William Whyte admitted as Assessor

The University’s Proctors and Assessor are elected annually from amongst members of Congregation of three colleges. The Proctors and Assessor play a key role in ensuring that the University operates in accordance with its statutes; they oversee student discipline, have formal responsibility for University exams, and act as ombudspeople for the institution. The Proctors also perform ceremonial duties, such as leading degree ceremonies, and the role has its origins in the 14th century. The role of the Assessor was created much more recently in 1960.

Professor Whyte, accompanied by the President and a group of Fellows and undergraduates, was summoned by one of the University's six Bedels for formal photographs before processing to the Sheldonian. Members of College gathered in Canterbury Quad to watch the event, which last took place in 2005 when Professor Alan Grafen was Senior Proctor.

Professor Whyte is Professor of Social and Architectural History and author of Redbrick, the History of Britain's Civic Universities (OUP, 2015) and Unlocking the Church: the lost secrets of Victorian sacred space (OUP, 2017). He is one of the electors for the Ford Lectures and sits on the editorial boards of both the Oxford Historical Monographs series and the Oxford Review of Education. Outside of academia he is Chair of the Oxford Preservation Trust and the Oxford Historical Society and has recently served as a Commissioner on the UPP Foundation Civic University Commission.