April McMahon

April McMahon FRSEFBAFLSW
Born	April Mary Scott McMahon (1964-04-30)30 April 1964
Spouse	Robert McMahon ​ (m.1984)​
Children	Three
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh(MA Hons,PhD)
Thesis	Constraining lexical phonology: evidence from English vowels(1989)
Academic work
Discipline	Linguistics
Institutions	University of Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge University of Sheffield University of Edinburgh University of Aberystwyth University of Kent University of Manchester

April Mary Scott McMahon(born 30 April 1964) is a Britishacademic administratorandlinguist,who isVice Presidentfor Teaching, Learning and Students at theUniversity of Manchester.

Having taught at theUniversity of Cambridgeand theUniversity of Sheffield,she moved into academic administration while teaching at theUniversity of Edinburgh.She was vice-chancellor of theAberystwyth University(2011–2016), then a member of the senior leadership team at theUniversity of Kentbefore joining theUniversity of Manchester.

Early life and education

McMahon was born on 30 April 1964 inEdinburgh,Scotland.She grew up in theScottish Borders.She studied at theUniversity of Edinburgh,graduating with anundergraduate Master of Arts(MA Hons) degree in 1986.She remained to study for aDoctor of Philosophy(PhD) degree inphonology,which was awarded in 1989 with adoctoral thesistitled "Constraining lexical phonology: evidence from English vowels".

Career

McMahon began her career at the University of Cambridge, where she was alecturerin linguistics and afellowofSelwyn College, Cambridge,from 1988 to 2000.From 2000 to 2004, she was Professor of English Language and Linguistics at theUniversity of Sheffield.She then joined theUniversity of Edinburgh,where she wasForbes Professor of English Languagefrom 2005 to 2011.She was additionally Head of the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, then Head of the College of Humanities and Social Science, and finally its vice-principal (planning and research planning) from 2009 to 2011.

In 2011, McMahon joinedAberystwyth Universityasvice-chancellor,the chief executive and academic head of the university.Her salary at Aberystwyth was £237,000, and when she left the university, she received an extra payment of £102,000.In 2016, she joined theUniversity of Kentasdeputy vice-chancellor(education) and Professor of English Language and Linguistics.She moved once again, joining theUniversity of Manchesteras vice-president for teaching, learning and students in 2019.

Awards and honours

In 2003, McMahon was elected aFellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh(FRSE).In 2005, she was elected aFellow of the British Academy(FBA), the United Kingdom'snational academyfor the humanities and social sciences.In 2012, she was elected aFellowof theLearned Society of Wales(FLSW).

Personal life

McMahon married Robert McMahon in 1984 and has two sons and one daughter.

Selected works

Her publications as first author or co-author / editor include:

• McMahon, April M. S. (1994).Understanding Language Change.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521441193.
• McMahon, April (2000).Change, Chance, and Optimality.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0198241249.
• McMahon, April (2000).Lexical Phonology and the History of English.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521472807.
• McMahon, April (2002).An Introduction to English Phonology.Edinburgh:Edinburgh University Press.ISBN978-0748612512.
• McMahon, April; McMahon, Robert (2005).Language Classification by Numbers.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0199279012.
• Aarts, Bas; McMahon, April, eds. (2006).The Handbook of English Linguistics.Malden, MA: Blackwell.ISBN978-1405113823.
• Maguire, Warren; McMahon, April, eds. (2011).Analysing Variation in English.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521898669.
• McMahon, April; McMahon, Robert (2013).Evolutionary Linguistics.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.doi:10.1017/CBO9780511989391.ISBN978-0521814508.