Notices by the General Board

Establishment of a Betty Wu Lee Professorship of Women and the Arts of China before 1900*

5 March 2026

The General Board has agreed to propose the establishment in perpetuity of a Betty Wu Lee Professorship of Women and the Arts of China before 1900 from 1 September 2026, assigned to Department of History of Art. The salary costs of the Professorship will be fully funded by a gift of £5m* as an endowment to be held on trust by the University to form a fund called the Betty Wu Lee Fund to advance research in the field of women and the arts of China (pre-1900).

The establishment of the Professorship will significantly expand the teaching and research of the Department, which is undergoing substantial change. Long focused exclusively on European art, the Department has recently diversified to become a centre for the global study of art history. The new Professorship will transform teaching and research in Chinese art, while also strengthening the Department’s reputation for feminist art history. The new Professorship will allow the Department to continue to grow the M.Phil. course in Global History of Art and Architecture and to take forward urgently required Tripos reform, while providing much needed support for governance within the Department and the wider Faculty of Architecture and History of Art.*

The General Board has agreed, on the recommendation of the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities and the Faculty Board of Architecture and History of Art, that the candidature shall be open to all persons with experience in the general field of the title of the office.

The Council is submitting a Grace (Grace 1, p. 384) for the approval of the establishment of the Professorship in perpetuity.