Grace Cathedral

Harris Manchester College at University of Oxford in the UK announced today that it has elected Jane Shaw, Dean for Religious Life and Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford, to be the new Principal from October 1,  2018.

A distinguished historian of Christianity and respected leader, Professor Shaw has been at Stanford since 2014 where, in addition to teaching in the areas of Religious Studies and History, her duties include providing spiritual and religious leadership for the university as a whole. Prior to going to Stanford, she was the Dean of Grace Cathedral, where she led a period of growth in the congregation, opened the cathedral to a wider public through the development of its public education and the founding of a Artist in Residence program resident and increased donations significantly.

Prior to her move to Grace Cathedral, Professor Shaw taught history and theology at the University of Oxford for sixteen years from 1994 to 2010, first as a Fellow of Regent’s Park College and subsequently as Dean of Divinity and Fellow of New College. During that time, she also served as Canon Theologian of Salisbury Cathedral and was an honorary canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Professor Shaw has a B.A. and M.A. in History from the University of Oxford; M.Div. from Harvard University and a PhD in History from the University of California at Berkeley. She is the author and editor of several books, including Octavia, Daughter of God: the Story of a Female Messiah and her Followers (Yale 2011), for which she won the San Francisco Book Festival History Prize, and Miracles in Enlightenment England (Yale 2006).

Harris Manchester College, the only college in the University for mature graduate and undergraduate students, has done much to widen access to Oxford in terms of attracting students from a broad range of ages and a variety of backgrounds and experiences.

The Grace Cathedral community has many fond memories of its Eighth Dean, who visited the cathedral earlier this month to attend Carnivale, its annual fundraiser gala.