PENNY WILSON, Penny Wilson interviewed 18.09.03 and 1.10.03 (98 minutes). Penny Wilson arrived in 1976 as a Fellow in English. While enjoying research and supervising at Cambridge, she initially found college life claustrophobic and uncomfortable. She recalls Fellows and staff: Rosemary Murray was Vice-Chancellor but still pivotal in College. She discusses admissions, the entrance paper, and interviewing practice.
Initially a tutor to undergraduates, she progressed to Graduate Tutor (by invitation), Admissions Tutor (by election) and Vice-President. She then became Senior Tutor, by a formal interview that helped to focus on the role’s objectives. The job expanded when performance audit was required. She developed a staff-training ethos; examined influences on academic performance; and reviewed undergraduate accommodation. She speaks of conflicts between delivering academic discipline and pastoral care, and of the arrival of the first Dean. Recalling how student issues have changed, she speaks of the professionalisation of the counselling role.
She became Secretary of the [intercollegiate] Senior Tutors’ Committee ('Tut Reps'), a demanding post during the revision of intercollegiate structure and the first Audit in 1991. She used information technology to enhance Senior Tutors’ cohesion and communication in the challenging climate of the advent of student progress files and the Data Protection Act.
She comments on the context and mechanics of the agreement between the Kaetsu Educational Trust and New Hall, and recalls her involvement, on the Building Committee, with the engineers, focusing on practical details.