Shirley Pearce

For British author and designer, seeShirley Conran.

Pearce in 2010

Dame Shirley Anne PearceDBE(born February 1954) is a British academic and psychologist. She is Chair of Court and Councilat theLondon School of Economics and Political Scienceand a member of the Higher Education Quality Assurance Panel for theMinistry of Education (Singapore).

She is the former Vice-Chancellor ofLoughborough University,a position she held from January 2006, leaving at the end of the 2011–12 academic year.She still holds an Emeritus Chair at Loughborough. Before becoming Loughborough University's 7th Vice-Chancellor, Pearce was a Professor ofHealth Psychologyat theUniversity of East Angliaand Dean of the Institute of Health. She had also served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of East Angliafrom 2001 to 2004, responsible for health and the professional schools.

Early life and education

Born on 19 February 1954, Shirley Pearce was educated atNorwich High School for Girls,before studying psychology, physiology, and philosophy atSt Anne's College,Oxford University,gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975.

She then trained inClinical Psychologyand at theInstitute of Psychiatry,University of London,now part ofKing's College London.While working atUniversity College London,she studied part-time as a postgraduate student, obtaining her PhD degree inPsychologyin 1986.

Career

She joined theNational Health Serviceas a clinical psychologist atSt Mary's Hospital, Londonin 1977, and remained there until her appointment as lecturer then senior lecturer in Psychology atUniversity College London.Her move to theUniversity of East Anglia(UEA) in 1994 was to become the Chair of Health Psychology and the inaugural director of the School of Health Policy and Practice, becoming Dean of the Schools of Health in 1997 and leading the bid for a new medical school at UEA during this period.

Pearce was made Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the health and professional schools in 2000, before becoming Dean of the Institute of Health and Director of the Centre for Interprofessional Practice at UEA. During this time she was also a Non-executive director of Norfolk, Suffolk and CambridgeshireStrategic Health Authorityand deputy chair of theHealthcare Commission.

She became Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University in 2006.

She has held positions at the Department of Health, BIS and the Home Office. Prior to moving to LSE, she was appointed Independent Chair of theCollege of Policing,the first professional body for policing.

She was appointed as LSE's chair of court and councilin November 2016 and took up the post in January 2017.

Chair of Court and Council

Her appointment as Chair of Court and Council at LSE was announced in November 2016 and she arrived in January 2017.

Honours

She was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE) in the 2005 Birthday Honours for services to the National Health Service and elevated toDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire(DBE) in the2014 New Year Honoursfor services to higher education.

Personal life

In 2012, she married Sir John Gains, the Chief Executive from 1995 to 2004 ofMowlem.