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

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 i ...

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, bu ...

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

Biography

Congdon was born in Blackhall Colliery, County Durham, England, in 1961. She worked at Hartlepool General Hospital during secondary school, and became a nurse in 1982. She studied at

Teesside University , mottoeng = Deeds Not Words , established = 1930 – Constantine Technical College1969 – as Teesside Polytechnic 1992 – gained university status , type = Public , endowment = £0.23 m (2019/20) , chancellor ...

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 and the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

. 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 , mottoeng = Fortune favours the bold , established = 1823 – Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts1992 – Liverpool John Moores University , type = Public , endowment = , coor ...

. 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 CBE FREng (born 11 January 1948) is long serving university leader, a Visiting Professor in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford and a Research Professor at the Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology ...

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

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

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