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Celebrating St Peter's Women

8 March 2022

In 2021, Tanya Watson (Chemistry, 2021) became the first Irish female diver to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Tanya Watson in the Olympics

This International Women’s Day, here are just a few inspiring St Peter’s College stories of women who broke barriers by becoming the ‘first’ at St Peter’s and around the world. This list is only the start. You can join the conversation and share your inspiring St Peter's story with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter when you tag us and use the hashtags #spcwomensday22 and #InternationalWomensDay.

Gallery

View the captions for the images in the gallery below to read more about these inspiring St Peter's women who broke barriers by becoming the ‘first’ at St Peter’s and around the world.

In 1979, 20 undergraduate women matriculated for the first time at St Peter’s College.
Matriculation photo from 1979
Emeritus Fellow Prof Christine Greenhalgh (Fellow and Tutor in Economics) became the first woman to serve as fellow at St Peter’s College that same year. Prof Greenhalgh’s portrait by Tom Croft hangs in the College Dining Hall.
Prof Christine Greenhalgh
In 1991/1992, Joanna (Holt) Zonneveld (Modern Languages, 1990), or 'Jo Holt' as she was known in her days as a student, was the first woman to serve as JCR (Junior Common Room) President.
Joanna (Holt) Zonneveld
In 2001, Karen-Mae Hill (now the High Commissioner for Antigua and Barbuda) began her MPhil in Development Studies at St Peter’s College. She was the first Antiguan to win a Rhodes Scholarship. Her portrait by Fran Monks hangs in the College Dining Hall.
Karen-Mae Hill
In 2015, the Rt Revd Libby Lane (Theology, 1986) became the first woman to be made a Bishop in the Church of England. Her portrait, painted by Tom Croft, hangs in the College Dining Hall.
Bishop Libby Lane painting
In 2019, Prof Judith Buchanan became the first woman to be elected Master of the College.
Prof Judith Buchanan
In 2021, Tanya Watson (Chemistry, 2021) became the first Irish female diver to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Tanya Watson in the Olympics
In late 2021, Dr Israa Abu-Mahfouz (DPhil, Earth Sciences, 2014) became the first female faculty teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate geology students in the whole kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Dr Israa Abu-Mahfouz
In 2022, the founding chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at the Smidt Heart Institute, Dr Joanna Chikwe, MD (Medicine, 1994), became the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) journal, Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Dr Chikwe’s portrait by Fran Monks hangs in the College Dining Hall.
Dr Jo Chikwe