St Stephen’s College appoints Susan Elias as first woman principal in its 145-year history

ST sir leslie stephen’s College on tues decreed its number one adult female principal — a landmark step in the 145-year-old history of the college. Professor Susan Elias, a computer scientist, will be leading the iconic institution from June 1 as the school’s 14th principal. Reactions flooding in from faculty members and former alumni, among others, all seemed to say the same thing that, ‘It was about time.’The college was founded in 1881 by the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, led by dons of various colleges at Cambridge University; one of whom, Canon Samuel Scott Allnutt was the founder and the first principal.It has produced several illustrious alumnae ranging from Supreme Court judges, actresses, illustrious lawyers to Indian cricket team captain but it has never had female principal leading it. The announcement on Tuesday by the Bishop of Delhi and chairman of the college, Rt Red Dr Paul Swarup, showed that this would change. “The Supreme Council of the college is please to announce that Prof Susan Elias will take charge as the XIV principal of the college and as its first lady principal,” said the announcement.Also Read: ‘Want students to become job creators, not just job seekers’Elias did her schooling at the Good Shepherd Higher Secondary School in Chennai, following which she pursued a Bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering. She then received a Master’s in multimedia technology and her doctorate in multimedia communications.In the first decade of her career, she focused on becoming an effective teacher. The next ten years were devoted to establishing herself as a strong researcher, and in the following decade, she concentrated on developing and honing her leadership skills, Elias told HT.A long journey for Stephen’sWomen were first admitted to the college for the Master of Arts programme in 1928-29. Thereafter, it took a decade for them to be first admitted to the undergraduate. However, this only lasted from 1943 to 1949, with the establishment of the Miranda House. Women were then readmitted in 1975. From 1993-94, they were also admitted into Bachelor of Science (General) and the Bachelor of Arts (pass course).Supriya Guha, who was in the first batch of female students in 1975, recalled that the Emergency had just been declared around the time. “We were 45 girls out of a batch of around 1,100 students.”A woman principal, she added, “is a good thing. It has been almost one and half centuries and it was about time this happened. It should not be remarkable development in this day and age.”Also Read: Who is Susan Elias? St Stephen’s College appoints first woman principal in 145-year historyMahesh Gopalan, an associate professor in the department of history at the college said that, historically, the institution has been on a long journey towards gender parity and equality. “While the number of women students and faculty members has gradually increased, the appointment of a woman Principal will certainly mark a new and significant phase in the institution’s history,” he told HT.In a post on X, former alumnus and MP Shashi Tharoor said, “Since women were admitted as students in 1975, it’s about time a woman was allowed to lead the College too.”