Sally Mapstone

Sally Karen Mapstone grew up in West London and read English Language and Literature at Wadham College, Oxford, between 1975 and 1978, where she was taught by Terry Eagleton. She gained her DPhil on the advice to princes tradition in Older Scots literature from Oxford in 1986.[2]

After graduating with first-class honours from Wadham in 1978, Mapstone became an editor with Weidenfeld and Nicolson publishers, London, and was Mother of the Chapel of the National Union of Journalists at Weidenfeld.

In 1984 she was appointed lecturer in Medieval English Language and Literature, Worcester College, Oxford, and Randall MacIver Junior Research Fellow at St Hilda's College, Oxford.[3]

At St Hilda's she was lecturer in Medieval English Language and Literature, fellow and tutor in Medieval English Language and Literature, and Joanna Morse Memorial Fellow.

In 2006 she became reader in Older Scots Literature in the University and was made professor of Older Scots Literature in 2013. In 2006–7 she served as junior proctor of the University.

She was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Personnel and Equality) at Oxford in 2009,[4] and in 2011 became Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education)[5] with responsibility for Oxford's strategy and policies for teaching, learning, student support and admissions.

On 1 September 2016 Mapstone took up her position as the 11th Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, and was formally installed in post on 29 November 2016.[6] In 2020, she accepted an invitation to extend her contract by five years to 2026.

Mapstone's research is primarily on Older Scots literature, of the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries (including literature in Latin) and on book history. She has also published on Chaucer and on Malory; and on Shakespeare. A number of her publications concern the identification of previously unrecognised textual witnesses to Older Scots texts. She also publishes on later Scottish writers.

Mapstone is past president and honorary president of the Scottish Text Society, a member of the Advisory Board of Studies in Scottish Literature, a member of the Editorial Board of Scottish Studies Review (to 2009) and an honorary fellow of the Project for the History of the Book in Scotland at the University of Edinburgh. She was elected a fellow of English Association in 2013.

In May 2017, Mapstone became the first UK university leader to be honoured by the Foreign Policy Association, which presented her with a medal to recognise her leadership in international higher education, and made her an honorary fellow.

In 2017, she was made an emeritus fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, and an honorary fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and St Cross College, Oxford.[7]

She is chairing a workstream examining admissions policies in the higher education sector in Scotland for Universities Scotland.

She is a member of the Board of Universities UK,[8] a member of the Advisory Board of the Higher Education Policy Institute,[9] chair of the international advisory board of the University of Helsinki,[10] and a trustee of the Europaeum.[11]

In June 2018, she was appointed the first woman president of the Saltire Society[12] and in February 2019 she was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[13]

Mapstone was Deputy Chair of the University of Oxford Council and its General Purposes Committee. She served as a Member and Chair on a broad range of Oxford committees and boards. From 2011 to 2013, she chaired the group responsible for revising the University’s Strategic Plan 2013 to 2018.

She took a strong interest in diversity issues at Oxford, and launched the University’s mentoring scheme for senior women, Ad Feminam, in 2012. In 2016 she was the organiser of a major series of lectures by 'Women of Achievement'.[14]

Mapstone served as the only British representative on the steering group for the Pro-Vice Rectors for Teaching and Learning of the League of European Research Universities (LERU). She was lead author on an advice paper "Online Learning at Research-Intensive Universities"[15] published by LERU in 2014.

Since taking office at St Andrews, Professor Mapstone has focused on positioning the University in Scotland, the UK, and globally, in ways that speak to the University’s motto of Ever to excel. She led on developing a new strategic plan for 2018-23,[16] which launched in the autumn of 2018. She has taken forward the University’s plans for the acquisition of the Madras College site on South Street. She has overseen a review of the University’s processes for promotion, has launched a new University nursery, and has sponsored and launched a new mentoring scheme for senior academic women, the Elizabeth Garrett mentoring programme. She also led the University through its response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In June 2020, Mapstone discussed the Black Lives Matter movement in a weekly update to students. She wrote “You are all part of one of the world’s great universities, and are amongst the best and brightest minds of our times. You have resources and choices, intellect and opportunity, and the levers of change are closer to your hands than they are for millions of others. For the most part, you can breathe.” The comment "For the most part, you can breath" was criticised by students in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. [17] An open letter to Mapstone in response to her comments and addressing wider diversity concerns at the University was signed by over 2000 students.[18][19] Mapstone later apologised for the University's role in racial inequity. [20]