Shirley Congdon (born 1961) is a British nurse and academic administrator who is the eighth and current

vice chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth countr ...

of the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

, appointed in 2019. She has also chaired the Yorkshire Universities consortium since 2020.

Biography

Congdon was born in

Blackhall Colliery Blackhall Colliery is a village on the North Sea coast of County Durham, in England. It is situated on the A1086 road, A1086 between Horden and Hartlepool. To the south of the Blackhall Colliery's Catholic church is Blackhall Rocks. Built aro ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England, in 1961. She worked at Hartlepool General Hospital during secondary school, and became a nurse in 1982. She studied at

Teesside University Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It was officially opened as ''Constantine Technical College'' in 1930, before becoming a polytechnic in 1969, and finally g ...

in the late 1990s, while still working as a nurse. She was the first person in her family to attend university, and later received a master's degree and teaching certificate from

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

and the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

. After completing her studies, she worked in higher education at several institutions, becoming a department head at Teesside and director of academic delivery at

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

. Congdon became the dean of health studies at the

in 2009. She was named pro vice chancellor for learning and teaching in 2011, and deputy vice chancellor (academic) in 2015. In March 2019, the university announced that Congdon was appointed as

, and she began her tenure on 1 August, succeeding

Brian Cantor Brian Cantor (born 11 January 1948) has been a long-serving Lists of university leaders, university leader, is a visiting professor in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford, and a consultant at the Brunel Centre for Advanced Sol ...

. She is the eighth person, and first woman, to hold the role of vice chancellor at the University of Bradford. She was appointed to the

Leeds City Region The Leeds City Region, or informally Greater Leeds, is a local enterprise partnership City region (United Kingdom), city region located in West Yorkshire, England. Prior to the West Yorkshire devolution deal, the partnership covered parts of Sou ...

enterprise partnership board in March 2020. Congdon has chaired Yorkshire Universities, a consortium of twelve universities in the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

region, since August 2020. She succeeded Chris Husbands, and is the first woman in the position.

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Congdon, Shirley 1961 births Academics of the University of Bradford Alumni of Durham University Alumni of Teesside University Alumni of the University of Bath British women academics British women nurses English nurses People associated with Liverpool John Moores University People from Blackhall Colliery Living people Vice-chancellors of the University of Bradford