Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Kate Reynolds (academic)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was Delete. Michig (talk) 08:14, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

Kate Reynolds (academic)

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Subject of the article fails WP:ACADEMIC. She is a Ph. D holder (not a professor) like any common university teacher. Wikic¤l¤gyt@lk to M£ 16:22, 10 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Delete - Not notable. This source refers to her as 'Dean of School' however, is this a user posted site? Other sources on University site confirm 'Dean of School' (ie head of Dept.). This doesn't seem to meet WP:ACADEMIC and many other claims are unsourced.Pincrete (talk) 17:11, 10 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of England-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 19:22, 10 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Academics and educators-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 19:22, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

This is not a user posted site. I have come across her a couple of times on national level committees and realised that with the current issues about tolerance and diversity in the world that the entry might be notable because of the long history of diversity work in the UK that it reveals. There relevance of the dean of education role, coupled with the Local authority engagement shows the different contexts in England in which these ideas are accepted. The background on diversity would be known on appointment as any appointing board, like me, can search the web to get background on people. I am interested in the issues and the history of development of ideas and find in an internet connected world, if the information is not easily finable on the on the internet then it might as well not exist. A recent case in the UK press giving an example of this was a new feminist coming up with the idea of women not changing their names on marriage which anyone with a long memory knows was a big issue in England in the 1970s where women won the right to use the term MS rather than Mrs or Miss which denote belonging or not to a man. Marilyn Leask (talk) 11:31, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

I have just seen someone said that 'Dean of School' is head of department - it definitely is not. A university of approx 20,000 students often will have just 4 deans across the major disciplines e.g. sciences, medicine, arts and education. It is an extremely influential role. The Dean will have heads of department reporting to them and in turn will report to the Vice Chancellor. I was a dean and I know the protocols for appointment and accountabilityMarilyn Leask (talk) 11:34, 11 July 2015 (UTC).
 * comment above suggest that you are Kate Reynolds. If you claim not to be Kate but since you know Kate, kindly tell her to wait until (1) her research made a significant impact in her scholarly discipline (2) she received a highly prestigious academic award or honor at a national or international level (3) she becomes an elected member of a highly selective and prestigious scholarly society or association (e.g., a National Academy of Sciences or the Royal Society) (4) her academic work made a significant impact in the area of higher education, affecting a substantial number of academic institutions (5) she holds or a named chair appointment or "Distinguished Professor" appointment at a major institution of higher education and research (6) she held a highest-level elected or appointed academic post at a major academic institution or major academic society. (7) she made substantial impact outside academia in her academic capacity. (8) she becomes the head or chief editor of a major well-established academic journal in her subject area. Then will someone with no WP:COI who knows how to write an encyclopedic article thinks she is notable and write about her here. Wikic¤l¤gyt@lk to M£ 01:11, 12 July 2015 (UTC)


 * , is not Kate Reynolds, nor even Kate Reynolds (academic), she's Marilyn Leask, a fact that's been pretty well aired and exhausted on her talk page. Bazj (talk) 08:07, 12 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for letting me know, her comments and contributions to the article made me to think that she is Kate Reynolds (academic). Wikic¤l¤gyt@lk to M£ 16:24, 12 July 2015 (UTC)


 * I think the above is correct. The web site for this university shows that there are only 6 Schools. Schools are more like what used to be called Faculties. There may be details about the structure of the School, but I could not find it. University web pages these days are all about selling the place to prospective students and not about giving solid information. However, this is not a reason on its own to keep this article, but it refutes the argument higher up. I think it quite likely that this academic is notable, but it needs more work, so a weak keep for now . -- Bduke   (Discussion)  22:16, 11 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Which of the WP:ACADEMIC criteria do think she met? I think Kate Reynolds is trying to convince us here that she (dean) is notable and should be a subject of an encyclopedia. Wikic¤l¤gyt@lk to M£ 01:11, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

If being a Dean of a faculty satisfied WP:ACADEMIC, even when the person is not a "Distinguished Professor", my Nephew and all of my friends, who are not professors would have been a subject of a Wikipedia article long time ago. She is not in anyway close to satisfying WP:ACADEMIC. The criterion stipulated that an academic may be considered notable if "The person holds or has held a named chair appointment or "Distinguished Professor" appointment at a major institution of higher education and research (or an equivalent position in countries where named chairs are uncommon)". A "named chair" means "endowed professorships". We can't in anyway consider the "appointment of a Dean" a "Distinguished Professor" appointment or a "named chair (endowed professorships) appointment" since it doesn't satisfy the requirement that it should be held by a professor. If the position could be held by ordinary academic staff with B.sc, M.sc, M.phill and Ph.D degree then its not a "named chair appointment (endowed professorships appointment) or "Distinguished Professor" appointment" which means that Criteria 5 is never met. Wikic¤l¤gyt@lk to M£ 01:11, 12 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Your case is entirely based on WP:ACADEMIC, but some academics can meet the general notability guidelines without meeting WP:ACADEMIC. This might be the case for an academic who has published books that are more widely read than most academic publications, or an academic who has influenced government, or an educationalist who has had a significant influence on education planning at a national or local level. In other words an academic who has been widely noticed in reliable sources. The last point may be the case here. We do not yet know, and I am a long way from Bath. Heads of Faculties or Schools in UK universities are often very well known. They can for example be appointed as dean and to a named chair. Let us see if editors can find some more sources. -- Bduke   (Discussion)  07:56, 12 July 2015 (UTC)
 * She is not in anyway close to passing our primary notability criteria and that is why I emphasized on WP:ACADEMIC which she obviously fails as well. Wikic¤l¤gyt@lk to M£ 16:24, 12 July 2015 (UTC)
 * From the article as it is written of course you are right, but you did not appear to look hard for material. Voceditenore below has now done so, so I change my opinion to delete.


 * Delete The subject fails both the general notability criteria and the alternative criteria at WP:ACADEMIC. Quite comprehensively in my view. I have both examined the references provided and done a fairly thorough search myself for material which might satisfy these criteria, including Google Scholar. I have found none. Neither she nor her work is discussed in the general press (General notability criteria), in fact not at all. The only entry for her in WorldCat is her PhD thesis. As far as I can see, she has no single-authored books. Ditto, coverage in the specialist literature (WP:ACADEMIC criteria). All academics who do their job properly carry out research projects (and sometimes lead them), write articles, sit on committees, occasionally give advice to public bodies, occasionally do work for consultancy firms, attend conferences and chair sessions, and sit on editorial boards of journals, etc. Those are normal aspects of that job, shared by literally thousands of middle-rank academics. They are not marks of distinction or notability per se. The current references (and I can find nothing better) are:
 * 1) A university press release announcing her appointment. The dean of a school/faculty in a second tier UK university with 7000 students in total divided into 6 "schools", comes nowhere near passing WP:ACADEMIC. It is an administrative post, and in these types of British universities, not given in recognition of superior scholarship. It's in recognition of being potentially a good administrator. I know this because I worked for years as a visiting lecturer in two similar institutions in the UK. Nor is it notable per se to hold a post like hers. The press release briefly outlines her CV, putting a positive spin on it as you would expect from a press release, but even that lists the standard sorts of qualifications you would expect for a job like that.
 * 2) A link to Bath Spa Education school page with two sentences listing her name and position and describing her as "Project Lead for 'Diversity in Teacher Education'"
 * 3) A generic link to the website of the UK Anti-racist Alliance. She is mentioned nowhere on the site, despite being described in the article here as "the founder". I can find no evidence anywhere that she is the founder or that this UK organization is particularly notable.
 * 4) A paper authored by Reynolds herself, which according to Google Scholar has only 5 citations.
 * 5) A 2010 forum posting wherein someone has done some research on a consulting company (Appleyards) via their website (now defunct) and has listed her name as one of their "Key personnel"
 * The above analysis is based on today's version of the article. Voceditenore (talk) 14:37, 12 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Note Since my comment yesterday I have updated reference 4. to make it clear that this is an article by the subject, not about her, and have added a link to the article which is available online. I have also added a failed verification to that reference. In no way does an article written by the subject herself in 1991, 8 years before obtaining her PhD, support the claim which precedes it:
 * "She is an equalities specialist contributing to national policies through advisory roles spanning a range of central government, local government, and business networks with detailed knowledge and understanding of equalities policy and legislation across the education sector.".
 * Voceditenore (talk) 16:46, 13 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Delete per voceditenore.4meter4 (talk) 15:22, 12 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Delete. No credible claim of notability, article is a recitation of her positions (none notable per se), and reliable sources are absent. Agricola44 (talk) 17:43, 13 July 2015 (UTC).
 * Delete. Dean of school is not a high-enough level administrative posting for WP:PROF, none of the other claims in the article look significant enough for notability, and we also have no other evidence of passing any of the WP:PROF criteria. —David Eppstein (talk) 20:46, 14 July 2015 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.