Reuben College is a new
constituent college
A collegiate university is a university in which functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the C ...
of the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
in England.
The plans for the new
graduate college, preliminarily named Parks College, were announced in December 2018. It is the first new Oxford or Cambridge college founded since 1990, when the postgraduate
Kellogg College, Oxford
Kellogg College is a graduate-only constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1990 as Rewley House, Kellogg is the university's 36th college and the largest by number of students. It hosts research centres including ...
, was established. It will be located in the
Science Area on the historic
Radcliffe Science Library site and took in its first graduate students in the 2021–2022 academic year.
History
The establishment of Parks College was approved by a vote in the university
congregation
A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship.
Congregation may also refer to:
* Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship
*Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...
on 7 May 2019. On 11 June 2020, the university announced that it had received an £80 million gift from the
Reuben Foundation towards an endowment and scholarships, which would be marked by changing the name of the college to Reuben College. The college was formally renamed on 30 June 2020.
The initial intake of graduate students was in the 2021–2022 academic year with an eventual annual intake of 200 students, studying for research degrees and on taught courses. Initially, there is a focus on three interdisciplinary research clusters, which will be increased to six or eight clusters once there is a full complement of graduate students.
Professor
Lionel Tarassenko
Lionel Tarassenko, (born 17 April 1957) is a British engineer and academic, who is a leading expert in the application of signal processing and machine learning to healthcare. He was previously Head of Department of Engineering Science (Dean of ...
(head of the
Department of Engineering Science) was invited by the
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 ...
,
Louise Richardson
Dame Louise Mary Richardson (born 8 June 1958 ) is an Irish political scientist whose specialist field is the study of terrorism. In January 2016 she became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, having formerly served as the Principa ...
, to oversee the development of the college as its founding president.
The college appointed its first fellows in 2019.
Buildings
The current Radcliffe Science Library (RSL) building is located next to the
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum or OUMNH, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It a ...
and consists of three parts:
* The Jackson Wing, parallel to
South Parks Road, is
Grade II listed. Designed by
Sir Thomas Jackson
Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, 1st Baronet (21 December 1835 – 7 November 1924) was one of the most distinguished British architects of his generation. He is best remembered for his work at Oxford, including the Oxford Military College at Cowl ...
it opened in 1901. It is arranged over 3 floors, all above ground.
* The Worthington Wing, parallel to Parks Road, was designed as an extension to the Jackson Wing in 1934 by
Hubert Worthington
Sir John Hubert Worthington (4 July 1886 – 26 July 1963) was an English architect.
Early life
Worthington was born at Alderley Edge, near Stockport, the youngest son of architect Thomas Worthington. He was educated at Sedbergh School from ...
. The wing extends to the north of the western end of the Jackson Wing and contains the entrance hall on the ground floor.
* The Lankester Room and Main Stack, a two-storey extension under the lawn of the museum, built between 1972 and 1975.
Reuben College will also consist of the western wing of the
Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory and
Abbot's Kitchen. In 2019, the university launched a major refurbishment project to modernise and convert these facilities into shared space for the Radcliffe Science Library, museum collections storage and the new Reuben College. The project is expected to be completed in 2023. Student accommodation will be offered in the newly refurbished building at Farndon Court.
Academic focus
At its launch in 2019, the college identified three initial key areas of knowledge as the focus of its research:
*
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
and
machine learning
Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence.
Machine ...
*
Environmental change Environmental change is a change or disturbance of the environment most often caused by human influences and natural ecological processes. Environmental changes include various factors, such as natural disasters, human interferences, or animal in ...
*
Cellular life
In November 2020, the college announced a fourth academic theme:
* Ethics and values
Administration
Together with
Kellogg and
St Cross, Reuben is one of only three Oxford colleges without a
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...
. It is officially a society of the university rather than an independent college. The main difference from an independent college is that the governing body only recommends a president, who is then appointed by Council; in other colleges, the head of house is elected and appointed by the governing body directly. For accounting purposes, the societies are considered departments of the university.
References
External links
Reuben College website
{{Authority control
2019 establishments in England
Educational institutions established in 2019
Colleges of the University of Oxford
Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford
Grade II listed buildings in Oxford
Grade II listed educational buildings