In 2006, she became reader in Older Scots literature at the University and was made professor of Older Scots literature in 2013. In the 2006-2007 academic year, she served as junior proctor of the University, and was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Personnel and Equality) at Oxford in 2009.[8] In 2011, she became Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education)[9] with responsibility for Oxford's strategy and policies for teaching, learning, student support, and admissions.
On 1 September 2016, Mapstone took up her position as the 11th Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, and was formally installed in post on 29 November 2016.[10] In 2020, she accepted an invitation to extend her contract by five years to 2026.[11]
Leadership
Mapstone was deputy chair of the University of Oxford Council and its General Purposes Committee, and served as a member and chair on a broad range of Oxford committees and boards. From 2011 to 2013, she chaired the group responsible for revising the university’s Strategic Plan 2013 to 2018.
She took a strong interest in diversity issues at Oxford, and launched the university’s mentoring scheme for senior women, Ad Feminam, in 2012. In 2016, she was the organiser of a major series of lectures by 'Women of Achievement'.[12]
She also served as the only British representative on the steering group for the pro-vice rectors for teaching and learning of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), and was lead author on an advice paper, Online Learning at Research-Intensive Universities,[13] published by LERU in 2014.
Mapstone has taken forward the university’s plans for the acquisition of the Madras College site, a former high school site on South Street in St Andrews, overseen a review of the university’s processes for promotion, launched a new university nursery, and sponsored and launched a new mentoring scheme for senior academic women, the Elizabeth Garrett Mentoring Programme. She also led the university through its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.[citation needed]
In June 2020, Mapstone discussed the Black Lives Matter movement in a weekly update to students. She wrote: “You are all part of one of the world’s great universities and are amongst the best and brightest minds of our times. You have resources and choices, intellect and opportunity, and the levers of change are closer to your hands than they are for millions of others. For the most part, you can breathe.”[citation needed]
The comment “For the most part, you can breathe” was criticised by some students and praised by others[14] in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.[15] An open letter to the Principal in response to her comments, and addressing wider diversity concerns at the university, was signed by more than 2000 students.[16][17]
On 12 June 2020, Mapstone offered a public apology on behalf of the university for its past failures in supporting BAME students and staff,[18] the first Scottish Principal to do so.
On 21 November 2021, she wrote in an email to students about how she hoped that “trans rights will continue to be the subject of positive personal, academic and political discourse in society”. This was criticised by many students who said that trans rights should not be debated.[19] A motion in the Students' Representative Council for the University of St Andrews' Students' Association has since been passed “to condemn the recent rise in transphobic incidents and extend support to our trans and non-binary community”.[20]
In 2022, Mapstone worked with Saints LGBT+ to record a video welcome for new students at St Andrews in which she reaffirmed the University’s support for trans students.[citation needed]
In the video, she says: “At St Andrews it is our goal to make the university a safe and supportive one in which you can become the very best version of yourself academically, but also personally. That means realising who you are, being empowered to make the choices that are right for yourself, and having the confidence to be who you wish. At St Andrews we will make every effort to support you from day one.”
During Mapstone's tenure, the university has attained a historic first place ranking in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide for 2022, the first time in the history of this and any other domestic league table that an institution other than the universities of Oxford and Cambridge has ranked first.
The University of St Andrews has also come first for student satisfaction with the academic experience in the National Student Survey for each year of her principalship.
Since taking office at St Andrews, Mapstone has led on developing a new strategic plan for 2018-2023, which launched in the autumn of 2018. The plan was refreshed and relaunched in November 2022 as the University Strategy 2022 to 2027. The updated strategy establishes the University's institutional aspirations along five key themes: World-leading St Andrews, Diverse St Andrews, Digital St Andrews, Entrepreneurial St Andrews, and Sustainable St Andrews, all underscored by a continuing commitment to social responsibility.
Sector leadership
Mapstone also fulfils several leadership roles outside the University of St Andrews. She was elected Vice-Convener of Universities Scotland (US) in 2020 for a two-year term, and then Convener for a two-year term that commenced in August 2022.
She currently serves as:
Convener of Universities Scotland
Chair of the Advisory Board of the Higher Education Policy Institute[21]
Chair of Universities Scotland’s Admissions Policy Group
Vice-Chair of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
a member of the board of Universities UK (UUK)[22]
Mapstone's research is primarily on Older Scots literature of the 14th to 17th centuries (including literature in Latin) and on book history. A number of her publications concern the identification of previously unrecognised textual witnesses to Older Scots texts. She has also published on Chaucer and Malory, and on Shakespeare, as well as on later Scottish writers.
She is past president and honorary president of the Scottish Text Society, a member of the advisory board of Studies in Scottish Literature, a member of the editorial board of Scottish Studies Review (to 2009), and an honorary fellow of the Project for the History of the Book in Scotland at the University of Edinburgh. She was elected a fellow of the English Association in 2013. As Principal of the university, she sits on the judging panel for the St Andrews Prize for the Environment.[23]
In May 2017, she became the first UK university leader to be honoured by the Foreign Policy Association, which presented her with a medal to recognise her leadership in international higher education, and made her an honorary fellow. She also received a silver medal from the University of Helsinki, whose international advisory board she chaired from 2015 to 2021.[citation needed]
Mapstone was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Aberdeen in 2019 for her contribution to the field of Older Scots literature and for her record of leadership in higher education and widening access.[27]
Scots and their Books in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Oxford, 1996)
The Long Fifteenth Century: Essays for Douglas Gray, co-ed. with Helen Cooper (Oxford, 1997)
The Rose and the Thistle: Essays on the Culture of Late Medieval and Renaissance Scotland, co-ed. with Juliette Wood (East Linton, 1998)
A Palace in the Wild: Vernacular Culture and Humanism in Late Medieval and Renaissance Scotland, co-ed., with L. A. J. R. Houwen and A. A. MacDonald, (Leuven, 2000)
William Dunbar: 'The Nobill Poyet' (ed.) (East Linton, 2001)
The European Sun, co-ed, with G. Caie, R. J. Lyall, and K. Simpson (East Linton, 2001)
Excludes Principals of the prior constituent institutions of the university: St John's College, St Salvator's College, St Leonard's College, and St Mary's College
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