Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris today congratulated Prof Linda Doyle on her election as provost of Trinity.
Doyle was elected provost on the second round of voting, defeating Prof Linda Hogan by 247 votes. Prof Jane Ohlmeyer was eliminated after the first round.
In a press statement, Harris said that “another glass ceiling has been shattered”.
“I also want to pay tribute to Professor Jane Ohlmeyer and Professor Linda Hogan for their participation in this election”, he added. “This election and its result are an incredible milestone for the college and our higher education sector.”
“Professor Doyle will become Provost at a time of great change and huge opportunity for the sector and I look forward to working with her in the years ahead.”
Harris added that there had been “improvements” in addressing gender imbalance in universities, but that there “remains a significant level of under-representation of female staff at the highest decision-making levels in Irish universities”.
“Today is a historic day and a major milestone. I hope it sends a strong message to everyone involved in the higher education sector and beyond – a message of inclusion, equality and opportunity for all.”
Doyle will take over as Provost on August 1st. In her victory speech this afternoon, she said “Today is a historic moment for our university. I want to acknowledge the tremendous work that women have done before me.”
She added that she wanted to turn the “extraordinary day” into “an ordinary day” in the future “and there’s many more women in positions like this”.
Doyle also said that she wanted to make Trinity an “open, productive and creative place”, adding that she think that “we will do amazing things in the next decade”.
Her manifesto, “Imagine Trinity,” encouraged voters to imagine what Trinity would be like in 2031 at the conclusion of her provostship. She frequently focused on her first manifesto point about creating a “re-energised democracy” during the provostial hustings, discussing detailed plans of how to redistribute provostial power.
She pledged to introduce an independent chair of College Board, and frequently heralded Trinity East as a place to build a second inner city campus.
Though she agreed with her opponents on many points, she diverged from their views on the issue of rankings. Hogan and Doyle both promised to improve Trinity’s position in international rankings. Doyle said she believed that “our behaviour should drive rankings”, as opposed to the other way around.
