Shearer west biography templates

Contact

Email the Vice-Chancellor and President’s Office: VCPDiary@adm.leeds.ac.uk

About

Professor Shearer West joined the University of Leeds on 1 November 2024 as its fourteenth Vice-Chancellor and President. 

An expert in Art History, Professor West has held influential leadership roles in universities and higher education.

She obtained her BA degree in Art History and English at the College of William and Mary in Virginia in the United States of America, and her PhD in Art History at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. 

Professor West was awarded a CBE in the 2021 Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for services to higher education.

Career 

After completing her PhD, Professor West worked as an editor for the Grove Dictionary of Art before taking up her first academic post at the University of Leicester.

In 1996, she moved to the University of Birmingham as Head of the History of Art Departm Professor Shearer West - N8 Research Partnership HOTY