Churchill college is set to welcome its seventh Master in October 2014. Professor Dame Athene Donald DBE FRS will succeed the current Master, Professor Sir David Wallace CBE FRS.

Dame Athene holds a BA in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Physics from Girton College, Cambridge. She undertook postdoctoral work at Cornell University before joining Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory in 1983. In 1998, she became Professor of Experimental Physics. She is also a fellow of Robinson College.

A Director of WiSETI (the University’s Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Initiative), Dame Athene is also a Fellow of the Royal Society, a member of the Campaign for Science and Engineering’s Advisory Council, and a trustee of the Science Museum Group. She was awarded the L’Oreal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science in 2009, and the UKRC’s Women of Outstanding Achievement’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. She has also been a champion for gender equality in the University.

Jennifer Brook, Bursar of Churchill College, said to Varsity: “We are all very excited about the appointment of the first female Master of Churchill College. As the College which was the first in Cambridge to vote for the admission of women as well as men in 1973, it is something we have aspired to for a long time. Dame Athene’s reputation as a scientist is also clearly aligned with the College’s mission.”

However Elaine Zhao, a second year student at Churchill, will be sad to see Sir David Wallace retire: “The old Master was really approachable and friendly, so hopefully our new Master will follow in those footsteps even if her ideas for running the college differ.”  She continued, “[Wallace] came from working at Loughborough University hence wasn’t so familiar with the Cambridge traditions. He was just such an agreeable old man!”

Speaking about her appointment, Donald said: “It will be my challenge and privilege to help to ensure the College’s continuing success on all fronts and to develop its many strengths in the face of the rapidly changing climate of the UK’s Higher Education sector”.

Dame Athene will be one of 10 female Masters at the university with others including Dame Fiona  of Emmanuel and Professor Jean Thomas of St. Catherine’s.

The current Churchill Master, Professor Sir David Wallace, was also a physicist having been Director of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge from 2006 until 2011. He completed his PhD in elementary particle theory under the direction of Sir Peter Higgs before completing postdoctoral work at Princeton University. He was later appointed President of the Institute of Physics and a CBE in 1996 for his contribution to computing.