Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge

Lucy Cavendish College
Location	Lady Margaret Road
Established	1965
Named for	Lucy Cavendish
Colours
President	Professor Janet Todd
Undergraduates	110
Postgraduates	110
Website	http://www.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk/
Boat club	http://www.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk/Boat_club/

Lucy Cavendish College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Only women over the age of 21 are admitted to the college for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The College grew from a 'Dining Group', a group set up by women who sought to increase the opportunities for women to study, conduct research and teach in Cambridge at a time when the vast majority of students and academics in Cambridge were male.

Origins

Although women had been allowed to study at Cambridge since the latter part of the 19th century, in the early 20th century the two existing women’s colleges were limited in their numbers and there were no mixed colleges. In 1950 a group called the "Society of Women Members of the Regent House who are not Fellows of Colleges" (also known as the "Dining Group") was established by women who wanted to create an environment like that which was possible for fellows of the mens' colleges, where academic support, feedback and conversation was available High Table. The Dining Group's aim was to set up a third women's college, and a splinter group set up Murray Edwards College in 1954. The remainder of the group focussed on graduate students and particularly those returning to study after time away from academia.

The Dining Group applied to the University authorities, Senate House, in 1964 for recognition as the Lucy Cavendish Collegiate Society, with a mandate in its Trust Deed to have responsibility for "the care and discipline of:

1. research students working for higher degrees or diplomas and
2. women, not necessarily so engaged, who wish to re-equip themselves for professional careers by advanced study, or by obtaining higher qualifications."

In 1965, the Lucy Cavendish Collegiate Society was given official recognition; this date is considered by the college to be its foundation date.[1] It became an "Approved Society": a new type of body coined specially by the Senate House to distinguish the Society from an "Approved Foundation" of the University as a more experimental, less formal institution. It was not until a change in the University statutes was made in 1971 that Approved Societies could admit undergraduates. Approved Foundation status was granted to Lucy Cavendish College in 1984, and in 1997 the College finally became self-governing under a Royal Charter.[2]

Student Body

Lucy Cavendish is known for having one of the most international and diverse student bodies in the University community. It has about 220 students divided equally between Undergraduates and Graduate students. Students from every corner of the UK mix with students from around the world. Students with ‘Access’ qualifications interact with students who have studied for A-levels and the International Baccalaureate. Former bankers, singers, journalists and police officers mix with recent graduates of universities from around the world. Women come at any age to study any subject offered by the University.

Other

The college is named after Lucy Cavendish (1841-1925), an aristocrat who campaigned for the reform of women's education.

The current President of Lucy Cavendish is Professor Janet Todd.

Former Presidents

See also Category:Presidents of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge

• Dame Veronica Sutherland
• Baroness Perry of Southwark
• Dame Anne Warburton
• Mrs Phyllis Hetzel
• Dr Kate Bertram
• Dr Anna Bidder

Notable staff and alumnae

See also Category:Fellows of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge

• Current President Janet Todd
• Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women(UNIFEM)
• Tag Gronberg, Reader in the History of Art and Design at Birkbeck College, University of London
• Anna Gannon, Author of The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage
• Elizabeth Speller, Author of Sunlight on the Garden: a family in love, war and madness
• Pauline Dawes, Entrepeneur
• Louise Foxcroft, Author of The Making of Addiction: The 'use and abuse' of opium in nineteenth-century Britain
• Elena Ambrosiadou, Entrepreneur and Financier
• Marcia Schofield, Musician
• Pamela Bradley, Assistant Secretary at IMF
• Cate Muther, President of Three Guineas Fund
• Kelly Smith, Author
• Karen Powell, Author
• Caron Freeborn, Author
• Margrit Fauland-Blackburn, Editor of Drawbridge
• Pauline Dawes, Managing Director for SOMI Trailers
• Gill Saxon, Writer and Radio Host

Honorary Fellows

See also Category:Honorary Fellows of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge

• Prof. Carol Black
• Prof. E. Margaret Burbridge
• Dame Judi Dench
• Lady Grantchester
• Judith Hanratty
• Dame Pauline Harris
• Mrs Phyllis Hetzel
• HM Queen Margrethe of Denmark
• Dr Barbara Oldham
• Baroness Perry of Southwark
• Prof. Alison Richard
• Dame Cath Tizard
• Prof. Janet Todd
• Mrs Claire Tomalin
• Baroness Trumpington of Sandwich
• Dame Anne Warburton
• Anna Ford
• Anne Owers
• Dame Stella Rimington
• Dr Cynthia Glassman

Further reading

• Papers of the Dining Group
• Lucy Cavendish College History
• Lucy Cavendish College Admissions