William Grant Guilford is a former New Zealand academic , specialising in veterinary nutrition. He is currently Chair of the New Zealand Veterinary Association. Guilford is best known for a failed attempt to change the name of Victoria University of Wellington while he was Vice-Chancellor there in 2018.
Academic career
After a
Bachelor of Veterinary Science
The Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc or BVSC; Latin Baccalaureus Veterinariae Scientiae), "Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine" (BVetMed), or "Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery" ("BVM&S" or "BVMS") is a degree for studies in veterinary me ...
and Bachelor of Philosophy at
Massey University
Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
, Guilford completed a
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
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* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
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** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
in nutrition from the
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
.
The title of his 1993 thesis was ''Experimental Studies of Gastrointestinal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury and Food Sensitivity in Dogs.''
Following the completion of his PhD, Guilford worked at the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
and the
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
, before returning to New Zealand and
Massey University
Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
,
where he studied food allergies in domestic pets.
Guilford was first author on the third edition of the veterinary textbook ''Strombeck's Small Animal Gastroenterology.'' According to the
Scopus
Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top-l ...
citation index, he has an
H-index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...
of 19 with (from 52 publication and >1000 citations) as of April 2022.
In addition to his work on small animals, Guilford frequently warned of the dire threat that dung beetles presented to New Zealand.
University administrative career
Guilford served for 10 years as the Foundation Head of the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences at Massey University. The institute became the first veterinary school in the southern hemisphere to be accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Guilford faced opposition from animal rights activists, some of whom took direct action, with the
Animal Liberation Front
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an international, Leaderless resistance, leaderless, decentralized political and social resistance movement that engages in and promotes non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelt ...
taking dogs from a farm owned by the University.
Guilford moved to the
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
as Dean of Science in 2009 and
Vice Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...
of
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well know ...
in 2014.
Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington
Guilford served as Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington from March 2014 until 4 March 2022.
During his eight years as Vice-Chancellor, the University fell from the rank of 251-275 in the Times Higher Education rankings in 2013 to 501-600 when he left in 2022. In the QS world university rankings it fell from 237 in 2012/2013 to 275 in 2022/2023. In the Times Higher Education Impact rankings the University was ranked 85
th in the world in 2022, with rankings in support of the Sustainable Development Goals of climate action; peace, justice and strong institutions; and affordable clean energy (ranked 12
th, 24
th and 35
th in the world, respectively).
Under his leadership staff numbers (FTE) increased from 1,990 in 2014 to 2,329 in 2021, his last full year as Vice-Chancellor, including a 23% increase in research and teaching staff.
Over the same period, student numbers increased from 16,901 (EFTS) to 18,241, partly due to the growth in engineering and the establishment of a Faculty of Health along with on-going popularity of the humanities.
Māori enrolments increased from 10.2% of the domestic student population to 11.9%.
The University's consolidated revenues (including its Foundation) increased from $381 million to $530 million and net assets increased from $649 million to over $1 billion.
External research income doubled to reach $89 million in 2021 and the University retained the rank of first overall in New Zealand for the intensity of high-quality research in the 2018 Performance-Based Research Funding assessment round.
Embedding the University in the capital city was a major focus for Guilford. One of his greatest achievements was to make the word "Wellington" appear in a larger font in all of the university's branding and signage.
During his time as Vice-Chancellor, the university added a new science building, Te Toki a Rata and a postgraduate student and administration block, Maru.
Te Toki a Rata was opened by Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...
.
Guilford also committed the university to redevelopment of the university's marae and partnering with the City in the redevelopment of the Wellington Town Hall for a national music centre. However, he directed most capital investment during his tenure into refurbishment and seismic strengthening of existing buildings on campus.
Controversies
Guilford's time as Vice-Chancellor was marked by a number of controversies.
He had a contentious relationship with university staff, the Minister of Education, the Hon.
Chris Hipkins
Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a member of the Sixth Labour Government's Cabinet as Minister of Education, Minister of Police, Minister for the Public Service and Leader of the ...
, the Mayor of Wellington, Andy Foster, several members of the Wellington City Council, prominent alumni, student representatives, the local MP
Nicola Willis
Nicola Valentine Willis (born 7 March 1981) is Deputy Leader of the National Party and Minister of Finance in a Coalition Government with ACT and New Zealand First. Willis entered the New Zealand Parliament in 2018, when she inherited Steve ...
, and the local branch of the Tertiary Education Union.
In 2020, Guilford had to apologise to Minister of Education Chris Hipkins, after claiming the Minister was "missing in action" during the covid pandemic. Asked about Guilford's accusation by National Party Education spokesperson Hon. Nikki Kaye, Hipkins told Parliament, "In fact, after the vice-chancellor of Victoria University made that comment, many other vice-chancellors contacted me to make it clear that that was not their view, and I have subsequently received an apology from the vice-chancellor of Victoria University."
There was also tension between Guilford's administration and staff represented by the
Tertiary Education Union
The New Zealand Tertiary Education Union (in Māori: Te Hautū Kahurangi o Aotearoa) is the main trade union in the New Zealand tertiary education sector, and represents the interests of more than 10,000 workers employed within the sector across ...
. In 2016, this led to industrial action undertaken by union members. In a 2020 interview, one of the university's most respected academics, Professor
Lydia Wevers
Lydia Joyce Wevers (19 March 1950 – 4 September 2021) was a New Zealand literary historian, literary critic, editor, and book reviewer. She was an academic at Victoria University of Wellington for many years, including acting as director of t ...
, said the university was at a crossroads, “brought to a head partly by Covid, and partly by this increasing and demonstrable sense the staff have that they don’t trust the senior leadership”. In December 2021, the Tertiary Education Union representative said that “short-term” and “careless” decisions from the senior leadership team had caused “lasting damage” to relationships with staff.
Under Guilford, the
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well know ...
's
Karori
Karori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, 4 km from the city centre and is one of New Zealand's most populous suburbs, with a population of in
History Origins
The name ''Karori'' used ...
campus was sold by a tender process to private developers. The University had formally acquired the campus on the 1st of January 2005 following a merger with the Wellington College of Education. The sale prompted some controversy, as the University acquired the land for $10 from the
Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
. The Campus was sold for an undisclosed sum (the land was valued in excess of $20 million) to Ryman for the purposes of making a retirement village. This led to tension between the Ministry of Education, the Wellington City Council, the Karori community, and Victoria University of Wellington as many considered that it was improper for the university to make such a profit off public land. Six years after being moved to the Kelburn campus from Karori, Victoria University of Wellington's Education staff were still being housed in what they had been told was "temporary" student accommodation. In 2021, the value of the Karori land Ryman purchased for around $20 million was estimated at more than $40 million.
In 2020, the university was criticised following a decision to charge residents of the university's closed halls of residence a $150 per week fee once New Zealand moved to
COVID-19 alert level three on 28 April 2020. Guilford responded to criticism with the explanation that the halls operate as a cost-recovery ancillary operation. He went on to say that without the hall fees being paid the university had to cross-subsidise the halls from the tuition revenue – disadvantaging the quality of the education of all students - or cut the costs of the halls which would mean staff losing their jobs. The proposed fee resulted in a student-led rent strike involving at least 1000 people. The university eventually relented on the decision to charge students and temporarily reinstated the fee waiver.
In August 2020, Guilford released a preliminary discussion document on the university’s academic structures. The document included 13 draft recommendations ‘to help clarify, challenge and progress our thinking prior to consultation’.One of these draft recommendations (to empower academic staff to create ‘affinity/management’ groups aligned with disciplines, sectors, research areas, or stakeholder groups as their ‘home base’) proved unpopular with staff and students being considered likely to result in the elimination of schools, a focussing of administration on the faculty offices, and significant job losses for administrative staff. In the face of overwhelming staff opposition, Guilford formally advised the University Council that he had decided to conclude the review of academic structures at the discussion stage and did not wish to seek the Council’s approval to consult on any formal ‘change proposals’.
Concerns about the future of schools along with resentment about changes to on-line teaching and the financial, operational, regulatory, and health measures implemented by Guilford to address the COVID-19 pandemic,combined to undermine trust by staff in the university's senior leadership. Students were also critical of the university’s restructuring proposal, and the refusal to automatically upscale the grades of students in response to the stresses incurred during the COVID-19 epidemic or discount fees for international and domestic students studying on-line. Guilford acknowledged the pressure the combination of cost-cutting and increased workload had placed on staff and students during the pandemic but maintained it was important for the University not to ‘kick the can down the road’. He used a speech at the university's Christmas party in 2020 to announce that because insufficient staff had taken redundancy, “unfortunately, therefore, it’s looking increasingly likely that to fulfil our commitments to kaitiakitanga and intergenerational responsibility, we will be facing hard decisions early next year.”
In May 2018, Guilford announced that Victoria University of Wellington was considering renaming the institution to "The University of Wellington" and replacing its existing Te Reo Māori name, Te Whare Wānanga o Te Ūpoko o Ti Ika A Māui, with a new Māori name of 'Te Herenga Waka'. Consultation on the proposal ended in early June 2018.Opposition to the proposed name change led to thousands of written submissions and a petition against the change being received from students, staff, graduates and alumni of the University. In December 2018, the Minister of Education,
Chris Hipkins
Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a member of the Sixth Labour Government's Cabinet as Minister of Education, Minister of Police, Minister for the Public Service and Leader of the ...
declined the name change. The Minister concluded: 'Given the level of opposition to the university's recommendation, including by its own staff, students and alumni, I am not persuaded that the recommendation is consistent with the demands of accountability and the national interest." The University then changed its logos and branding, emphasising Te Herenga Waka and Wellington in its name, a move described as "a name change by stealth." This led to some further incidents of name confusion where, in the interests of brevity, offshore partners would refer to Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University, dropping the Wellington.
Satirical Figure
Guilford was a frequent target for satirists while he was Vice-Chancellor. Wellington playwright
Dave Armstrong was a regular critic, often using the label "Wellington University of Wellington" to describe Victoria University of Wellington after Guilford's initial confusing and failed attempt to change the university's name. He wrote of the VC of "Gumboot University" being seen in the
Koru Club, a subtle reference to the fact Guilford continued to live in Auckland, flying south to Wellington each week to work. In September 2020 Armstrong assessed the performance of the university's Senior Leadership Team, awarding them grades for courses including "Ethics" (D-), "Branding 101" (E) and "Management 101" ("F for Fiasco").
It was not just Wellington satirists that had fun at Guilford's expense. The Auckland University student magazine
Craccum
''Craccum'' is the weekly magazine produced by the Auckland University Students' Association of the University of Auckland, New Zealand. It was founded in 1927. The name originated from the scrambled acronym of "Auckland University College Men' ...
published a list of "did you know?" points about Guilford that included the claim that "On the 2nd of August, 2019, Grant Guilford became the first and only person on Earth to think ‘Wellington Victoria University of Wellington: Wellington School of Business’ would be a good name for a university faculty." It added that his favourite colour was "determination", and suggested "Grant Guilford’s Wikipedia page looks suspiciously like he’s been updating it himself."
The 2022 Victoria University of Wellington Law Faculty revue, "Tomorrow when the law began", made fun of an autocratic "former Vice-Chancellor" called 'Grant Gilead'.
Climate Change
Victoria University of Wellington divested itself from fossil fuels and implemented a five-point plan to reduce carbon emissions during Guilford's tenure as Vice-Chancellor. Guilford has called for politicians to act on climate change, and made a brief submission to the
Ministry for the Environment consultation phase on setting New Zealand's post-2020 climate change target. He was the recipient of the Australasian Green Gown Award for sustainability leadership and now spends most of his time on two conservation blocks he owns with his wife.
Despite his professed commitment to climate action Guilford never moved permanently moved to Wellington and instead flew each week between his lifestyle property in Drury, south of Auckland, and Wellington, leading some to accuse him of being a climate hypocrite.
Retirement
Guilford announced his retirement from Victoria University of Wellington in 2021, to take effect on 4 March 2022.
He was replaced by Acting Vice-Chancellor Jennifer Windsor, who in her first message to staff immediately announced a "re-set" and a "pause" of one-third of the strategic projects Guilford had pursued as university priorities. On 22 June, Professor Nic Smith from Queensland University of Technology was announced as Victoria University of Wellington's next Vice-Chancellor.
Roles outside of academia
As of 2022, Guilford is currently the Chair of the New Zealand Veterinary Association. He has previously held positions on the board of the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency, several companies, including New Zealand Genomics Limited, centres of research excellence, including the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, and the Crown Research Institute Landcare Research Limited.
References
External links
*
Profile on Victoria University site*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guilford, Grant
Living people
University of Missouri faculty
University of California, Davis alumni
University of California, Davis faculty
Massey University alumni
Massey University faculty
Vice-chancellors of Victoria University of Wellington
New Zealand veterinarians
Year of birth missing (living people)