Professor Dame Wendy Hall appointed to lead new Faculty
Professor Dame Wendy Hall has been appointed Dean of the new Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences in the University of Southampton.
Professor Hall is one of seven new Deans whose appointment is announced today (Tuesday 3 August) by the University. She will lead the new Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences, which comprises academic groupings in Electronics and Computer Science, Optoelectronics, and Physics and Astronomy.
"It is an honour and a very exciting prospect to lead the new Faculty,' says Professor Hall. 'It spans an amazing range of research areas from astrophysics to web science, from nanotechnology to power engineering. Much of our work is fundamental to the development of society in the digital age. I believe we have an amazing story to tell in terms of our impact on the core technologies that underpin these developments and the emerging businesses that drive them."
Wendy Hall, DBE, FRS, FREng is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, UK. She was Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) from 2002 to 2007.
One of the first computer scientists to undertake serious research in multimedia and hypermedia, she has been at its forefront ever since. The influence of her work has been significant in many areas including digital libraries, the development of the Semantic Web, and the emerging research discipline of Web Science.
In addition to playing a prominent role in the development of her subject, she also helps shape science and engineering policy and education. Through her leadership roles on national and international bodies, she has shattered many glass ceilings, readily deploying her position on numerous national and international bodies to promote the role of women in SET, and acting as an important role model for others.
She became a Dame Commander of the British Empire in the 2009 UK New Year's Honours list, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2009. She was President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) from 2008-10, the first person from outside North America to hold this position. She is a Member of the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology and a Member of the British Library Board. In 2006 she was awarded the Anita Borg Prize for Technical Leadership.
Writing to staff in the new Faculty Professor Hall comments: "I look forward now to working with the staff and students in the Faculty to strengthen our core disciplines and to develop exciting new cross-Faculty research initiatives and education programmes."
Professor Don Nutbeam, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, comments: "I believe that we have appointed an outstanding new leadership team to take forward our ambitious new strategy, which seeks to build on the world-leading research and top-rated education that we already have in Southampton.
"However, at a time when public funding for teaching and research is being cut that means an even greater focus on research quality. It also means transforming the structure, quality and flexibility of our educational programmes, so that by 2012 we are offering students a much greater choice of learning options."
For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.
Posted by Christopher Gutteridge on 03 Aug 2010.
