unions in Britain, and sources for modern British, American and Irish history, and on libraries and archives. Her current special interest is in the stewardship of primary sources and international collections, and the historical background to a topic she has dealt with in her administrative career; the restitution of cultural materials, and related questions concerning international cultural heritage.