St Mary’s Appoints Dr Kim Salmons as Head of the School of Liberal and Creative Arts

St Mary’s University, Twickenham (SMU), has announced the appointment of Dr Kim Salmons as the new Head of the School of Liberal and Creative Arts (SLCA).

The Head of School is responsible for providing strong academic leadership and innovation for the newly formed SLCA, driven by a commitment to Teaching and Learning, the Student Experience, Partnerships, Research, and Knowledge Exchange.

Dean of the Faculty of Education, Theology and the Arts, Professor Jacob Phillips, said of Kim’s appointment, “Kim is a brilliant appointment for the University from a highly competitive field. She has a breadth of experience in the creative and liberal arts and is perfectly placed to deliver on our vision for the School and to develop the arts at St Mary’s, whilst placing the student at the heart of everything we do.

“I feel sure that under Kim’s leadership the SLCA will equip graduates with skills relevant to a modern, technological world and drive forwards cross-faculty and industry collaboration.”

The SLCA is the home to the University’s Creative Arts and Humanities subjects, and offers an impressive portfolio of undergraduate, postgraduate, and research degrees in a range of subjects including Liberal Arts, Acting, History, Film, English Literature, and Creative and Professional Writing. The School also features a thriving public engagement culture, regularly hosting conferences and events to share studies and best practice with the academic community, students, and the general public.

Speaking of her appointment, Dr Kim Salmons said, “I am delighted to have been appointed as the head of the new School of Liberal and Creative Arts here at St Mary’s. I am committed to promoting the importance and centrality of the liberal and creative arts at St Mary’s and I look forward to stewarding the school’s journey as a centre of heritage, culture, and artistic endeavour. My aim is to develop and secure the reputation of the University’s academic and professional expertise through public engagement and outreach.”

Dr Kim Salmons is an Associate Professor in Modern Literature, gaining her PhD from the University of Surrey in 2015 on ‘The Representation of Food in Modern Literature: Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad’. She has published two monographs on Hardy and Conrad (Palgrave, 2017) and has co-edited a volume on Migration, Modernity & and Transnationalism in Conrad's Fiction (Bloomsbury, 2021). Kim is the Co-Director of the Conrad Study Centre at St Mary's, and teaches on the English Literature and Liberal Arts programmes.