Sir Mark Jones elected Master of St Cross College

University 18 Nov 10 The Governing Body of St Cross College, Oxford, has elected Sir Mark Ellis Powell Jones, FRSE, the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), to the Mastership of the College. He will take up his appointment on 1 September 2011, following the retirement of Professor Andrew Goudie, who has been Master of St Cross since October 2003. Mark Jones read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Worcester College, Oxford and gained an MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art. As a numismatist specialising in the study of medals, he joined the British Museum in 1974 as Assistant Keeper of Coins and Medals, and headed that department from 1990. In 1992 he was appointed as Director of the National Museums of Scotland, where during his tenure he oversaw the creation of the award-winning Museum of Scotland, the National War Museum of Scotland and the Museum of Scottish Country Life. Since 2001 he has held the Directorship of the V&A, where he has led a ten-year, £120 million programme of renewal of the museum's buildings and displays. He has published widely on medals and museums.