Dr George Reid
Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge, Head of the Office of Intercollegiate Services at the University of Cambridge, formerly Senior Bursar of St John’s College, Cambridge, and College and University Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Cambridge
The skill of writing clearly, grammatically and with precision in the English language…
I worked closely with Iris for several years when we jointly dealt with the administration of the Colleges’ Committee: the regular forum of the Heads of the Cambridge Colleges for the discussion of intercollegiate matters. We prepared the agenda, assembled the papers and wrote the minutes for the Committee itself and for its sub-committees and working groups. The skill of writing clearly, grammatically and with precision in the English language seems nowadays to be an endangered one – but not in Iris’s hands. I greatly appreciated the immensely helpful and friendly way in which she ironed out the infelicities of my own prose and have never myself encountered a more reliable scrutineer.
Pauline Hire
Formerly Classics Editor at Cambridge University Press
…a very thorough, intelligent and sensitive copyeditor
I was Classics Editor at Cambridge University Press when Iris Hunter joined the free-lance copyediting team. I helped train her (in the Judith Butcher school of editing) and can confirm that she was a very thorough, intelligent and sensitive copyeditor. She was efficient, reliable and met deadlines and was generally a very good and pleasant colleague to have around. Iris copyedited books in a wide field in the Humanities (including multi-author works with their attendant special problems), and her authors were always grateful for the care she expended on their work. I can thoroughly recommend her.
Dr Nigel Brown OBE
Founder of N.W. Brown Group Ltd, Fellow of Hughes Hall, Cambridge, Hon. Member of the Royal Society of Musicians
…an informed and intelligent listener…
Iris and I worked very closely together when I was External Chair of the Cambridge University Audit Committee and she was the Assistant Secretary. The Audit Committee, composed both of high-powered external individuals, as well as distinguished academics, is key to the University’s governance: it has to satisfy itself that there are proper arrangements in place for promoting economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and risk management. In short, it scrutinises the University from one end to the other and reports its findings to the Council of the University (through minutes of regular meetings) and to the Higher Education Funding Council of England through annual reports.
Among other tasks, Iris was responsible for putting together the agenda and briefing the Senior Officers and me before the meetings. As the drafter of clear, concise and accurate minutes, as a diary organiser and as an informed and intelligent listener – and therefore counsellor – I could not have asked for anyone better.
Professor Michael Reeve
Emeritus Kennedy Professor of Latin, University of Cambridge, Fellow of Pembroke College
Brisk, unflappable, considerate…
Brisk, unflappable, considerate: Iris Hunter as administrator for a Cambridge Triennial twenty-five years ago (attended by hundreds from Britain and abroad) could not have done a better job of advertising, supervising the finances, and arranging accommodation, venues, receptions, and excursions.
