Sir Howard Joseph Newby is a British sociologist. He was appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool in 2008 and retired in December 2014. He was vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton from 1994 to 2001. He was appointed as the vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England, from March 2006. After 15 months at UWE he moved to the University of Liverpool and was almost immediately put on "gardening leave" at UWE for the duration of his year-long notice period, with the then deputy vice-chancellor, Steve West, acting up to the VC role before his subsequent substantive appointment. On 11 February 2014, it was announced that Sir Howard would retire from his role as vice-chancellor of Liverpool in 2015.
His other academic posts include professor of sociology at the University of Essex and visiting appointments in Australia and the United States. From 1980 to 1983 he was professor of sociology and rural sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In August 2001, Newby ended a two-year term as president of Universities UK, the UK body which represents the university sector. His year-long presidency of the British Association ended in September 2002. He was appointed as the Chief Executive of The Higher Education Funding Council for England in October 2001. He served as President of the Academy of Social Sciences from 2008 to 2013. He is a director of the Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited, and chair of trustees for NatCen Social Research. Newby has published many books and articles on social change in rural England, and was for eight years a Rural Development Commissioner, a member of the government body responsible for the economic and social regeneration of rural England. From 1983 to 1988 he was director of the ESRC Data Archive, a national facility for storing and disseminating computerised datasets for use by researchers in the public and private sectors. In November 2008, Newby announced plans to transform Liverpool University into a centre for "knowledge exchange", opening a graduate school in India. In January 2009, academics and trade unions at Liverpool were reported as expressing unease at planned restructuring, the offer of voluntary redundancy to all staff and the use of a private company Spirit of Creation in circumventing "established structures and procedures in pushing the plan through". There was also concern at what was perceived to be a shift away from humanities and social sciences towards science, where research income was potentially higher.
Recent events
In January 2010 the blogging platform WordPress suspended a number of blogs which it hosted after claims by the director of legal services at the University of Liverpool, Kevan Ryan, that some posts on them defamed Newby.
Personal life
He was married first in 1970 to Janet Elizabeth Craddock and they had two sons. The marriage was dissolved in 2003. He was married second in 2005 to Sheila Mary Mann and he has one step son and one step daughter. Newby was awarded a CBE in 1995 for his services to social science and a knighthood in 2000 for his services to higher education. He is a member of the Railway Heritage Committee and trustee of Swindon Steam Railway Museum.
