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Sir Martin Harris has had an outstanding career in higher education, having served as Vice-Chancellor of two universities – Essex and Manchester – and as Chairman of the Committee for Vice Chancellors and Principals (CVCP), now Universities UK.

Sir Martin will bring to the Presidency an extended range and depth of experience and contacts, both national and international. He is currently Chairman of the Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS), Director of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) and Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Salford. He will succeed Professor Ekhard Salje FRS on 1 October 2008.

At Manchester, he was the architect of the hugely successful merger between the (Victoria) ̽��ֱ�� of Manchester and ̽��ֱ�� of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). Sir Martin has also served on many national bodies, including as a member of the ̽��ֱ�� Grants Committee, Chairman of the Clinical Standards Advisory Group, Commissioner for Health Improvement and Deputy Chairman of the North West Regional Development Agency.

Sir Martin’s early academic interests were in the area of Romance Linguistics. After a successful career as a researcher and teacher, culminating in his election to the Chair of Romance Linguistics at the ̽��ֱ�� of Salford, he was recruited into academic leadership. His wide-ranging skills in this sphere have been long-recognised and much sought-after. His services to the Biomedical Sciences were acknowledged in 2005 by the award of an Honorary FRCP. He was knighted in the Millennium Honours List.

Sir Martin, who will be accompanied by his wife Barbara, a senior magistrate on the City of Manchester Bench, said: “I believe strongly in the importance of graduate education and am honoured to have been asked to lead Clare Hall at this time. What appeals to me is the opportunity to re-immerse myself in the life of a scholarly community, and in particular, one dominated by research and postgraduate learning. Barbara and I are really looking forward to joining the College.”

Clare Hall is a College for Advanced Study in the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. It is a community that welcomes graduate students and senior visiting scholars from all over the world. It is a place where interaction is valued rather than hierarchy and the family-friendly accommodation in the College grounds provides a pleasant and informal environment for a very diversified group of talented graduate students and distinguished senior academic visitors.