Exeter College says farewell to Rector Trainor and Professor Marguerite Dupree
Members of Exeter College bid a warm farewell to Rector Professor Sir Rick Trainor and his wife Professor Marguerite Dupree today, as Professor Trainor’s 10-year Rectorship drew to an end.
Staff, Fellows, Emeritus Fellows and students gathered in the College Hall this morning to wish them both well and to present them with mementos of their time at Exeter.
During Professor Trainor’s Rectorship, Exeter College completed construction of Cohen Quad, the largest physical expansion of the College since the 14th century. Cohen Quad has since won multiple architectural awards and been home to hundreds of undergraduate and Exeter College Summer Programme students, as well as quickly becoming a popular venue for students, staff and Fellows to work and socialise. Other significant improvements to the College’s estate over the past decade include redesigning the College entrance and Porters’ Lodge at Turl St, enhancing the Jacobean dining hall, and most notably transforming Exeter’s Victorian Gothic Library into a fully accessible space fit for 21st century students. That project, like Cohen Quad, involved generous donations from many alumni and friends of the College.
The last 10 years have seen many other notable changes at Exeter College. For instance, the College has invested in its Outreach work, helping to make the College’s undergraduate student body significantly more diverse over that time, with higher numbers of students from groups historically underrepresented at Oxford. Additional support has also been offered to students, including the Exeter Plus bridging programme, a study mentor scheme, vacation study grants that enable students to make the most of the academic opportunities in Oxford regardless of financial means, and advice on research and writing techniques from Royal Literary Fund Fellows, all of which help Exeter students to achieve their full potential. The College has also intensified its efforts to drive sustainability, becoming one of the first Oxford colleges to appoint a member of staff dedicated to improving sustainability and making significant progress in cutting emissions, reducing waste, and increasing biodiversity. In addition, Exeter completed, in 2021, a comprehensive updating of its Statutes and Bylaws. And it hosted, four years earlier, a visit from the King and Queen of Spain.
The rich melting pot of Exeter’s academic excellence has been enhanced in recent years by the introduction of Supernumerary Fellows, as well as a steady stream of Visiting Fellows keen to make the most of the opportunities at Exeter College to mix with other leading academics and to engage with bright, inquisitive students. The Exeter College Summer Programme has fast established a reputation for academic rigour, attracting ambitious students from around the world who leave Exeter full of praise for the challenging tutorial system and the fast-paced academic programme. Meanwhile Exeter’s undergraduate and graduate students have benefitted from mixing with such an array of academic, social and cultural backgrounds, as well as opportunities to listen to prominent guest speakers such as former Archbishop of Canterbury Baron Williams of Oystermouth, Oscar-winning director Sir Peter Jackson, former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd, co-founder of Twitter Biz Stone, celebrated actor and director Adjoa Andoh, and Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Sir Paul Nurse, to name only a few. Exeter students have also been able to broaden their experience through international travel, such as the Exeter to Williams College, Massachusetts, Winter Study Program, run annually since 2017, and scholarships and grants to travel and learn in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Of course, the past 10 years have not all been plain sailing and Rector Trainor has helped to steer Exeter College through some exceptional and challenging times. In particular, the Covid-19 pandemic was profoundly difficult and has had lasting consequences, at Exeter as it has worldwide. Nevertheless, the Exeter community remained strong throughout, in part because – unusually – Exeter had students and a broad selection of staff on the committee which adjusted the College’s operations to the many changes in the disease and in Government regulations. Today, Exeter holds onto positive lessons and skills gained during that time – with hybrid in-person and online events and meetings now the norm – as well as recognising the things that we missed most during those periods of lockdown and social distancing. A lively programme (in which Rector Trainor and Professor Dupree have enthusiastically participated) of events in College and around the world has been reestablished, encouraging students, staff, Fellows, alumni and their families to come together, learn from one another, enjoy each other’s company, and work together to spur one another, and Exeter College, to greater success.
While today we say goodbye, and thank you, to Rector Trainor and Professor Dupree, they will remain members of the Exeter community. Professor Trainor will, on 1 October 2024, become an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, and Professor Dupree will remain a lifelong member of Exeter’s Senior Common Room. We look forward to seeing them back in Oxford in the future, no doubt supporting Exeter students, just as they have done so consistently over the past 10 years, whether it be wishing good luck to Finalists sporting carnations, cheering on Exeter’s rowers in Summer Eights or Exeter’s runners in the annual Town and Gown fun-run, putting in Rectorial stints as DJ at College Balls, or listening to Exeter’s wonderful student-led choir from Ascension Day sunrise to Evensong dusk.
