Job-sharing deans 'a first' for rural university

The University has never had a female dean of agriculture before, let alone two

Two lecturers have created history by being appointed to a shared dean role at a university.

Dr Cassie Newland and Dr Karen Rial Lovera have jointly taken on the role as dean of agricultural science and practice at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in CIrencester, Gloucestershire.

The job share is a first for the university, which has also not previously had a female dean of agriculture.

The pair said they wanted to use the role to "deliver a great student experience".

The pair had been acting up in the position since the departure of the previous dean at the end of last year and have now been taken on permanently.

Dr Karen Rial Lovera becomes the university's youngest-ever dean

Dr Lovera, at 35, is the youngest dean the university has ever had and is an RAU alumnus, having completed her PhD there.

"Having this shared role really appealed to us both as it meant that we could each have a great balance between our research and teaching responsibilities, while also having the opportunity to take on a senior management role", she said.

The university said the two women have "obvious leadership skills"

Dr Newland said the pair initially took on the role as an interim measure and split their work between "staff-facing and student-facing responsibilities".

"We enjoyed it so much that, when the RAU advertised to recruit a permanent dean, we approached HR with a job-share suggestion", she said.

"The few months we had spent in the interim role had worked so well, for both us and the university, that we were encouraged to apply."

"One big advantage of sharing the role is that we can both keep up our own research and much-valued teaching activities in a way that would be much more difficult if the dean responsibilities were full time", she said.

"We want to deliver a great student experience at the RAU and support our colleagues' research and teaching careers."

Professor David Main, the RAU's pro vice chancellor for academic planning and resources, said the women have "obvious leadership skills" and can "act as a role model for our aspiring academics".