They stand stony-faced dressed in robes on a grand staircase elevating them to a status deemed appropriate for their roles as thinkers, academics and learned men.
Not one of the company is a woman, as is expected in a gathering of University of Glasgow staff circa 1870.
Now 150 years on senior female staff have recreated the shot to celebrate the university's move from its original High Street site to where it currently stands in the heart of the west end of Glasgow.
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Ahead of the relocation, university officials decided to mark the moment by capturing an image of the cohort of male professors on the Lion and Unicorn staircase, which was moved stone by stone by horse and cart to be rebuilt by hand at the new Gilmorehill campus.
In 1870, the University’s records show that all the academics were men including its senior leaders, made up of 26 professors. All the University’s 1279 students in 1870 were men - and it was another 24 years before the first four women graduated.
In 1908 the first women teaching staff members – Janet Spens and Agnes Picken – were appointed. In 1919, Theodora Keith became the University's first woman lecturer. In 1973, Delphine Parrott became the first woman to hold a titular Chair at the University and in 1978, Rona Mackie was the first woman to be appointed to an established Chair when she became Professor of Dermatology.
Professor Andrea Nolan became the University's first woman Dean in 1999 when she was appointed Dean of Veterinary Medicine. She was appointed Vice Principal in 2004 and became Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2009.
The recreation of the original black and white photograph, which has been released ahead of International Women’s Day on Sunday, features a cross-section of the more than 200 women professors and senior professional services staff.
Today at the University of Glasgow, 31.3% senior leaders – professors and senior professional services leads – are woman. Of the nearly 4,855 women employed at the University, 384 are black, asian and minority ethnic.
Half of the 14 people who sit on the University’s Senior Management are women; nearly 60% of more than 30,000 students at the University are female.
The 60 senior women leaders pictured hope the 2020 version will help to act as a catalyst for reflection, discussion, planning and continued action on the issue of gender equality.
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Professor Jill Morrison, Clerk of Senate and Vice-Principal, who is the University’s Gender Equality Champion, said: “Over the 150 years we have been at our current campus in Glasgow’s west end there have been huge changes in the size and make-up of our staff and student body.
“On the occasion of the first image being created, there were no women leaders, academics or students at the University. We felt it was important to reflect how far we, as an institution, have come, while also acknowledging that we still have a way to go on our journey to gender equality.
“I hope that this photo will inform discussions on gender equality both on International Women’s Day and throughout the year.”
Professor Dee Heddon, James Arnott Chair in Drama said: “What better opportunity than the 150-year anniversary of the move to Gilmorehill and International Women's Day 2020?
“Today, we celebrate our female colleagues' achievements and acknowledge where we are now and where we still need to get to in terms of equality.”
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