New big wheel in engineering at Canterbury

BY TINA LAW

Canterbury University's newest pro-vice-chancellor is just as comfortable discussing semi-conductors as she is racing a motorcycle or singing at weddings.

Professor Jan Evans-Freeman, 52, moved from Sheffield in England last year to take up the role of pro-vice-chancellor at Canterbury University's College of Engineering, replacing Professor Peter Jackson.

Despite her success in physics and engineering, it was a career path she never intended to take.

Evans-Freeman is from a musical family that wanted a professional music career. .

She was playing the piano at three, and at 16 gained a scholarship to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

After graduating from the music school, she struggled to find fulltime work and ended up teaching music on a Saturday.

She had a young son and needed money, so she took a government desk job working on pension schemes.

"I hated it," she said.

"I was bored and unfulfilled."

A friend asked her what she would do in a perfect world, and Evans-Freeman said she would go to university, but she did not think it was possible, especially as a single mother.

Her friend convinced her otherwise.

Evans-Freeman, at 24, returned to fulltime education, gaining her A levels in maths and physics.

With four As, she gained entry to university.

Her son, Richard, who was seven when she went to university, went to lectures with her during school breaks.

She completed a physics degree, gaining first-class honours, and completed a PhD at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, now Manchester University.

Evans-Freeman has published more than 100 research papers and raised about 2 million (NZ$4.5m) since 1990 in research funding.

She became a professor and head of Sheffield Hallam University's materials and engineering research institute in 2004 – a position she held until moving to Canterbury University last July.

Evans-Freeman knew nothing about New Zealand except for its location when she decided to fly here for an interview.

She said she quickly fell in love with Canterbury University and the country.

Her friends were astonished that she and her fiance, Neil Sutton, were making the move and that they planned to make it permanent.

The move meant Evans-Freeman not only had to leave her son, now in his 30s, in Britain, but she also had to decide what to do with her three motorcycles.

She ended up giving one away, selling another and shipping her favourite, a Suzuki GSX-R1000, to New Zealand.

Her love of motorbikes began when she bought one in her 20s as a cheap way to get around. She raced motorbikes in Britain.

Evans-Freeman said her top speed on a motorbike was 257kmh.

She met Sutton through a motorbike club and the pair plan to marry in Tekapo this month.

Her goal at Canterbury is to lift the college's already good reputation.

"I do have this vision that one day when graduates go out and they're asked where they did engineering and they say `Canterbury University', people around the world will go `wow, that's a great place to do engineering'," she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News