a fine fellow

Dean's PhD grad pics arrived in the mail last week. Funny/cute, right?

The photos were a good reminder that I've neglected to share some big recent news with all but a very few of you. Earlier this summer Dean was named a Fulford Research Fellow at Somerville College.

There's a lot about Oxford, we find, that requires explanation to outsiders (there's a lot that I still don't get), but one of those things is that the University is made up of 38 colleges - each one houses a few hundred students where they eat and sleep and take some of their tutorials with professors who are associated with that College. Some lectures or tutorials might take place at other colleges depending on what you are studying and what profs are most fit to teach the subject.

All that said, you can be a faculty member at Oxford without being connected to a college. For the last year Dean has worked at the NPEU - a department of the university - as a senior researcher. To have any hope of working your way up to professor status, however, you need a college association, so securing a fellowship (though most are unpaid) is a pretty big deal. They mean access to lecturing opportunities (which ARE paid), they look great on your CV, AND they mean you can have free lunch at the College whenever you feel so inclined. I, for one, am looking forward to the invites to fancy college bops! :)

Congrats Dean!