Deborah Prentice has been installed as Cambridge University’s new vice-chancellor, officially replacing the interim VC Anthony Freeling earlier last week (01/07).

Prentice is the 347th person to hold the title and the first American to do so in the university’s history.

Prentice is also Cambridge’s third ever female vice-chancellor. Her predecessors, Dame Rosemary Murray and Dame Alison Richard, held the role between 1975-1977 and 2003-2010 respectively.

Prentice takes over one of the biggest jobs in higher education at a time when UK universities are facing scrutiny over their handling of the ongoing marking and assessment boycott. The new vice-chancellor will also have to navigate the uncertainties facing higher education institutions in the aftermath of Brexit, with the UK’s future association to Horizon, the major European research programme, still uncertain.

In a message to staff and students, Prentice said she was “very grateful” for how she has been received, and that she looks forward to “working together to make sure Cambridge continues to be a global leader in education and research”.

Having studied at Stanford as an undergraduate and Yale as a postgraduate, Prentice’s career has taken her across the United States' best universities, ending with a six year tenure as Princeton University’s provost - the most senior role overseeing academic, budgetary, and long-term planning issues.

Prentice’s academic work has focussed on the study of psychology and social norms, with over fifty articles and chapters published on topics ranging from alcohol abuse to domestic violence and gender stereotypes.