Professor Dame Alison Richard

Professor Dame Alison Richard received her undergraduate degree in Anthropology at University of Cambridge (Newnham), and her doctorate from London University.  In 1972, she joined the faculty of Yale University, where she became Professor of Anthropology in 1986, chairing the Department of Anthropology from 1986 to 1990, and later serving as Director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, where she oversaw one of the most important university natural history collections in the USA.  From 1994-2002, she served as Provost of Yale, with operational responsibility for the University’s financial and academic programs and planning.  In 1998 she was named the Franklin Muzzy Crosby Professor of the Human Environment.  
 
From 2003-2010, Professor Richard was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.  During her tenure, she led several major changes in university policy, reorganized management of the University’s endowment, expanded Cambridge’s global partnerships, and launched and completed £1Billion 800th Campaign.  Her achievements received recognition in 2010, when she was awarded a DBE (Dame Commander of the British Empire) for her services to Higher Education. 
 
Professor Richard is a trustee of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation.  She chairs the Advisory Board of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and the Leadership Council of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. She has received numerous honorary doctorates, and in 2005 she was appointed Officier de l’Ordre National in Madagascar.