Dame Janet Patricia Beer, (born 1 August 1956) is the

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

. She took over from

Howard Newby Sir Howard Joseph Newby (born 10 December 1947) is a British sociologist. He was appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool in 2008 and retired in December 2014. He was vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton from 1994 to ...

in February 2015, having previously been Vice-Chancellor at Oxford Brookes University and Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of Humanities, Law and Social Sciences at

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

Education and career

She is a graduate of the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

and

Warwick University , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

and held a fellowship at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. She worked for the Inner London Education Authority between 1983 and 1989 and has fulfilled academic and leadership roles at Warwick, Roehampton and Manchester Metropolitan. She came to the end of her term of office as Chair of the

University Alliance University Alliance (UA) is an association of British universities which was formed in 2006 as the ''Alliance of Non-Aligned Universities'', adopting its current name in 2007. Its membership is made up of technical and professional universit ...

in 2012; from 2000 until 2007 she was a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Education & Skills Select Committee; she has served a full term as a Board Member at the HEA and was founding Chair of the PVC Network; she was an Editorial Board member on 'The Journal of American Studies from 1997-2011, Associate Editor of 'The Year's Work in English Studies' from 1999-2007 and a Director of Carcanet Press from 1999-2006; she was a member of the Peer Review Panel for English at the AHRC from 2000-2005 and was subsequently a member of the Peer Review College; she has also fulfilled a variety of different Board and Chairing roles for the QAA, Leadership Foundation, British Association for American Studies, the Fulbright Commission and the Council of University Deans of Arts and Humanities. She is a Trustee of UCAS and of the British Council, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Higher Education Policy Institute. From 2011 until 2015 she was an elected Visiting Fellow of

Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer c ...

. Beer completed her term of office as chair of the steering group for the

National Student Survey The National Student Survey is an annual survey, launched in 2005, of all final year undergraduate degree students at institutions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom. The survey is designed to assess undergrad ...

(HEPISG) in 2016. She chairs the Equality Challenge Unit, is Vice President England and Northern Ireland, UUK. She took office President of Universities UK in August 2017.

Research and publications

Beer has an established record of research in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American literature and culture and contemporary Canadian women’s writing. She has written a number of books about Edith Wharton, most recently, in 2011, 'Sex, Satire and the Older Woman' (co-authored with Avril Horner). She has published widely on early twentieth-century American literary figures, transatlantic relationships and cultures.

Selected works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beer, Janet 1956 births Living people Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford People associated with Oxford Brookes University Vice-Chancellors of the University of Liverpool Yale University alumni Alumni of the University of Reading Alumni of the University of Warwick Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Women heads of universities and colleges