Principal’s Farewell

When Professor Geoff Ward joined Homerton as Principal in 2013, he took on a very different College from the one that he is preparing to leave, eight years later. Having just acquired its Royal Charter and become a full College of the University of Cambridge, the culmination of the vision of Geoff’s predecessor, Dr Kate Pretty, Homerton had a new identity to shape.

Taking on Homerton at that time was a unique opportunity to lead a Cambridge College whose sense of self was still in the process of being forged. Despite two and a half centuries of history, this was a new institution in its present form, and the chance to play a central role in taking it forward was irresistible.

“I wasn’t interested in becoming a head of house at an Oxford or Cambridge College per se. But the fact that we’d only just got the Royal Charter meant that whatever happened under my leadership would really matter. Elsewhere, if I’d gone to a College which had had a clear identity for several hundred years, I might never have touched the sides in terms of making a mark.”

However, familiar with the pace of change in Cambridge, Geoff was under no illusions that it would be possible to implement everything he envisaged for Homerton over the eight years of his term in office.

“I was braced for the possibility that none of the important changes would happen on my watch. I knew that I might end up being the Principal who started various processes, and my successor would see them through. But actually, I discovered that the College had a propensity for nimbleness, or agility – when it chose to it could move at speed. Having previously held senior roles at large universities (Deputy Principal at Dundee University and Vice Principal at Royal Holloway), I found that the scale of a College allows for changes to be implemented much more rapidly.”

Welcoming Medicine

One of the most gratifying of these was the introduction of Medicine as a subject available to study at Homerton. Given our proximity to the Addenbrooke’s site, it seems strange now that our first cohort of medical students is preparing to graduate that it took so long to get them on board.

“We’re 12 minutes from Addenbrooke’s, this fantastic, world-leading hospital, and yet we didn’t have Medicine, which I thought was very counter-intuitive. So I asked whether we could offer it, and was told no. There was a nationwide annual quota for medical students, and the Colleges which already offered it had very tight numbers, so for us to take it on, one of the other Colleges would have to give up some of their slots to us, and why would they do that? But then Trinity offered to give one up, which gave us something to push at.”

Several prominent Cambridge medics also promoted Homerton’s cause, and the first Homerton medical students eventually joined the College in 2016. Homerton now offers all the Triposes available to study at Cambridge, a status which Geoff believes is fitting to its size and ambitions, and hopes will be carried forward as a guiding principle as new subjects evolve. What makes us different?

Recognising the aspects of Homerton’s history and distinctiveness which are worth celebrating was a key part of Geoff’s early years in office.

“It was about emphasising Homerton’s difference; identifying things that had always been part of its DNA, but that people hadn’t always been confident about. Things that we’d been doing anyway, serendipitously, and identifying them so that they became part of our raison d’être.”

These included basic factors of geography which the College had historically seen as disadvantages but which, Geoff points out, had clear plus sides.

“Everyone always talked about how we were miles away, out near the station, in south Cambridge. Actually it’s very nice being so near the station, you can get on a train very easily! And south Cambridge is a very exciting place to be, and allows us to build links with the hospital and the biomedical campus.”

As Homerton emerged in its new form as a full College, it had a reputation to build. Initially, most students arriving at Homerton as undergraduates had not applied directly to the College, but had been pooled after applying elsewhere – another potential dent in the College’s emerging sense of self.

“This has now gone away as a problem – most of our students now apply directly to us. But even when they ended up at Homerton through the Pool, they were happy when they got here. And it gave us the opportunity to think about who they

were. Some of them were being pooled because their social and educational background hadn’t given them the interview polish to compete with students who had been more explicitly trained. Our focus on widening participation and social inclusion grew partly out of that, but the more we pursued it the more it grew, and the more important it became to the identity of the College.”

The personal touch

Geoff’s own personality – approachable, sociable, inclusive – has also moulded the College, and left an indelible sense that those attributes are integral to Homerton itself. This has shaped everything from his approach to leadership to his relationship with students.

“When I’m asked what my proudest achievement as Principal has been, I have to say it’s that I don’t think I ever split Governing Body. It’s not the kind of thing people write on your tombstone, but it’s crucial. Being careful to ensure that all views are taken on board, but that you move forward as a shared group. You’re constantly refreshing and renewing support.”

The location of the Principal’s office, at one end of the Cavendish Building, has facilitated that sense of collegiality – to get a cup of tea requires a long walk along a corridor teeming with potential interactions with staff, Fellows and students. Corridor chats with Geoff have become a defining part of the Homerton experience.

“I knew that I would have a role, but not the extent to which I would either occupy a pre-existing mould, or be able to shape it. It turned out that I could shape it, and that it suited my personality and my gregariousness. It’s a very convivial position, and meant that I could be myself while fulfilling the role. I’ve loved being with students, not just behind a lectern at an

event, but afterwards over jazz in the bar. Students have written to thank me for that – not just me, but that Homerton’s whole way of being is more personal.”

Of course, it is exactly this kind of personal, serendipitous interaction which has been missing over the past 18 months, and of which the current cohort of students have been deprived, a gap which Geoff has been acutely aware of.

“The saddest thing for me has been that I haven’t been able to be the Principal in the way that I’d carved out. Those ways of being together, that vibrancy wasn’t possible. But it hasn’t been lost, it’s just been frozen. It’s allowed us to think more reflectively, and it’s allowed certain people to come to the fore, especially the Senior Team, who didn’t quail in the face of anything to do with Covid. It hasn’t mean that everything has been diminished or weakened.”

The quieter pace of this time has also allowed Geoff to, as he puts it “rehearse retirement”, although as he is due to take up a new role as Honorary Professor of American Studies at the University of East Anglia, it appears the pipe and slippers are still some way off.

“I’m very lucky – if you’re a medic or a mathematician or a life scientist and you step off the giddy carousel of research to do something like this job, you may be saying goodbye to your career. Eight years later the field will have moved on. But in English, you can always pick it up again.”

Handing over responsibility for a College in which he has invested so much of himself cannot be easy, but Geoff is clear that there is plenty of scope for his successor to make his mark.

“I wouldn’t presume to give Simon any advice! I think there’s still a lot of room to take things forward. It’s not a completed journey, or a canvas that’s all been filled in.”