Reflections from Tim Clayden
Dr Tim Clayden will retire as Bursar at the end of 2025 having served in the role since May 2017. The college took opportunity to capture his reflections following celebration of his tenure with both a formal dinner for close peers and colleagues in the Radcliffe Observatory and an informal gathering with a wider group of college members.
Tim writes
Joining the college was a personal return to Oxford decades after graduating from Wolfson College in the 1980s, where I studied the archaeology of ancient Iraq. After a career spanning 25 years as a diplomat and time in heavy industry, coming to GTC felt like a true homecoming.
Looking back over the last eight years, the college has undergone a profound transformation. When I arrived, we were less than a decade past the 2008 merger, and there was still significant administrative settling to do. We spent a great deal of time recasting accounts, audits, and confirming fundamental issues like property ownership, which we only firmly secured in late 2011.
One of my proudest achievements has been witnessing the professionalisation of our team. Under the leadership of Professor Denise Lievesley and later Sir Michael Dixon, we built a robust infrastructure from the ground up. We appointed dedicated development and communications teams, reorganised our staffing, and refined our strategy, finance, and operations. It was a mammoth undertaking, but it ensured the college machine was ready for whatever came next.
That next turned out to be the COVID-19 pandemic, which tested us to our limits. We had to overhaul our IT for mass online education almost overnight and ensure our many overseas students were fed and supported while stranded far from home. Though I personally fell ill with the virus in early 2020, the team stepped up seamlessly. That period taught us the value of patience and the danger of knee-jerk reactions to ever-changing government guidelines.
Today, Green Templeton is a college that knows exactly where it is going. We have a major building programme underway – the largest since 2008 – which is integrating our site with the magnificent Schwarzman Humanities building across the road. This includes moving our lodge into our iconic tower building. Seeing the first construction site facilities arrive recently was a surprisingly emotional moment; it signalled that our long-term vision was finally becoming a reality.
Beyond the infrastructure, I will miss the unique culture. Our dining is famously egalitarian; there is no hierarchy here. On any given day, you might find yourself sitting between an astronomer and a medic returning from a war zone in South Sudan. And, of course, there is the food – I was once told by a porter at [the much older] Magdalen College that we have the best food in Oxford, a reputation we work hard to maintain.
While I won’t miss the intense committee season or the reams of spreadsheets, I am not walking away from the college entirely. I have lived in Oxford for 25 years and will continue to be a part of this community. I leave happy, knowing that the college has great staff, brilliant students, and a very bright future ahead.
