The Glasgow School of Art has announced that, after eight years of passionate and dedicated leadership, Muriel Gray will stand down as Chair of the Board of Governors at the end of this month.
On behalf of all the staff and students a spokesperson said: “Over the past eight years Muriel has been a committed and enthusiastic Chair, and a staunch advocate for the value of creative education.
“While her tireless support for the School will be hugely missed, we are sure that she will remain a much-loved supporter of our students, graduates and staff.”
Announcing her decision to step down Muriel Gray said; “The privilege of assisting with the governance of this magnificent institution, my alma mater, has been the greatest honour.
“With the Board having reached a number of key milestones, including successfully recruiting and appointing a highly qualified and experienced new director, assisting the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service with their investigation into the 2018 fire, setting in motion the process to decide the future of the Mackintosh Building, and supporting our hard-working senior management and staff in negotiating the obstacles created by the terrible pandemic, I feel that we are now in a considerably more positive place.
“Having given this a great deal of consideration I believe that as I enter the final year of my third term as Chair the time has come to introduce a fresh, energetic, and long-term committed person to the role who can take the GSA forward to the next exciting phase.”
The GSA will announce an interim Chair as soon as possible, and begin the process for election of a new Chair in the coming weeks.
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Notes for Editors
The election of the new Chair of the Board of Governors will be held in line with the provisions of the 2016 Higher Education Governance (Scotland) Act.
Muriel Gray
Muriel Gray is a graduate of GSA and worked as a professional illustrator before joining the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh as assistant head of design. A full time career spanning over two decades in the media followed, from presenting many diverse network radio and television programmes, to producing and directing, and then founding her own award winning production company which grew into the largest in Scotland. She is also known as a political opinion writer in many publications and continues to contribute regularly to The Guardian. She has won several prizes for journalism including columnist of the year at the Scottish press awards.
She is the author of five books, three novels and two non-fiction, and many short stories and essays. Two of her books have been shortlisted for the prestigious British Fantasy Award. She was the chair of the judges for the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction, and serves annually on both BAFTA and the Royal Television Society Awards juries.
Muriel is a former rector of Edinburgh University, the first woman to have held this post, and has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Abertay and The Glasgow School of Art and Glasgow University. She has served as a trustee on the boards of Lomond Shores, Event Scotland, The Lighthouse, The Glasgow Science Centre, The National Maritime Museum, The Children’s Parliament, and the GSA Development Trust. She is a working patron of Trees for Life, The Craighalbert Centre, and the Scottish Additional Needs Mediation Forum, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.