University of Plymouth

on the Plymouth campus. On the night of 22 April 1941, during the Blitz, a bomb fell on the site killing over 70 civilians, including a mother and her six children. The bomb blast was so strong that human remains were found in the tops of trees. Only three people escaped alive, all children.
The university's first vice-chancellor was John Bull. He was succeeded by Roland Levinsky until his death on 1 January 2007, when he walked into live electrical cables brought down during a storm. He was temporarily replaced by Mark Cleary (now vice-chancellor of the University of Bradford), and then by Steve Newstead.
Wendy Purcell became vice-chancellor on 1 December 2007, however she was later suspended in on 2 July 2014 whilst an internal review was conducted. The suspension was in part due to a dispute over the commissioning of ceremonial chairs at a cost of £95,000 without the board's approval. A linked case saw the chair of the board of governors William Taylor investigated of sexual harassment of female staff. Purcell was later appointed to a newly created role of president with compensation of £125,000 for loss of office and maintaining her salary of £250,000. A month after the review was concluded, the Higher Education Funding Council for England requested an independent external review of the university's governance. In August 2014, the university was instructed by HEFCE to undertake an external review of its governance after vice-chancellor Wendy Purcell was placed on leave.
Judith Petts CBE was appointed the University of Plymouth's vice-chancellor and chief executive in February 2016. She joined Plymouth from the University of Southampton, where she had been pro-vice-chancellor research and enterprise and previously the inaugural dean of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences (2010–2013).
The university was selected by the Royal Statistical Society in October 2008 to be the home of its Centre for Statistical Education. It also runs courses in maritime business, marine engineering, marine biology, and Earth, ocean …