Two distinguished women have been elected as Honorary Fellows of Newnham College to acknowledge the exceptional contributions they have made to their chosen fields.
Rabbi Julia Babette Sarah, Baroness Neuberger, DBE, M.A., (NC 1969) and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig will both attend a special ceremony at the College later this year.
An Honorary Fellowship is a highly prestigious award which Newnham bestows upon eminent women who often have a connection with the College, and who have attained distinction in their area of expertise.
Neuberger, who was Britain’s second female rabbi and the first to have her own synagogue, is now a Senior Rabbi of the West London Synagogue.
She regularly appears on the Pause for Thought programme on BBC Radio 2 and is a published author. She read Oriental Studies at Newnham College (Associate 1983–96) and completed a Rabbinic Diploma at Leo Baeck College, London (Lecturer and Associate Fellow 1979–97).
She has chaired an NHS Trust, the Patients Association, the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity and the Review of the Liverpool Care Pathway for Dying Patients, been Prime Minister’s Champion for Volunteering and a Civil Service Commissioner, and was Chief Executive of the King’s Fund 1997–2004. She was Chancellor of the University of Ulster 1994–2000 and Bloomberg Professor of Divinity at Harvard in 2006.
She was appointed DBE in 2004 and she was created a Life Peer in the same year. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity by the University of Cambridge in June 2015.
Toksvig, pictured, is a Cambridge alumna who wrote and performed in the first all-women Footlights show. After she graduated with a first-class degree in Archaeology and Anthropology and Law, she performed at the famous Comedy Store in London before branching out into acting and presenting.
She has been a panellist on a number of TV quiz and game shows and has only recently stepped down from chairing Radio 4’s News Quiz. She will become the first female presenter of a mainstream TV comedy show when she replaces Stephen Fry on QI.
Sandi is also a columnist and has written very well-received plays, novels and stage shows. She has been involved with charities working for civil liberties, human rights and women’s education, and is currently Chancellor of Portsmouth University.
She jointly founded the Women’s Equality Party in 2015, and is the current president of the Women of the Year.