LIZ ACTON (EA) recalls her interview in 1969. NH was the only college to take women engineers. She was shocked how few were in the Department, but by the 1970s, a few women (including her) took a PhD. She was the first NH Churchill Fellow in Engineering, after working for Shell, and DoS in Engineering. She describes the impact of mixed colleges on applications to NH, and the demise of the NH entrance paper in 1986.
She recalls contemporary NH Fellows, and relates difficulties over the new Presidency of Valerie Pearl, including issues over her own research sponsorship. From her background on NH Audit Committee, EA recalls the financial constraints of the 1980s, and compares NH then and now. She describes the arrival of funding from the Kaetsu Foundation in the 1990s, and the setting up of the NH Art Collection.
As Senior Treasurer of the Boat Club, she recalls Head of the River celebrations at 69 Storey’s Way, and also comments on alcohol abuse in college.