Dr Ruth Etchells - Telegraph Ruth Etchells began her long association with Durham University in 1968, when she became resident tutor and part-time lecturer in English at Trevelyan College. She became the college's vice-principal in 1972 and senior lecturer a year later. An outstanding teacher, she introduced a course on Modern Drama which introduced her undergraduates to the works of Beckett, Osborne and, later, Pinter. A kind, humane person, she was endowed with considerable pastoral skill and as capable of setting a shy student at ease as she was in dealing with a bishop. A special gift for friendship widely extended her influence. These gifts were no less valuable when she became Principal of St John's. Women had still to be admitted to the college, and the male ordinands were unaccustomed to having a woman as their head; she soon won their confidence. Another five years would pass before women could be ordained to the priesthood, but admission to the diaconate became possible in 1987 and candidates for this office were admitted for training. She spoke powerfully in the 1992 General Synod debate when the admission of women to the priesthood was authorised. The adoption of a multidisciplinary policy completed her college's co-education process. The vocational training of ordinands is in fact undertaken at associated Cranmer Hall, which has its own warden, but Etchells exercised a sensitive and influential oversight of its life. Besides her involvement in central Church government, Ruth Etchells was a member of the governing council of Ridley Hall, Cambridge . She was also an honorary vice-president of the Church Mission Society. Her many published works included Set My People Free, an impassioned plea for the Church to make much greater use of the laity in furthering its mission. Ruth Etchells remained in Durham after her retirement from the university in 1988 and cultivated successfully a new skill in stained glass work, carried out in a studio created in the cellar of a cathedral building. She was unmarried. Dr Ruth Etchells, born April 17 1931, died August 8 2012