Page 6 - Luce 2023

I nterview

Just a few months after the arrival of the College’s new Principal, Dr Eleanor Spencer-
Regan, JCH Fellow Ms Margie Richardson AM (1968) joined her for a relaxed and
revealing conversation, exploring the path that led her to travel thousands of miles to her
new life here in Melbourne.
Let me begin by welcoming you, Eleanor, to life in Australia I was appointed Vice-Principal and Senior Tutor at St Chad’s
and to JCH. College in 2016, having been a postgraduate student there
since 2007, and later a Tutor. St Chad’s is the smallest college at
Thank you! It’s a great privilege and a pleasure to be a part Durham University, a former theological training college, and
of the JCH community, and Melbourne is a fantastic place to now one of only two independent colleges (affiliated rather
live and work. We’re so excited to explore more of Victoria in than university-owned). I had responsibility for the academic
2023 and to plan some exciting family trips further afield, too. progress and pastoral support of around 450 undergraduate
students, and for the development of the college as an
Before finding out why you were tempted by this role at interdisciplinary and inter-generational scholarly community.
JCH, can you tell me a little about your background. I enjoyed organising interdisciplinary lecture series, inter-
Where do you come from in the UK? Common Room discussion events, career preparedness
workshops, and community volunteering events.
I am originally from a small largely Welsh-speaking village
called Bryncoch in the Vale of Neath in South Wales, where And now I’d love to hear about your roles within the
I lived until my family moved to another very rural village in University and beyond… I understand you held the position
Monmouthshire when I was eleven. I attended Haberdashers of Digital Director for Durham University Centre for Poetry
Monmouth School for Girls (or HMSG), a school literally on and Poetics and also assisted with the university’s activities
the Welsh border. Half of our playing field was in England, so relating to Fair Access and Widening Participation. Please
we used to joke that every match was an international fixture! tell me about these and all the other roles.

The Headmistress, Dr Brenda Despontin, was a staunch I became the Digital Director of the Centre for Poetry and
advocate for single sex education for young women. She Poetics in 2013 and was responsible for the online presence
firmly believed that that no academic subject, extra-curricular of the Centre and the marketing of our frequent readings
opportunity, or future career path should be off-limits because and events. This role allowed me to spend time with many
of our gender, and that there was nothing that we couldn’t distinguished writers from all around the world including
achieve if we were prepared to work hard enough. She taught Simon Armitage, Lorna Goodison, Andrew Motion, Paul
us to stand tall and to speak up, and never to apologise for our Muldoon, Anne Stevenson, and the Australian poet, Les
opinions, achievements, or ambitions. To this day, I feel very Murray.
lucky to have heard those powerful messages again and again
throughout my formative years, and it’s strongly influenced my I’ve been strongly committed to Widening Participation in
own values as an educator. Higher Education since I was a postgraduate student. I will
forever be grateful for the research awards that enabled
Can you tell me too about your extensive academic studies me to undertake postgraduate study, and I want to ensure
and research at Durham University and also, I understand, that every able and hardworking young person has the
at Harvard? opportunity to fulfill their academic potential, regardless of
their socioeconomic background. I helped run St Chad’s
I arrived at Durham University in 2004 to study for a BA in College’s annual ‘Engaged and Inspired’ visits for pupils
English Literature. I intended to stay only for three years but from local primary schools, and designed the College’s AIM
fell in love with the North East of England and ended up living (‘Achievement. Inspiration. Motivation’) pilot programme.
there, and studying and working at the university for the next This programme saw the College partner with a local state
eighteen years! After completing my BA I was awarded Arts school to identify high-achieving Year 12 students who were
and Humanities Research Council awards to complete my MA then offered an eighteen month programme of academic
and then my PhD, which looked at the work of the British- and essential skills workshops and one-to-one sessions to
American poet and Sylvia Plath biographer, Anne Stevenson. encourage them to apply to Durham University. The AIM
programme was formally adopted by Durham University in
Shortly before finishing my doctoral thesis in 2011, I their most recent Access and Participation Plan as the model
was awarded a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship which for all colleges and academic departments to use as the basis
allowed me to take up a position as a Visiting Fellow in for their schools’ engagement.
the Department of English at Harvard University, working
alongside some of the leading figures in my discipline. Since I’m a firm believer that getting students from low SES
then I’ve published in the field of modern and contemporary (socioeconomic status) or non-traditional backgrounds into an
British and American poetry, and taught extensively at elite university is only the start of our commitment to them;
undergraduate level. crucially, you then have to turn your attention to retaining
these students by ensuring that you’re providing them with a
Since receiving your doctorate in 2012, you’ve worked learning environment that feels safe and supportive, and that
at Durham in various roles at Hatfield College, St Chad’s you’re offering them a bespoke provision that recognises their
College, and Grey College and also within the University particular needs, rather than expecting them to suddenly fit
itself. Perhaps you could tell me first, please, about your the mould of your more traditional, higher SES students. Put
roles at St Chad’s and what they involved? simply, it’s not just about these students ‘arriving’ at university
but actually ‘thriving’ at university.
6 LUCE Number 21 2022