We are delighted to announce the receipt of a generous endowment of £500,000 from The James and Shirley Sherwood Foundation in support of the St Anne’s College Biology School and the Tutorial Fellowship in Biology, currently held by Professor Sonya Clegg.
In recognition of this extraordinary act of philanthropy, the College will name the post “The Dr Shirley Sherwood OBE, Tutorial Fellow in Biology”, celebrating Dr Sherwood’s distinguished contributions to science, art, and education. She is an alumna of St Anne’s. The endowment will provide enduring support for teaching and research in biology, strengthening St Anne’s commitment to excellence in the life sciences.
The gift will be placed within the College’s permanent endowment, ensuring a sustainable source of funding for generations of students and scholars. At St Anne’s, we have been working hard to strengthen the College’s endowment as we approach our 150th Anniversary in 2029, and this gift, an endorsement from the Foundation of our ambitions, will have a significant impact towards this goal. St Anne’s continues to punch well above its weight, offering a vibrant, supportive, and academically excellent environment for students and academics alike, all despite the fact we remain among the least well-resourced Oxford colleges in terms of endowment wealth per student. This makes support such as this even more vital.
We are deeply grateful to Dr Shirley Sherwood OBE, the James and Shirley Sherwood Foundation, and the Sherwood family for their visionary generosity. Their commitment will enrich the study of biology at St Anne’s for years to come.
The College also acknowledges with appreciation the longstanding and ongoing support of the Sherwood family, whose contributions have helped shape the academic and cultural fabric of St Anne’s College. As our milestone anniversary year approaches, we are keen to reflect on the incredible legacy of the last 150 years, to celebrate the College’s values and achievements, and to look forward thinking about how we can continue to shape and support generations of St Anne’s students over the next 150 years. Generosity such as that of the Sherwood family is what enables St Anne’s to look towards an even stronger future, where we can, as our Purpose states, understand the world and change it for the better.
