Dr Amanda Wilcox, the former Pro Vice Chancellor at York St John University, has been awarded the honour of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2025 list.
Awarded for services to higher education, it comes in recognition of her role at York St John University between 2018 and 2022 where she led the university’s response to the Covid pandemic.
“I am delighted and honoured to receive this recognition for my work in Higher Education, a sector within which I am wholly committed and hugely proud,” Dr Wilcox said.
“This means such a lot to me; not just the award, but that colleagues at York St John University took time to make a submission.
“The university played such a special part in my life, particularly through the Covid period, and I thank everyone I worked with during my time there.”
Dr Wilcox is currently the university secretary of Durham University. She has held senior roles at the Office for Students, the Higher Education Funding Council, the University of Hull and the Quality Assurance Agency.
She has a Masters of Business Administration degree (MBA) from the UCL Institute of Education, a PGCE from the University of Huddersfield and a PhD in parasitology and immunology from the University of Leeds.
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Vice Chancellor of York St John University, Professor Karen Bryan, added: “Under Amanda’s leadership, the University actively engaged with the local pandemic response, playing a major role in multi-agency efforts to manage the outbreak.
“Amanda was relentless in her support for students and her focus on student and staff welfare, providing vision, tenacity and results over and above that expected from her role.
“Throughout her long and successful career in the sector, she has been a role model for acting with integrity and prioritising student welfare and social mobility. I warmly congratulate her on the award of her MBE.”
York’s former Director of Health, Sharon Stoltz, wrote a letter praising Dr Wilcox’s “heart-warming and very impressive” commitment.
She said: “Amanda’s vision for symptom-free testing for students and residents in York delivered a state-of-the-art testing partnership between the University and the City of York Council.
“Under her leadership the York St John University testing site opened up to residents becoming the first testing site in the city to offer asymptomatic testing to residents using the new rapid lateral flow devices.
“This had an enormous impact, with thousands of residents accessing tests which greatly contributed to keeping the levels of infection in control.”
