UNIVERSITY HONOUR FOR SHEILA FITZGERALD FRSA

The Chancellor's Medal is an honour given to exceptional people who have played a major role in serving Warwick and making it and maintaining it as a pre-eminent centre of academic excellence.

 

MS SHEILA FITZGERALD, FRSA: THE CHANCELLOR'S MEDAL (11.00AM CEREMONY ON WEDNESDAY, 18 JANUARY)

Sheila Fitzgerald was responsible for the establishment and development of the Friends of the Mead Gallery Association, formed when the Gallery first opened in Warwick Arts Centre in 1987. Sheila was its first secretary. She went on to initiate the sale of artwork by the Association’s members in the University’s management training centres, and in the process has raised more than £22,000 for the University’s arts acquisitions budget over the last twenty years.

Sheila has also had an extensive involvement in the arts in the wider region. She has worked in stage design, as an illustrator and interior designer, and as a secondary school teacher, becoming Head of Art at Barrs Hill School in Coventry.  After her retirement in 1985, she continued to teach part-time art classes for adults in Warwickshire and was active, both as an exhibitor and organiser, in several art societies in the region.  In 1987 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.  The Mead Gallery makes an important contribution to the cultural life of both the University and of the wider region.  Its permanent collection and its exhibitions are enjoyed by all those who live and work on campus and all those who visit the University.  As a hard-working, creative and effective member of the Friends of the Mead Committee since its inception, Sheila Fitzgerald has done much to ensure the Gallery’s continuing success.