Professor Norman William Gowar (born 7 December 1940) is an academic from the United Kingdom who served as the Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London, from 1990 to 2000. [1] Prior to that he had served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Open University.
Gowar was educated at Sir George Monoux Grammar School in east London and City University in central London. [1]
After a period working with English Electric, Gowar was appointed as a Lecturer in Mathematics at City University in 1963.
In 1969, Gowar became a founder member of the Open University. The first course broadcast by the university in 1971 was an introduction to the mathematics foundation course presented by Gowar. [2] He subsequently became the Open University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
In 1990, Gowar became the Principal of Royal Holloway and Bedford New College. (The college was formed as a merger of Royal Holloway College and Bedford College in 1985. During the period when Gowar was Principal, the college adopted the name 'Royal Holloway, University of London'.)
Gowar was a member of the Fulbright Commission from 2001 to 2005.
Gowar's first marriage was in 1963 to Diane May Parker, with whom he had one son and one daughter. His second marriage was in 1981 to Professor Judith Margaret Greene (a daughter of Patrick Gordon-Walker).
The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the Northern Polytechnic and North-Western Polytechnic in 1971. In 1996, the university celebrated its centenary, dating from the year of the Northern Polytechnic's founding. UNL existed until 2002, when it merged with London Guildhall University to form London Metropolitan University. Its former premises now form the university's north campus, on Holloway Road and Highbury Grove, Islington.
Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a leading role in the advancement of women in higher education and public life in general, it became fully coeducational in the 1960s. In 1985, Bedford College merged with Royal Holloway College, another constituent of the University of London, to form Royal Holloway and Bedford New College. This remains the official name, but it is commonly called Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL).
Keith Anderson Hope Murray, Baron Murray of Newhaven, KCB was a British academic and Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.
Sir Adrian Frederick Melhuish Smith, PRS is a British statistician who is chief executive of the Alan Turing Institute and president of the Royal Society.
Geoffrey Wallis Steuart Barrow was an English historian and academic.
Dame Janet Valerie Finch DBE, DL, FAcSS is a British sociologist and academic administrator. She was Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Social Relations at Keele University, and has held a number of other public appointments in the UK. She currently holds an honorary position at the Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life, based in the School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester. She is also part of Flooved advisory board.
Sir George Monoux College is a sixth form college located in Walthamstow, London. It is a medium-sized college with around 1,620 full-time students as of 2018.
Dame Lillian Margery Penson, DBE was a professor of modern history at the University of London, and the first woman to serve as vice-chancellor of the university.
Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a member institution of the federal University of London. It has 6 schools, 21 academic departments and approximately 10,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 100 countries. The campus is located west of Egham, Surrey, 19 miles (31 km) from central London. It is listed by The Sutton Trust as one of the 30 "most highly selective" British universities.
Bedford High School is a coeducational secondary school in the Bedford area of Leigh, Greater Manchester, England.
Sir Peter Scott Noble was a British academic who was principal of King's College London from 1952 to 1968 and later vice-chancellor of the University of London from 1961 to 1964.
Jennifer Chase Barnes is a musicologist and former university administrator. She was a Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in the University of Cambridge, and the 4th President of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge’ in the United Kingdom.
Roy Frank Miller was a British academic, educator, physicist and university administrator. He was the Principal of Royal Holloway College of the University of London from 1982 to 1985.
Dorothy Enid Wedderburn was Principal of Bedford College, part of the University of London, and after the merger with Royal Holloway College, another college of the university, was the first principal of the combined institution.
Stephen Roderick Hill was a British academic. He was Professor of Management at the University of London from 2001–11. He was also Principal of Royal Holloway College, University of London (RHC) from 2001-2009.
Elizabeth Leila Millicent "Sally" Chilver was principal of Bedford College, University of London from 1964 to 1971 and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1971 to 1979.
John Nicholson Black was Principal of Bedford College, London from 1971-81.
Frank Horton FRS was professor of physics at Royal Holloway College, London University from 1914 to 1946 and later Vice-Chancellor of London University during the years of World War II from 1939 to 1945.
Paul John Layzell, is a British academic, academic administrator, and software engineer. From August 2010 until July 2022, he served as Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London. He is also Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of London and Treasurer of Universities UK.