John Anthony George Craven

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 17 June 1949) is a British economist, a former

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 Portsmouth. In 2006, he founded 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 ...

, and served as its first chair until 2009.

Early life

John Craven was educated at

Pinner County Grammar School Pinner County Grammar School was a grammar school in Pinner, Middlesex, from 1937 to 1974. From 1974 to 1982 it became Pinner Junior College and then Pinner Sixth Form College. Pinner County Grammar School was built to accommodate 508 boys and gir ...

, then

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

where he read Mathematics and Economics and then took up a

Kennedy Scholarship Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the schol ...

to the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

Career

He went to

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

at Canterbury where he spent 25 years, first as a member of the Economics Department and then in a variety of senior management roles. He was promoted to Reader in Economics in 1980 and Professor in 1986. In 1987 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences; a position which he held for four years. He became Pro Vice-Chancellor in 1991 and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 1993 when he had responsibility for planning and resource allocation.

Vice-Chancellor of Portsmouth University

He was appointed as Chancellor (education)#Vice-chancellor, vice-chancellor at the University of Portsmouth and took up that position on 1 January 1997. His inaugural lecture on taking up the position of Vice-Chancellor at the University of Portsmouth brought together his main interests in

social choice theory Social choice theory or social choice is a theoretical framework for analysis of combining individual opinions, preferences, interests, or welfares to reach a ''collective decision'' or ''social welfare'' in some sense.Amartya Sen (2008). "Soci ...

and reflected on the relevance of that theory to the issues of accountability facing Vice-Chancellors and others in publicly funded organisations. Craven was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to higher education and to the community in Hampshire.

Research

John Craven's main academic interests lie in theoretical economics and the theory of social choice. He has published three books including a well-known textbook on introductory economics which has been widely used in schools, colleges and universities.

Founder of University Alliance

Vice-Chancellor Craven founded the

in 2006, and served as its chair until 2009. The University Alliance, previously convened informally as the Alliance of Non-Aligned Universities, comprises a mixture of pre and post 1992 universities, which are not members of the other mission groups; the Russell Group, the 94 Group or Million Plus. In August 2009 he was replaced as chair by the Chancellor (education)#Vice-chancellor, vice-chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, Professor

Janet Beer Dame Janet Patricia Beer, (born 1 August 1956) is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool. She took over from Howard Newby in February 2015, having previously been Vice-Chancellor at Oxford Brookes University and Pro-Vice Chancellor ...

Personal life

In 1974 he married Laura Loftis; they have a son and daughter.

References

External links

University of Portsmouth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craven, John English economists 1949 births Living people Academics of the University of Portsmouth Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Pinner Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Kennedy Scholarships