Colin Bell

Who was Colin Bell?

Colin Bell was an English sociologist who served as the Vice-Chancellor for the University of Bradford between 1998 and 2001 and who was later Vice-Chancellor at the University of Stirling. He died suddenly of a massive heart attack on April 24, 2003 and the University of Bradford now holds an annual memorial lecture in his name discussing widening participation. The University of Stirling named the building currently housing the Department of Social Science after him.

Bell was born in Kent, graduated from the University of Keele and was awarded his postgraduate degree at the University of Wales. He was well known for his internationalism, his opposition to the Iraq war, which began shortly before his death, and his dedication to the cause of making higher education more accessible to students from socially deprived backgrounds.

Colin Bell was married twice and had four children — Rachel and Luke by his first marriage, Islay and Catherine by his second.