Professor Kate Elizabeth Tunstall (born 1970) is an academic in the field of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

. She is a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, where she also served as interim

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

from 2019 to 2021.

Early life

Born in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

in September 1970, Tunstall was educated at a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

in South London, then at

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (historically known as "Sussex College" and today referred to informally as "Sidney") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1 ...

, where she graduated

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in French and German, after a year at the Paul Valéry University in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

.Kate Tunstall
mod-langs.ox.ac.uk, accessed 23 June 2021 In 1995 she gained the M.Phil. degree at Cambridge, with a thesis on the 18th-century French philosopher and encyclopaedist

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...

Career

Tunstall was a Kennedy Fellow at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

from 1995 to 1996 and arrived at Oxford as an academic in 1997. In October 1999, she graduated as a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

from

Hughes Hall, Cambridge Hughes Hall is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The majority of students are postgraduate, although nearly one-fifth of the student population comprises individuals aged 21 ...

. She is a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

, and an academic in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University. She was preparing to take up appointment as Vice Provost, when in March 2019, due to the early retirement of Sir Jonathan Bate, she was appointed as Interim Provost of Worcester College, with effect from October. Her term ended in July 2021 with the appointment of David Isaac as Provost. Shortly after her appointment as interim Provost, Tunstall attempted to put an end to the traditional custom of students standing as Fellows enter to sit at

high table The origin of "High Table" goes back to the physical layout of the dining halls of English colleges at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The high table is a table for the use of fellows (members of the Senior Common Room) and their guests in ...

during

formal hall Formal hall or formal meal is a meal held at some of the oldest universities in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (as well as some other Commonwealth countries) at which students usually dress in formal attire and often gowns t ...

, and also to the saying of

grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uni ...

before the meal, which led to a backlash. In an online referendum of college students, 155 students voted, with 130 in favour of maintaining the traditions, 20 against, and five abstaining. She stated that her change to the traditional customs was in line with the college's "commitment to equality as an educational charity".

Bibliography

Books

*''The Place of Painting in Diderot's Philosophical and Æsthetic Writings'', University of Cambridge, 1999 * ''Blindness and Enlightenment: An Essay.'' Bloomsbury Publishing. 2011.

Articles

* Tunstall, Kate, ‘Sexe, mensonges et colonies: les discours de l’amour dans le Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville’, ''Littératures classiques,'' 69 (2009), 17–34. * Tunstall, Kate, ‘Diderot-Voltaire: la coédition comme coalition’, ''

French Studies Bulletin The ''French Studies Bulletin: A Quarterly Supplement'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for French Studies. It covers all aspects of French or francophone The Fra ...

,'' 38.143 (2017), 24–30.

References

External links

Kate Tunstall college home page

Kate Tunstall departmental home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tunstall, Kate Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Alumni of Hughes Hall, Cambridge Historians of French literature Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford Provosts of Worcester College, Oxford Living people 1970 births Alumni of the University of Cambridge