The impact of your support
A Campaign for Teaching Tess McCormick, Development Director Academics at Mansfield are leaders in their fields, making significant contributions to their disciplines and to public life through ground-breaking research and teaching. One of the most distinctive elements of studying at Oxford is being taught by the person who ‘wrote the textbook’, through the College tutorial. For most students, it is their Tutor who plays the pivotal role in their academic life.
What sets Mansfield apart from other colleges is its pioneering role in widening access to elite higher education, working actively to find candidates with potential who might never have considered Oxford. This is a virtuous circle, as leading academics are also attracted to Mansfield by our contribution to positive change in the world.
Making a permanent difference: together There are several ways in which donations to the Campaign will be maximised, enabling your support to have a permanent impact on the teaching of your subject at Mansfield. University support: Most academic posts at Oxford are ‘split’ between colleges and faculties – academics often hold a professorial appointment with the faculty, and their Tutorial Fellowship with the college. We are looking to endow the ‘College side’ of Fellowship teaching posts at Mansfield, and if we can achieve this, the University covers all other costs.
A key strategic goal for the College is further establishing a high profile for our academic work, through attracting and retaining top talent. We are committed to finding and keeping academics who inspire independent critical thinking that remains with students throughout their lives.
Match funding: In some subjects, alumni are choosing to make a ‘match challenge’ gift to help us reach our goal for their subject (see the Maths example p.43).
‘ Our Tutors help prepare students to make meaningful contributions to society as engaged citizens and leaders in a challenging world.’
Collective giving: While making an endowment-level donation is beyond the means of most individual alumni, even a relatively small gift, plus Gift Aid, made annually for a five-year period, quickly builds to have a significant impact. I truly hope you will play an active role in the Campaign for Teaching at Mansfield, one of the most powerful ways you can support your College.
At other Oxford colleges it is common for Tutorial Fellowships to be fully or partially endowed, providing significant security for the college, but currently only one of Mansfield’s posts is fully secured in this way (the Caird Fellow in Theology). Aiming to address this, Mansfield is launching an ambitious new Campaign for Teaching over the coming five years, asking alumni to support the teaching of their subject, and aiming to endow at least one Fellowship in each of our largest subjects: English, Geography, Law, Maths, and PPE.
Currently, subjects prioritised for the Campaign are English, Geography, Law, Maths, and PPE. To find out more, please contact Tess McCormick on tess.mccormick@mansfield.ox.ac.uk.
42
