I met up with the Associate Dean for Education and Accreditation, Maureen Royce for the first time on Friday the 8th March. She was on her way to the Long Serving Lunch Award and stopped by the Redmond’s Café to educate and entertain her colleagues on International Women’s Day.
Dr Royce has a passion for teaching and learning and began her career at LJMU as a HR specialist. Over her 30 year tenure she has climbed the ranks to Associate Dean. When I asked her if she thought there were enough female Associate Deans, she replied immediately.
“No, there aren’t enough of anybody who are women.”
Maureen Royce
It was no surprise why I was so drawn to Maureen, being a relative newbie at LJMU I’m always curious to see how far women can go. Maureen obtained her Doctorate when she was 65 and if that wasn’t inspiring enough, she wrote and performed her own poem honouring International Women’s Day.
After Maureen’s ditty on Kitty Wilkinson, our chit chat meandered from the University’s promotion criteria to the community work (is there a link to that) she does in the North of Liverpool.
Why are the upper echelons always male? I asked.
Maxine Sharples
“You have to take a look at the University’s promotion criteria favouring the ‘I’ she said. Typically women work collectively and collaboratively and take on pastoral and support roles, the selection criteria for promotion favours those that put themselves first. A ‘we’ culture will promote the progress of females an ‘I’ culture doesn’t. “
We spoke about how LJMU, to a greater extent feels like extended family to her, vocal about how LJMU has enabled her the flexibility to succeed in her career, and personal life.
Maureen has a staunch warmth about her, looking fabulous with her highlighted shoulder length curls and Polke dot dress we talked about appearances and the best things about being a woman. Maureen told me she felt as women we have a range, far greater than that is acceptable for men, to wear what we want. Women can wear a suit to work and go unnoticed but we doubted if Proff Shaw could pull off a dress with the same inconspicuousness.
We spoke about the lineage of women in her family, her own daughter, Kathleen and her granddaughter Grace? Maureen is positively glowing reflecting on their achievements and the important role motherhood played in their development.
Daughters are much more demanding of their mothers growing up.
Maureen Royce
It feels good to be a woman in the company of Maureen, so Friday may have been International Women’s Day but it will always be the day I met Maureen.
More Maureen please.
(get a link to her PhD)
majorloveme 