Political journalist and broadcaster Jackie Ashley has been appointed president of Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge, which champions the education of women.
Ashley, who has written a Guardian column for 12 years, will take on her new role in October 2015. She said: “All my working life I have been campaigning for better rights for women. I’ve been involved in campaigns for equal pay, carers, older women, and on health issues: I could not be more delighted to take up the challenge of leading this outstanding college.”
Lucy Cavendish College was founded 50 years ago by a group of female research academics, with the aim of broadening access to top quality university education. It is the only women’s college in Europe exclusively for students aged 21 or over.
“At a time when access to elite institutions has become such a hot political topic, and when women are still earning substantially less than men for similar jobs, I cannot think of a more exciting place to be working,” said Ashley. “There is nowhere quite like Lucy Cavendish College. I am proud to be becoming its leader and champion.”
In addition to her Guardian duties, Ashley, 60, has most recently been a presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Week in Westminster; previously she was political editor of the New Statesman and ITN’s political correspondent.
She took nine months’ leave in 2013 to care for her husband, the broadcaster Andrew Marr, who suffered a stroke. Since then she has campaigned for better rehabilitation provision for stroke survivors and better rights for carers.
Ashley becomes the college’s eighth president and will take over from Professor Janet Todd.
